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Motown Sound (formulaic; consistency of musical style):

• lead singer with vocal backup
• strong professional orchestration (strings, brass, sax, keys, & percussion)
• beat is always strong with a heavy backbeat, often reinforced by handclaps
• used bari sax to double bass & provide solos
• predictable harmonic modulation 3/4 through the song
• no real improvisation or deviation from the predetermined arrangement

Formula for success (Gordy insisted on total control, allowing little or no deviation):

• Holland-Dozier-Holland compositions & production
• Eddie Holland--worked w/vocal leads
• Lamont Dozier--vocal backgrounds & instrumental tracks
• Brian Holland--overall composition, assisting with backup tracks
• lyrics avoided controversy (mostly boy-girl romance)
• choreography by Cholly Atkins; emphasis on synchronized precision
• employed an etiquette coach (how to look, talk, walk, & behave in public)
• vocal coach

concept of "family": assisted each other in the recording process & relationships developed between performers

Gordy insisted on absolute control

The Marvelettes

Please Mr. Postman

(#1, 1961)

• Motown's first #1 hit
  • eventually, covered by both the Beatles & the Carpenters
• spawned an interest in female groups
  • e.g., Martha (Reeves) & the Vandellas ("Heatwave," #4, 1963; "Dancing in the Street," #2, 1964)
• early 70s, Reeves fell out of favor when she began questioning Gordy's distribution of money

Marvin Gaye

• Gaye was a session drummer who toured with the Miracles
• he was also a talented singer/songwriter

I Heard It Through the Grapevine (#1, 1968)

here is a unique recording of Marvin Gaye's isolated vocal track for this song (be patient ... there is about 20 seconds of silence at the beginning, since the intro takes about that long (remember, this is an isolated vocal track (vocal only). What a voice!! [This track was initially found here at purpleclover.littlethings.com, but it is no longer available, so I have embedded it below.]

 

What's Going On?

(#2, 1971); On this album (also entitled What's Going On?) which it #6 reveals Marvin Gaye as a talented songwriter, as well as performer. His lyrics combined concerns about the unreset in U.S. inner cities and the war in Vietnam at a time when few popular music artists were addressing such socio-political issues.

• married to Gordy's sister
  • Anna Gordy Gaye was 17 yrs older than Marvin
• for Marvin Gaye, the late 1970s troubled times began ...
  • bitter divorce from Anna
  • IRS pressure
  • drugs
  • bankruptcy
• 1984 - shot & killed by his own father (a minister, suffering from mental disease), after threatening suicide numerous times

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