When one considers that they were laying down those tracks in a single take, no overdubs or anything else, their stature grows. And when funk – the genre – started to take hold and those guys were let loose…look out.

It would have been something to haunt the clubs of Detroit back then and see all those artists playing for themselves rather than the charts. Still, when i listen to Motown it’s for what’s underneath, particularly the rhythm section. Though i’ll admit to being biased, that sound is a symbol of my hometown. It’s always meant something deep to me when i’d be on a bus or whatnot half a world a way and a Motown song comes on the radio…watching feet start to tap, heads start to sway, and smiles cross people’s faces.

The documentary The Funk Brothers is well worth a watch.