just saw a motown retrospective on pbs. not bad. of course, they left all the political stuff out...war, ball of confusion, what's going on. no surprise there. sadly, the show focused on only 5 acts...smokey and the miracles, marvin gaye, the four tops, the temptations, and the supremes.

smokey, a better writer than singer. too high pitched, a little flat at times. does some tough licks at times though.

gaye...soulful, good sound. as i said, they stayed away from what's going on, mercy mercy me, and inner city blues. too bad.

the four tops. levi had a fantastic voice, but the group sounds a little corny at times. baby i need your lovin remains one of the great motown tunes. not shown was the stubbs classic lead on "ask the lonely." i highly recommend this song. youtube has a version with no backing band which is quite interesting. levi recently died. for what it's worth, he was jackie wilson's cousin.

the temptations... great harmonies, but they can look a little silly on stage. david ruffin was a good singer. he could really nail his leads. they showed him to good effect on my girl and ain't too proud to beg, but didn't show him perform his classic "i'm losing you." similar to the marvin segment, there was nothing from their later period, where they touched on social issues with ball of confusion and papa was a rolling stone.

the supremes...ross has something, though i'm not a huge fan. you always get the sense that the background singers could have topped her, if they only got the chance. i like someday we'll be together.

well, the show went with perhaps the most famous acts of the label, though it did leave out stevie wonder and the jackson 5. hey, that don't bother me much, particularly in the latter case. stevie had a number of good things that it would have been nice to hear. but hey, what do i know?

but, there were other motown acts who were quite deserving of mention. edwin starr, in my view, may have had the best voice of anyone who ever recorded on the label. his war should be on any motown retrospective. the temps too cut a version of this tune. starr also did apolitical classics like 25 miles, sos, and double o soul.

martha and the vandellas have the supremes beat by a mile, in my view. heatwave, dancing in the street, nowhere to run, and jimmy mack, are classics of the era. martha reeves has more power than ross, and their songs drive harder.

jr walker and the all stars were a soulful group with an emphasis on instrumental performance. shotgun is a classic of the period, and features walker on vocals and sax. walker was a fine r and b tenor player, one of the few who could really play the horn in that context.

and there was eddie holland and kim weston and barrett strong and gladys knight and the spinners. but hey, whose counting?

please, if you are gonna show us something, educate us. give us a true sense of the body of work you claim to be demonstrating.

no wonder nobody knows what the hell is going on.