By monkeastman (204.38.7.38 - 204.38.7.38) on Thursday, August 08, 2002 - 10:22 pm:

Was Motown the original electronic music? What I mean is the studio wizadry of Mr. McLean and all the others(Ohlsen et,al) made for some compelling records.But it seems to have been made in such a way that no one could imitate it; especially white bands. Because white bands could imitate earlier music like jump blues and some R&B.Mind you I say imitate ;but it was passable.No one could imitate motown.

Which leads me to what might make for some interesting responses to what I am about to write: Motown could not imitate itself!! Listen to any of the live recordings, the motortown reviews at the apollo etc. They don't sound very good. The quality of sound is bad and even the musicianship is not too good in spots(fingertips not withstanding)in short they sound like crap.

So was motown the original electronic music? Bear in mind the musicianship and singing on motown recordings was never manipulated or "fixed" because the technolgy was not available; and I am not implying that if it were it would have been!!

I am only putting out an idea and hope for some reasoned response. I would point out that the definitive live recordings imo made during that era were the James Brown records live at the apollo circa 1963 and 65 or so. That was what you heard if you were their.

Other lousy live recordings have been made by the yardbirds and some other british bands.

I intereted in what others think.

By soulboy (213.105.242.198 - 213.105.242.198) on Thursday, August 08, 2002 - 10:52 pm:

Motown seamed quite 'switched on' to the technology of the day. If you listen to 'reflections' or 'forever came today' by the supremes, they featured an oscillator or early form of the moog synthesizer i'm not sure.The only other commercial bands that were doing this sort thing at the time were the beach boys on pet sounds.and the byrds on the notorious byrd brothers album.
But ultimately it wasn't technology that made motown an un-imitatable sound .It was the funk brothers. No other outfit in the history of popular music could even come close to them on quality, versatililty,and productivity.
As i have mentioned before this must have made an impossible job for road musicians of the various acts. and i can quite understand anyone being dissapointed with the live acts, the original studio performances were just too perfect.

By Ritchie (62.254.0.6 - 62.254.0.6) on Thursday, August 08, 2002 - 11:07 pm:

monkeastman -

Wow! I sincerely hope you're writing from the safety of a bomb-shelter ;o)

No, seriously, I would disagree with your dismissal of the early Live recordings, which were made at a time when many so-called Live albums were simply studio tapes with canned applause faded in and out. The "poor recording quality" may be actually a result of the mixing - (a subject that's been discussed on another thread here) - the mono mix having possibly been derived from a four-track master on a three-track machine. Admittedly, the editing is somewhat abrupt, but as a document of the time, I personally think the recordings are priceless. I'm certainly looking forward to the promised reissues!

By Steve Litos (209.100.86.4 - 209.100.86.4) on Sunday, August 11, 2002 - 11:03 pm:

The Surpremes box set had a live disc as an "extra" when the box came out. I think some of the performances are of pretty good quality especially "Come See About Me" (which could be The
Funk Bros. actually). On the other hand, on the same disc listening to "Someday We'll Be Together" sounds much different since there's only one guitarist (instead of three or four) and Cindy & Mary are singing instead of the Andantes on the recording.
Disc one of the box set also features a great live recording of "Let Me Go The Right Way" a Berry Gordy written non-hit.(Berry speaks about how hard he worked on the song & it still wasn't a
hit in the liner notes.)
The actual recording & mixing have much to do with the sound also. I personally like the Otis Redding recordings at the Whisky-A-Go-Go. The band is not the MG's & the horns are out of tune on a few songs, but the performance was recorded rather well & Otis is so clear & "up front" that it hurts.