Word: motowners
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There are now and have been for several years three overwhelmingly strong influences in black Rock and Roll. Foremost, of course, is Motown. For breadth of talent, monetary and technical resources, cross-cultural impact and sheer volume of sales, Berry Gordy's corporation is IT. In second place and trying harder is Atlantic, the parent company of the Stax-Volt labels. And all by himself, James Brown, the Culture-Hero Who Walks Like A Man, occupies a discrete, if not always discreet, position that for our purposes can be labeled number three...
...Motown is essentially oriented toward the urban black, his experiences, attitudes and aspirations. This orientation and the care with which they arrange their records have been nearly as important in the company's success as the talents of its artists and song-writers. In 1968, the company put even more emphasis on the life of the urban black, in songs ranging from "Love Child" by MISS DIAN A ROSS! and the Supremes to "Cloud Nine" by the Temptations. These are good examples of the type of social-comment song Motown produces. The songs do have comparatively relevant messages to impart...
...days in late December in a gigantic race-track cum park just outside Miami the Festival unrolled smoothly. It represented in its music a cross-section of the entire rock scene today: folk (Joni Mitchell, Buffy Ste. Marie, etc.), blues (James Cotton, Butterfield), jazz (Charles Lloyd), rock, progressive rock, Motown (Marvin Gaye, Jr. Walker) and even top-40 rock (the Boxtops, the Turtles). All this in a setting of serene scenic beauty...
...TEMPTATIONS: WISH IT WOULD RAIN (Gordy). The five boys from Motown display a studied sophistication that might be called "hybrid Soul." They are backed up by an outfit that sounds like a cross between the Vienna Philharmonic, Herb Alpert and an electrified Gene Autry. The occasional catch in the throat and sad hoot do not a soul sound make, but the music is entirely inoffensive. Besides, the cover photograph depicting The Temptations as utterly defeated Foreign Legionnaires has to be the funniest of the year...
...record industry. Manhattan-based Atlantic, with such singers as Aretha, Wilson Pickett and Sam & Dave, can now sell more records in a week (1,300,000) than it did in six months in 1950; now it ranks with the top singles producers in the business. Detroit's Motown Records, formed eight years ago by Berry Gordy Jr. with a $700 loan, last year grossed a soulful $30 million. Gordy's slick, carefully controlled "Motown sound" (noted for its rhythmic accent on all four beats of the bar instead of the usual R & B emphasis on alternating beats) has launched, among...