Funk Brothers "You Keep Me Hangin' On" Isolated Tracks

Motown's famous Funk Brother's band was the mainstay for all the great hits made during the Detroit era of the label, and they were a truly formidable lot.

Although the players were great, it was the arrangements that really made the hit songs work. Here's a great example of a beautifully simple arrangement of a pop song with The Supremes "You Keep Me Hangin' On." Here's what to listen for.

1. The song features one of the smaller combos found on a typical Motown session. There are drums, 3 guitars (the usual compliment on most Motown songs), organ, percussion, tambourine and James Jamerson's great bass.

2. Listen to the interplay of the guitars. There's a high and low guitar playing the basic riff, and a 12 string outlining the chord changes. During the bridge the parts change, but all work on their own and never get in the way rhythmically. Oh, and all of the parts are dead clean as well.

3. Speaking of guitars, the 12 string that's outlining the chords is often behind the beat, which is unusual for most Motown songs, since most players had great time. The fact that it wasn't fixed is probably due to the fact that it was recorded live married to another instrument on the same track.

4. Listen to the low galloping percussion during the bridge playing roughly the same figure as the bass. You can hear it well here but not in the final mix.

5. While the tracks might sound dry, there's actually a tiny amount of a short reverb on everything that keeps the instruments in your face without seeming washed out.

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A Visit With Nashville's "A Team"

Those in the know about the studio business of the past frequently talk about studio bands like LA's Wrecking Crew and Detroit's Funk Brothers with great reverence, as well they should. These were some great musicians who were responsible for the soundtracks of our lives, even today to some degree. A studio band frequently overlooked in the conversation is Nashville's "A Team," a group of musicians who made the sound of country music what it was in the 50s through the 70s.

Here's a great video of the 5 remaining members (guitarist Harold Bradley, guitarist Ray Edenton, multi-instrumentalist Charlie McCoy, bassist Bob Moore, and keyboardist Hargus "Pig" Robbins) during a photo shoot at the end of 2013. The shoot was at the famous RCA Studio B and the band discusses recording with Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, and Bob Dylan, among other things.

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Motown Loses Its Bottom End

When musicians, especially bass players, refer to Motown records of the 60's and early 70's, they  usually think about the late great James Jamerson, who anchored many, but not all of those great hits. A bass player who played on just as many hits but has never gotten nearly as much acclaim is Bob Babbitt, who played on big hits like Smokey Robinson's "Tears Of A Clown," Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered," Marvin Gaye's "Mercy, Mercy Me," Gladys Night and the Pips "Midnight Train To Georgia," The Capitol's "Cool Jerk" and many more.

Bob was as much a part of the legendary Funk Brothers as Jamerson, and he was featured in the excellent Standing In The Shadow Of Motown movie and all of their subsequent concert tours. Sadly, Bob passed away yesterday at age 73, but you can get a feel for this great and humble man from this video, where Bob explains how he got his break into the fairly closed Motown family.



There's an excellent article about Bob's life and the many hits he played on in the Tennessean that's well worth the read.

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"Bernadette" - James Jamerson's Isolated Bass

Today we're going to listen to the great James Jamerson, the bass player for Motown's Funk Brothers. Widely regarded as one of the best bass players to ever play, he's loved not so much for his technique (which was formidable) but for his choice of notes. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Four Tops hit "Bernadette", which shows Jamerson at his best. This song is also available on the Standing In The Shadows Of Motown Deluxe box set.

Here's what to listen for:

1) Listen not only to Jamerson's choice of notes, but his unusual timing as well. He plays with a freedom rarely seen in todays recordings. It's amazing that he can stay as funky as he does. Also listen to how he pushes the groove, even as he plays around the set part.

2) At :37 the rest of the rhythm section is gradually brought in. Once again, notice how prominent the tambourine is to the groove of the song.

3) Also listen to how well the 3 guitars work together. In the chorus, one plays straight quarter note chords, while the other plays a high string mandolin-like part and the third plays a high pedal note. Along with the tambourine, this 3 guitar array is the heart of the Motown sound.

4) The only vocal of this mix comes at 2:38 with the single word plea of Tops singer Levi Stubbs. It hits really hard and is perfect for this mix.

5) After 2:38, all of the instruments re-enter, this time including strings and horns to complete the mix.

This is a really great example of the signature Motown sound, and James Jamerson at the peak of his personal powers. Enjoy.

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"You Keep Me Hangin" On Isolated Tracks

Staying with our Motown theme for the week, here are two versions of the Supreme's classic, "You Keep Me Hangin' On."

The first version is from the superb Standing In The Shadow's Of Motown deluxe box, which is a must for every musician's video collection. Here's what to listen for:

1) This is a pretty stripped down arrangement compared to most Motown songs in that it only uses the rhythm section, with no strings or horns.

2) The tambourine, played by Jack Ashford, is a Motown signature and is used on just about every single Motown song. In this case, listen to how seamlessly it works against the snare drum on 2 and 4.

3) The interplay of the guitars is also classic Motown and a textbook on how to make 3 guitars work in a song. In the intro and verses we hear the octave high E pedal and the second guitar outlining the chord changes. In the bridge with hear all 3 guitars, with the third one entering with the funky double-time muted line.

4) The same goes for the interplay with the keyboards. An organ plays through the entire song and the piano enters only on the bridges.

5) The timing of the different guitar parts is off in a few places. It would make a producer crazy today, but didn't seem to matter much to anyone back then. The song was a huge hit and I don't think anyone who bought the record noticed that the strummed guitar was off in bars 46 and 91.

6) Check out how the mix breaks down to just the bass and drums at about 1;13, then opens back up to the entire band at 1;38.

In this second version, we have a brief introduction by Diana Ross describing how they worked out the song, then you hear the track with only the background vocals. It's really interesting to finally hear exactly what they were doing.



Tomorrow, more Motown.

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A Rare Look At A Motown Session

It's Motown week here on the Big Picture and we're going to start with an extremely rare look into a session by the legendary Temptations backed by the legendary Funk Brothers and recorded at the legendary Motown Studios in Detroit (the "Snakepit" as they used to call it).

This video was shot back in 1967 for a CBS News piece called appropriately "The Motown Story." It featured the classic Temptations lineup including David Ruffin (the lead singer) and Eddie Ruffin, both of which would leave the band soon after this video was made. The song is called "Sorry Is A Sorry Word" and was produced by Motown writers Ivy Jo Hunter and Brian Holland (who stops the song mid-way through).

Some things to observe when watching:

1) As we'll see in upcoming posts, no one at Motown cared much about isolation between instruments since they were never going to replace anything anyway. Either the band got the track or it didn't, and no one ever came back to "fix" a part. Most of the songs cut in Detroit were cut on an 8 track recorder, so a lot of overdubs weren't much of an option anyway. They were only used for a bit of control over the final balance.

2) The usual Funk Brothers band consisted of a rhythm section of 2 drummers, tambourine, congas or bongos, bass, 3 guitars, and 2 keyboards which were all recorded at the same time in the same room! Horns and strings might also be cut at the same time as the rhythm section as well. Motown was only a house in the residential area of town and the studio was in the basement. Imagine doing that in your basement!

3) Only the arranger (the very talented William Witherspoon, who I believe was actually responsible for the early sound of Motown) used headphones. No one else needed them because they were all playing in the same room so they could hear themselves as if it were a rehearsal or gig.

Enjoy. Tomorrow, more Motown.

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