Watched the very good documentary on lost Seattle soul posted on this site. Of course some of it was, "We should've made it big," and, "We should've gone to L.A., and then we would've made it big," and the proverbial, "No one gave us a break."

Not so fast. I just bought "Wheedle's Groove," the complilation of music from that documentary and era. It's a solid group of soul songs, but not outstanding. Perhaps one song on there should've received radio play. Much of it is pretty good funk and I'm glad I bought the album, but compared to EWF, Ohio Players, Slave, etc., other large funk groups, the Seattle groups don't even compare.

"Standing in the Shadows of Motown" was truly a great film. I enjoyed it, but at one point a guy says, "They could've put Huckleberry Hound in front to sing and it would've sounded great."

Again, not so fast my friend [[to paraphrase football annoucner Lee Corso). Berry Gordy knew what he was doing. He put people like Smokey Robinson, Levi Stubbs, Diana Ross, David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks, up front. Great singers and performers. I doubt a Huckleberry Hound sounding voice would sell [[though at times Miss Ross can sound like Minnie Mouse).

In the great book "House On Fire" about the rise and fall of Philly Soul, specifically PIR, we get the typical backing musicians lament, "We were doing the grooves, we were the ones making it happen."

Perhaps, but I don't have any copies of MFSB's solo albums, but I sure as heck have a lot of O'Jays and Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes.

Voices matter.

Yes, Funk Brothers should've been given credit on albums more, and perhaps they should've received more dollars. That may be the same for MFSB. But the assumption that anyone with even a marginal voice could've fronted these groups and sold millions? No way.

Back to the Seattle sound: It's good stuff, not great. If those groups would've gone to L.A., in my opinion, you would've gotten buried by the competition.