Motown: The Sound remains the same

The Motown sound has always been described as distinct, probably the single most important musical innovation to emerge in the United States during the ’60s–so much so that Motown has become a style by itself.

During the ’60s, Berry Gordy Jr.’s Detroit music label became the biggest independent label in the music industry, thanks to its smooth, sophisticated blend of R&B and memorable pop melodies.

At Motown, the pop side of the equation took on greater importance than ever before, which helped make the records accessible to a wider audience. Their velvety elegance helped cement black popular music firmly into the mainstream American culture. This polished pop craftsmanship, when matched with the smoothly soulful vocals of the Motown artist roster, became ubiquitously popular during the early ’60s, with songwriters like Smokey Robinson and the team of Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland turning out one gem after another with almost assembly-line regularity.

When Holland, Dozier and Holland left the label, producer Norman Whitfield became a major figure at Motown, keeping the label in step with the harder, funkier direction soul music was heading into. In 1970, the Jackson 5 became superstars with a funky bubble gum soul that began to break away from established Motown formulas.

During the rest of the decade, performers like Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder took greater control of their own music, stamping it with their own personalities and helping break up the standardized Motown blueprint.

It’s that blueprint–which brought artists like The Temptations, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Four Tops, The Miracles and the rest of the Motown greats – that people mean when they talk about Motown music.

Even though Motown sold millions more albums during the ’70s and ’80s than it had in the ’60s, Motown will always be remembered for the music it created during the ’60s that was heard on the radios in automobiles as teenagers cruised the streets and highways. Never in history has one company produced so many top 10 hits as Motown did during that marvelous decade.

Songs like Ooo Baby, Baby, Tracks of My Tears, Here I Go Again, City Of Angels and You Really Got A Hold On Me; The Supremes’ Stop In The Name of Love, You Can’t Hurry Love, Where Did Our Love Go and Baby Love, Ollie Woodson & The Temptations’ My Girl, You Can’t Hurry Love, I’m Gonna Make You Love Me, Get Ready, Just My Imagination and The Way You Do The Things You Do; and JR Walker’s All-Star Band’s (I’m A) Road Runner, Pucker Up Buttercup, What Does It Take (To Win Your Love), Guess Who’s The Eyes, Where Did Our Love Go and Do You See My Love (For You Growing) which will be performed live for the second night of Motown’s Greatest Hit In Concert produced by Viva Concerts happening tonight at the Araneta Coliseum.

This grand musical extravaganza will be featuring the sounds of Motown’s biggest acts: The Supremes, The Miracles, Ollie Woodson & The Temptations, and JR Walker’s All-Star Band as performed by some of the original members of these great musical institutions so don’t miss it!

No Fear

When a woman hits 60, she has the choice to either retire gracefully or carry on disgracefully.

Luckily for audiences in the UK and the Philippines, the amazing British comedienne Linda Marlowe chose the latter, even quarrying her own colorful life to produce a powerful concoction made richer by the memories of an unstoppable performer.

In celebration of Women’s Month this March, the British Council, in cooperation with the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the Arts Council of Cebu, Silliman University, 105.1 Crossover, DZFE and Bronnley of London, presents Linda Marlowe in No Fear, a powerful one-woman show combining music, mime and monologue, which won critical acclaim at the Edinburgh International Festival.

Writer-director Gavin Marshall celebrates Marlowe’s impetuosity and frantic battiness with exceptionally vivid and entertaining life-affirming monologues.

Included in Marlowe’s Philippine tour are performances at the Marcelo B. Fernan Press Center in Cebu on March 1, the Henry Luce Auditorium in Dumaguete on March 3 and the CCP Little Theater on March 5.