Motown is a cultural institution. They've helped launch many careers into the history as well as given us a great soundtrack to everyday life. While we all know or at least have heard of the artists in Motown, there is a group that is just as responsible if not more for the success of the Motown sound.
The Funk Brothers are the collective of musicians who played live instruments for the studio recordings of most of Motown's biggest hits. Their talents and instincts have given us some of the most memorable sounds in pop music and yet we don't know most of their names.
Assembled due to various circumstances such as trying to find a job, family obligations, or opportunity these various musicians sought a different life.
Standing in the Shadows of Motown is a critically acclaimed documentary that details the rise and fall of these unsung heroes of music. It includes performances featuring current artists like Joan Osborne and Ben Harper, as well as interviews with the surviving Funk Brothers.
What's most refreshing is that these are architects of live music played with real instruments which is more and more vanishing into obscurity in pop music today. This is a great documentary to watch with different generations who love music.
Showing posts with label Murph's Picks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Murph's Picks. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Murph's Picks #5
In this week's Murph's Picks I've decidedly selected something sports related as I have slacked in including sports stories on my site. I'm trying to do better. If you have ideas about possible sports stories, that'd be great. Just leave them in comments. Or better yet, give me a comment people! I need to hear from you no matter what you have to say.
Okay, so this week's pick is actually one of the many brilliant ESPN films, "The Fab Five." If you don't know who the fab five are, then watch this documentary. It's riveting, insightful and entertaining. It pertains to the Men's Basketball Team at Michigan in the early 1990s and the dominance of the freshman players on the team.
I won't reveal all about the story, but it involves race, class, money, fame, and the NCAA. All the makings for a brilliant movie, but even better when those who lived it are narrating the action. If you don't know anything about sports or sports history, this is great for you. It's not intimidating, doesn't focus on the play by play and isn't overtly technical like some sports programming is.
I suggest when you get a free moment, this is great to watch or Tivo or DVR or whatever it is folks do nowadays.
Okay, so this week's pick is actually one of the many brilliant ESPN films, "The Fab Five." If you don't know who the fab five are, then watch this documentary. It's riveting, insightful and entertaining. It pertains to the Men's Basketball Team at Michigan in the early 1990s and the dominance of the freshman players on the team.
I won't reveal all about the story, but it involves race, class, money, fame, and the NCAA. All the makings for a brilliant movie, but even better when those who lived it are narrating the action. If you don't know anything about sports or sports history, this is great for you. It's not intimidating, doesn't focus on the play by play and isn't overtly technical like some sports programming is.
I suggest when you get a free moment, this is great to watch or Tivo or DVR or whatever it is folks do nowadays.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Murph's Picks #4
I'm choosing a song this week for Murph's Picks. It's a song that's really romantic, quirky, and melancholy. I believe this song is a modern classic. Tears for Fears' "Head Over Heels" is so cool and so sweet it's hard to resist. Tears for Fears, is a group that came to prominence in the 1980s with classic hits such as "Mad World", "Shout" and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World."
"Head Over Heels" is about being in love and not noticing it. It's kind of how love takes over someone's life in a way that is unexpected, beautiful, and confusing all at once. The melody is one of my all-time favorites. It sticks in your head instantly. I first heard this song when I bought my mom the Tears for Fears' Greatest Hits compilation one year. I've never looked back.
Unfortunately, with the volume of songs on my iPod, I forget how awesome this song is from time to time. But thankfully, my favorite show, Psych used the music of Tears for Fears prominently in one episode and even had Curt Smith (one of the group's founders) guest star as himself.
If you're not sure about the song or haven't heard I urge you to click below. As a bonus, I'm including the Psych clip.
"Head Over Heels" is about being in love and not noticing it. It's kind of how love takes over someone's life in a way that is unexpected, beautiful, and confusing all at once. The melody is one of my all-time favorites. It sticks in your head instantly. I first heard this song when I bought my mom the Tears for Fears' Greatest Hits compilation one year. I've never looked back.
Unfortunately, with the volume of songs on my iPod, I forget how awesome this song is from time to time. But thankfully, my favorite show, Psych used the music of Tears for Fears prominently in one episode and even had Curt Smith (one of the group's founders) guest star as himself.
If you're not sure about the song or haven't heard I urge you to click below. As a bonus, I'm including the Psych clip.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Murph's Picks Week 3
In this week's Murph's Picks, I picked an episode of one of my favorite shows, How I Met Your Mother. And while we still haven't met the mother, we've met all of Ted's friends. This episode centers on Marshall and Lily and they're struggle to conceive as well as a shocking tragedy at the end. While this is a rerun from last winter, it still stings with powerful emotion. "Bad News" has to be one of the best episodes of the series.
If you've seen the episode you know it deals with death. But what I appreciate is how it deals with death. Unlike other shows which kills off characters as a way to tighten budgets or deal with egos, this death serves a purpose in developing the characters' as adults and as real people we can relate to.
I know with all of the bad news this weekend, the last thing you want is to watch something sad, but it is funny. Barney's quips always provide a good anecdote to the heavier themes. To be honest, the worst part is the last 30 seconds.
It's sad, but it's real. I'm not saying watch it to watch it, but if you want a great half hour of television it'll move you in a new way.
If you've seen the episode you know it deals with death. But what I appreciate is how it deals with death. Unlike other shows which kills off characters as a way to tighten budgets or deal with egos, this death serves a purpose in developing the characters' as adults and as real people we can relate to.
I know with all of the bad news this weekend, the last thing you want is to watch something sad, but it is funny. Barney's quips always provide a good anecdote to the heavier themes. To be honest, the worst part is the last 30 seconds.
It's sad, but it's real. I'm not saying watch it to watch it, but if you want a great half hour of television it'll move you in a new way.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Murph's Picks Part Deux
For this week's edition of Murph's Picks, I decided to select a movie. Now for those of you who believe classic cinema means the 80's and 90's, I have something for you. To me this movie defines classic comedy. It's part rom-com, goofy gender bender, and all parts silly. Some Like it Hot is one of the best movies of the 1950s. Written and directed by the legendary Billy Wilder (The Apartment, Double Indemnity) it is timeless because his approach was to show how funny life can be even though you don't always think it is.
Starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, and Marilyn Monroe, I would say this is an influential picture not just because of the star power, but just because it seems that each star worked together to produce the best movie possible. While there are reports and accounts from various sources, including Tony Curtis himself stating that Marilyn Monroe was difficult and delayed production, the end result is brilliant.
Curtis and Lemmon are two jazz players who witness a giant massacre by local Chicago hoodlums and as a result must go into hiding. Now initially this works, but after being recognized Curtis' character decidedly states that he and Lemmon must go incognito as women in an all-female band. Well of course, the natural hi-jinks ensue and the movie goes on from there. Marilyn Monroe is one the women in the in the band and of course the object of Curtis' character's affections.
While this movie is lengthy, the time goes by fast and each laugh is bigger than the last. I won't ruin the ending for you, but I say if you want a laugh without going to the movie theater, Some Like it Hot will keep you cool in the comfort of your home.
Starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, and Marilyn Monroe, I would say this is an influential picture not just because of the star power, but just because it seems that each star worked together to produce the best movie possible. While there are reports and accounts from various sources, including Tony Curtis himself stating that Marilyn Monroe was difficult and delayed production, the end result is brilliant.
Curtis and Lemmon are two jazz players who witness a giant massacre by local Chicago hoodlums and as a result must go into hiding. Now initially this works, but after being recognized Curtis' character decidedly states that he and Lemmon must go incognito as women in an all-female band. Well of course, the natural hi-jinks ensue and the movie goes on from there. Marilyn Monroe is one the women in the in the band and of course the object of Curtis' character's affections.
While this movie is lengthy, the time goes by fast and each laugh is bigger than the last. I won't ruin the ending for you, but I say if you want a laugh without going to the movie theater, Some Like it Hot will keep you cool in the comfort of your home.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Murph's Picks
Murph's Picks is a new feature I'm starting. It will be a weekly feature about something in Pop Culture that I find interesting, intriguing, entertaining, funny or what not. It won't necessarily be new and hip, but neither am I . Consider it a distraction from whatever part of your day that irks you the most. I'm starting the inaugural edition of Murph's Picks with a song. This song is beautiful in so many ways to me. When I hear it, it becomes like gum to the desk of my brain in the middle of third period.
The song is Elton John's "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" from his album, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. I first heard it about five or six years ago in a preview for a the TNT series Heartland starring Treat Williams. Of course it was a medical drama that looked like ER, but my interested was sparked in the chorus. Something was intoxicating about his voice.
Elton John is an artist my mom liked in the 1970s, but before iTunes we never had any of his albums. It wasn't just because my mom liked him was the reason I was interested. I very rarely get attached to something else because of force or insistence, but curiosity. When I found about the songs he wrote and produced I could recognize them from commercials. The most notable being Bennie and the Jets. But this song was not one my mom mentioned, I just remember hearing it.
I love the way the song starts off. The staccato in his voice reminds me of a rapper ready to give his best verse in the middle of a song, but then the key melody chimes in and the bluesy soul of his voice takes over. The imagery is stunning, such that I like to close my eyes and let the song take my imagination. When I listened to it today, I thought of a film noir dame in a large mink stole wielding a gun at her lover who was ready to frame her for murder.
Even though there have been accounts that the song is about drug addiction, it does reflect darkness to a certain extent but there is a rescue that inspires hope. I think the layers that entangle the song are truly beautiful and real. I think it offers something in the times we live in. Even though we may want to give up and curl in the corner, someone will be there to try and save us. And that to me is one of the many reasons music is so powerful, it can give us so much in such a small period of time. And if you listen for nothing but the melody, I think you'll like it.
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