Itv Motown Sunday 9Pm

[Kevinkent]

ITV this Sunday 6th July 2100-2230

 

The Nations Favourite Motown Song

"A celebration of Motown revealing the stories behind 20 of the legendary label's greatest hits, followed by the results of our poll to discover Britain's favourite Motown song."

 

I know there was a previous thread when this first came to light, but I can't find it.

So, as it's on this weekend, I thought I'd give it a shout.

 

 Thought it was gonna be the stories behind the top 20 voted - which would probably be a whole different kettle of fish. Should still be good viewing I reckon.

 

 - Kev

 

 

 

 

 

[Chalky]

Thanks for the reminder.  Working Sunday so won't be home, set the recorder 

[Seano]

Write up in Radio Times "It's a popumentary as rewarding as anything you'll see on BBC4. The focus is on the people who made the records you love, and how they did it. Pointless celebs doling out fake memories are absent."

Sounds good enough to me.

[MrsWoodsrules]

Will be watching, trouble is, we know it will be the predictable ones don't we?

Don't want to moan, but No Love Starved Heart or any Eddie Holland in there, but hey, can't have everything & better than Coronation St at least. 

[Rob Moss]

Wonder if the true 'people who made the music' - the Funks,  will even get a mention?

[Guest]

Wonder if the true 'people who made the music' - the Funks,  will even get a mention?

too true......and the writers, producers, arrangers etc.

Just saw ad for it.....actually saw some photos of HDH and artists .....might be interesting but tracks will be predictable.

[Winsford Soul]

I wonder if itv,s poll follows ours on here. and votes Ask the lonely as the greatest motown tune of all time

 

Steve

[Guest]

1. Baby Love - The Supremes 2. My Guy - Mary Wells 3. My Girl - The Temptations 4. Dancing In The Street - Martha & The Vandellas 5. The Tracks Of My Tears - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles 6. Stop! In The Name Of Love - The Supremes 7. Reach Out, I'll Be There - Four Tops 8. Uptight (Everything's Alright) - Stevie Wonder 9. I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) - Four Tops 10. Jimmy Mack - Martha & The Vandellas 11. What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted - Jimmy Ruffin 12. My Cherie Amour - Stevie Wonder 13. I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye 14. I Want You Back - Jackson 5 15. War - Edwin Starr 16. The Tears Of A Clown - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles 17. Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Diana Ross 18. I'll Be There - Jackson 5 19. What's Going On - Marvin Gaye 20. Papa Was A Rollin' Stone - The Temptations

[Kevinkent]

1. Baby Love - The Supremes 2. My Guy - Mary Wells 3. My Girl - The Temptations 4. Dancing In The Street - Martha & The Vandellas 5. The Tracks Of My Tears - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles 6. Stop! In The Name Of Love - The Supremes 7. Reach Out, I'll Be There - Four Tops 8. Uptight (Everything's Alright) - Stevie Wonder 9. I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) - Four Tops 10. Jimmy Mack - Martha & The Vandellas 11. What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted - Jimmy Ruffin 12. My Cherie Amour - Stevie Wonder 13. I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye 14. I Want You Back - Jackson 5 15. War - Edwin Starr 16. The Tears Of A Clown - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles 17. Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Diana Ross 18. I'll Be There - Jackson 5 19. What's Going On - Marvin Gaye 20. Papa Was A Rollin' Stone - The Temptations

 

Is that the stories behind the songs list of 20? or the results of their poll?  The way I read it they are two different lists.

You're probably about right for one or t'other.

 

 - Kev

[Smudger]

https://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/commissioning/itv-to-reveal-the-nations-favourite-motown-song/5070141.article

 

https://www.itvmedia.co.uk/highlights/New-commissions/The-Nations-Favourite-Motown-Song

Edited July 5, 2014 by smudger

[Guest]

Is that the stories behind the songs list of 20? or the results of their poll?  The way I read it they are two different lists.

You're probably about right for one or t'other.

 

 - Kev

 

 

A double CD is being issued...with the twenty above on disc 1. So I assume that they are the twenty voted in the poll...maybe not?

[Speedlimit]

WHAT NO FRANK WILSON   :lol:      

[Soulstu]

Half dreading this to be honest.

 

If you look at the trailer the bloody idiots can't even get the song titles right. Dancing In The Streets? FFS!   Like all these ITV 'tributes' or 'an evening with' they are music programmes for people who don't listen to music.

 

Having said that it's better than p***ing away an hour of primetime TV on a tribute to Gary Barlow or some such.

[Guest]

I know how you feel....let's hope some good info comes out of it and educates the "people who don't listen to music" a little bit.

You know, it's amazing how little Joe Public know about Soul Music./Motown in general.

A good friend of mine, relatively clued up about 'pop' music thought that HDH were 3 members of the 4 Tops. Another , having turned him on to an Ann Peebles track thought it was 'Motown'....i.e. all Black American music was Motown!!

[Seano]

Pretty disappointed to see a few celebs popping up - what's the point? And the initial blurb seemed to celebrate their absence! Still, good to see quite a few key people who were part of it being featured.

[Seano]

Sekonda - 'Sponsors the favourite Motown song' - I could hear a bit of music behind the short clip, but it didn't seem to be Edwin Starr.

[Ian Dewhirst]

Pretty good for prime-time Sunday night on ITV. At least they're interviewing plenty of the original people - there's quite a few I haven't seen interviewed before. Beats the sh*t out of Big Brother that's for sure........

 

Ian D 

[Dave2]

Wonder if the true 'people who made the music' - the Funks,  will even get a mention?

I'm glad they did - though it was quite brief Rob.   Dennis Coffey with a few words, on the music and the '67 Detroit riots. 

 

It's not too bad.  Craig Charles narrating.

[Agentsmith]

no funk brothers - no motown....simples!...but then we've already had their highly acclaimed award winning documentary and they got their long overdue recognition.....no one can ever take that away from them...they gave us the unique sound of motown without which, the artists would not have had the same dynamic....god bless jamerson, benjamin, white, van dyke, willis, jones, griffith, allen, babbit, messina, hunter, ashford and all those other wonderful contributors who created magic in the snake pit and gave us the soundtrack of our lives.  

[Soul16]

Not a bad programme really. Some video footage I've not seen before too. Highlight for me so far is the very short but sweet piece on Edwin Starr and Shane Lynch's hairstyle and beard.

[Guest Soultown andy]

the programe was called the nations favourite mt song,not the ss anal super rare collectors favourite what the fuck did some of you expect.Personaly quite liked it reminded me of lots of the tunes that got me into the rarer side of soul.Just listen in to jr what becomes of the broken hearted,fuckin awesome. 

[Soulstu]

I stand corrected. That wasn't bad at all. Paul Riser, Dennis Coffey etc ..good enough for me!

 

Did they use Mr Levine's version of Frank Wilson in part of the music bed instead of the original?...wonder why?

Edited July 6, 2014 by SoulStu

[mid tempo]

Not too bad a choice really

Marvin gaye...........grapevine.

Can cope with that.

[Guest nickw]

Bearing in mind that was produced by a commercial tv station catering for the masses in conjunction with Universal who want to sell the CD of the show to the masses, that was pretty good.

[Pete Eccles]

1. Baby Love - The Supremes 2. My Guy - Mary Wells 3. My Girl - The Temptations 4. Dancing In The Street - Martha & The Vandellas 5. The Tracks Of My Tears - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles 6. Stop! In The Name Of Love - The Supremes 7. Reach Out, I'll Be There - Four Tops 8. Uptight (Everything's Alright) - Stevie Wonder 9. I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) - Four Tops 10. Jimmy Mack - Martha & The Vandellas 11. What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted - Jimmy Ruffin 12. My Cherie Amour - Stevie Wonder 13. I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye 14. I Want You Back - Jackson 5 15. War - Edwin Starr 16. The Tears Of A Clown - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles 17. Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Diana Ross 18. I'll Be There - Jackson 5 19. What's Going On - Marvin Gaye 20. Papa Was A Rollin' Stone - The Temptations

 

Was this what was supposed to be the run down or a prediction, if it's the latter it's a bit Morecambe and Wise, all the right tunes but not necessarily in the right order, not a lot unlike my world cup predictions

[Speedlimit]

And we even had frank Wilson, LOL.   quiet informative  for joe public  and yes footage that I haven't seen as well . like been stated this is the sound track of our youth  .

[Philb]

Disappointed , that's all I have to say.

[Ian Parker]

Wilton Felder played bass on " I want you back"

 I was pleasantly surprised on hearing that bit of info

 

 the rest was predictable, even my lass got the top two songs guessed correctly..... Very predictable I spose. 

[Kevinkent]

Predictable - yes, but also well rounded and enjoyable I thought.

Not at all surprised at the No1 as Heard It Through The Grapevine was undoubtedly THE anthem for a certain stage of my life before I spread my wings. If it was the same for those that voted then I'm surprised that Junior Walker didn't get a mention or even a soundclip. Could have sacrificed Elton John for a few seconds of Jnr.

 

Soultown Andy - take a chill pill mate. Apart from one "disappointed" (which is by no means slating the programme) I'm failing to spot the negativity in this thread.

 

 - Kev

[Premium Stuff]

It's supposed to be entertaining FFS 

 

I enjoyed it.

 

I especially liked listening to some of those Motown classics I never listen to that are actually phenominal records, like Stevie Wonder - Uptight, Martha & Vandellas - Jimmy Mack, Edwin Starr - War, and Smokey & Miracles - Tears of A Clown.

 

Surprised Jimmy Ruffin was at #2.

 

Great programme and I'm sure lots of people enjoyed it.

 

Cheers

 

Richard

Edited July 6, 2014 by Premium Stuff

[Smudger]

Very surprised Elgins H.M.H.S.Y. didn't make it

 

Just think of the fun you could have had in the 60's making a Motown Documentary 

[Guest jkidd]

Not a bad programme , predictable but enjoyable enough, think some people were expecting the Dalton Boys, Debbie Dean or the Monitors !

[alanmandy]

Entertaining,enjoyable and watchable,the songs that started me off.

[Swifty]

Well I thought it was good , as said above " the songs that started me off "    , don't forget this was aimed at the mainstream , not us anoraks

[Garswood]

Yep, I enjoyed it also, like others  have said, very predictable and even my mrs enjoyed, now that's saying something..lol

[Ian Dewhirst]

Wilton Felder played bass on " I want you back"

I was pleasantly surprised on hearing that bit of info

I didn't know that either. That's some bass-line but I never knew the Crusaders were playing on Motown sessions that early. You learn something everyday....

Ian D

[Guest gordon russell]

T,was mainly late 60,s early 70,s stuff that got aired...average programme really,didn,t expect rarish motown,but yawn factor kicked in.....where were the velvelettes,elgins,isleys ect .........and those  (who are you?) so called celebs,sticking their two pen,th in about it, urgh!!..........mildly interesting for the early footage.

 

Loved the guy who said  "l basically am a sax player,but they asked if l would play the bass " on  "l want you back".....as if dosn,t everyone play bass?....great!

[spot]

Loved it, took me back to every Saturday when I was in Primary school and Mum would return from shopping with a new 45 from the Top 20 and more often than not it would be a Motown song, I remember singing and dancing along to "My Guy", "Baby Love", & "Where did our love go", the Four Tops, the Temptations and Smokey Robinson & the Miracles in the Living Room with as many records stacked up on the Radiogram spindle as it would allow or just clicking the play switch and having it repeat over and over again, a great time before Northern Soul and oh so innocent btw Mum still has all the tunes in the loft but at 77 she can't throw shapes like she use to, God love her.  

Spot.  

p.s. Forgot to say, went to Motown Museum with Mr Roberts Chicago trip, spent time in the "Snakepit" with Dennis Coffey, Lorraine Chandler & Francis Nero (Who's 60th Birthday it was) gave us the Tour before meeting lots of Artists at the Memphis Smoke Diner, treasured memories but a scary place Detroit.

Edited July 7, 2014 by spot

[Guest in town Mikey]

Very enjoyable. Loved the interviews with many of the unsung hero's. Some great footage, and the music is IMO second to none. Loved Tito talking about the base line in - I Want You Back, especially.

 

It was basically an 80 minuite advert for an LP on sale from today, but in this case, who cares?

 

If I could have added one thing, I would have included the story from Standing in the Shadows, where James Jamerson talks about the opening bars of my girl. For a second I thought they were, but it switched to (another interesting story) Smokey talking about David Ruffin's voice.

 

I'd give it a 9.5/10. It did what it said on the tin. The nations favorite.

[Soulfinger]

I thought it was pretty well done.  I thought it was great to hear snippets from musicians like Wilton Felder and Denis Coffey. Would have been nice to hear some recognition for Jack Ashford's tambourine which was all over it! I am also surprised at the absence of the Elgins and thought This Old Heart of Mine would've been a certainty too.

[Steve S 60]

Only caught the last five tracks, so will have to watch it on catch up, but I'd already guessed the No 1 song.  Nice to hear Smokey talking about "My Girl" and how he wrote it specifically for David Ruffin and the Tempts.

[Winsford Soul]

The title of the show was the nations favourite Motown songs. Who did they ask ? When did they ask them ? Or did they just ask the people that where on the show for there opinions ?

 

Steve

[Mellorful]

Pleased the Funk Brothers got a mention and surprised they worked such long days in the studio creating the backing tunes. I suppose with so many great artists on the books their instrumental services would be in great demand.  When I think most artists with their own group would perhaps create and learn to competently play perhaps 20 tunes per year, the FB's output was amazing in that comparison. The work from HDH was also rightly recognised. 

The one consistent aspect of Motown was the FB's, the artists come and go.

I fear the Isley Brothers didn't get much of a mention is because their Grammy success was outside of Motown. Not necessarily a good selling point for the new Motown release that artists could achieve greater industry recognition outside of their label.

[Guest micksoul]

To be fair it did mention the snakepit and acknowledged the Funk brothers and played a soundbite of The Isley Bros track that used What becomes of the broken hearted tune ... I enjoyed it

 

 

 

[purist]

Enjoyed the programme.
Not complaining at all, just would like to ask a question for info purposes - Did anyone on here vote in this "nations favourite" vote? Was it a list of pre-chosen titles and you had to pick one, or could you say what you liked?
One surprised me by it's omission -  I honestly thought that they would have included "Needle In A Haystack", surely it's got to be the most played Motown track ever in the UK ?
For the last 40+ years it's been played at just about every wedding/anniversary party/etc when the party DJ says "and now some Motown", so i reckon if FW is overplayed on our scene by comparison NIAH has probably clocked up 1000 plays for every one of DILY

[Guest scottie]

once got slaughtered for saying diana ross was the third best singer in the supremes a point that in a roundabout way was reiterated last night .vindicated at last.heehee

[Guest in town Mikey]

once got slaughtered for saying diana ross was the third best singer in the supremes a point that in a roundabout way was reiterated last night .vindicated at last.heehee

 

You and Suzi Quatro should get a room 

[Guest gordon russell]

The title of the show was the nations favourite Motown songs. Who did they ask ? When did they ask them ? Or did they just ask the people that where on the show for there opinions ?

 

Steve

They canvased all the weddings in the last 2 years

[Guest gordon russell]

Pleased the Funk Brothers got a mention and surprised they worked such long days in the studio creating the backing tunes. I suppose with so many great artists on the books their instrumental services would be in great demand.  When I think most artists with their own group would perhaps create and learn to competently play perhaps 20 tunes per year, the FB's output was amazing in that comparison. The work from HDH was also rightly recognised. 

The one consistent aspect of Motown was the FB's, the artists come and go.

I fear the Isley Brothers didn't get much of a mention is because their Grammy success was outside of Motown. Not necessarily a good selling point for the new Motown release that artists could achieve greater industry recognition outside of their label.

Thought they might of mentioned  PAM SAWYER.....as theres a british connection

[Guest scottie]

You and Suzi Quatro should get a room 

i`ve tried