Originally Posted by
Quinn
Yes, 1964 is when the company finally found an identity in sound. Material recorded between 1959-1963 is good to take an interest in, but it was searching for it's soul. Many musicians had come and gone and when Earl Van Dyke became the architect the lineup was concrete. Many of the producers that started to get hits had been with the company since the beginning, so they'd honed their craft as well.
Everything started with a simple chord sheet with the melody written on it. The producer would then sit in the control room while Earl,James,and Benny hashed out the fundamentals among each other while the rest of the gang assembled. The producer would then count the tune off and yay or nay from there. The only time charts were prepared was for the string arrangements done between the producer,arranger and Gordon Staples.
If you listen closely to James Jamerson's bass lines during the early days, you notice how adventurous they are. He never gave a track the same thing twice, he would change something every go round. The only time he stayed in line was when Joe Messina shadowed him on guitar. On the later recordings he repeats the same figures over and over because he's reading a chart as opposed to playing what he feels. The arrangers were in charge as opposed to Earl and the music became sterile and flat.
Hitsville was used for recording mostly as the Donovan and Sanders buildings became HQ. B and C producers are being moved up the line due to so many defections. They are finding it hard to hang out because the downtown facilities have no creative vibe. Berry Gordy moved to L.A. and was prepping the company relocation there as well. So many things...
This is what I especially appreciate about your posts. Full of insights and written with the nuts and bolts details of how these things were done. Your writing is very much like a journalist's documentation of events after putting in the fact-finding research.
So now I have a clearer understanding of just why the music was much more brilliant and passionate during that '64 to '67 period. Sometimes you know something is this or that, but you just aren't sure how to effectively qualify just what made it this or that. I remember buying the Joe Harnell Motown album, "Moving On" and thinking the music was ok, but also fairly generic. In a few lines that you wrote, now it makes sense. This was the era of the arrangers writing every last note out. As you said, "the music became sterile and flat."
That's why, I can't really listen to Chuck Jackson's albums, Bobby Taylor's or most of the other late 60's albums without skipping a great number of songs. All pretty music, but no fire or passion.
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