The Funk Brothers, as they came to be known, were (and are) a group of about 20 extremely talented jazz musicians who were recruited by Barry Gordy to be studio musicians for Motown Records, which was just starting out at the time.
Cut to a few years later, and the Funk Brothers had played on more number 1 hits than the Beatles, Elvis, and the Rolling Stones combined. If you hear a Motown record by any number of great artists, like Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, the Supremes or dozens of others, that's them playing that great backing music. "Standing In The Shadows Of Motown" is a movie that finally salutes these unsung heroes, without whom the music of Motown might not have been half so brilliant.
The best part of the movie, without a doubt, is the new concert footage. All the surviving Funk Brothers were recently reunited for a concert in Detroit (the home of Motown) to play some of their biggest hits, with a diverse group of singers. These live scenes are so powerful and breathtaking, that it only reinforced my opinion that the Motown music of the 60's and 70's is some of the best music ever recorded. Pop music never, ever (before or since) sounded so pure and beautiful as that music does. All these performances are great, but my favorites have to be The Four Tops' "Reach Out I'll Be There" sung by Gerald Levert (which kicks off the movie with fire and energy) and Jimmy Ruffin's "What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted?" sung passionately by Joan Osbourne.
The rest of the movie is pretty regular documentary stuff, featuring lots of insightful interviews with the musicians and narration by Andre Braugher.
It goes on a little too long (like I said in my review for "Bowling For Columbine", 2 hours is usually pushing it for a documentary) and some of the re-enactments aren't as effective as intended.
But man, those performances. There isn't much music I like more than classic soul, and if you have at least a passing interest in it, you'll be wanting to get up and dance in the aisle just like me.
