The documentary is based upon the book Standing in the shadows of MOTOWN: The James Jamerson Story. That is my perspective in watching this series of interviews, performances and snippets of the past. There is an unevenness in all of these and I found myself grasping onto the pieces that focused on Jamerson and the appreciation that his fellow Funk Brothers had for his talent. vision and performance. If only there was film of that! He influenced every person who ever picked up the bass guitar, whether they know it or not, and it was that life, counter-melody and energy that helped Motown and the Hit machine find its way onto the soundtracks of our lives. Not enough credit was given to the artists whose records they were on, but this is the Amnerican story of the underdog, the musician, those who worked for Barry Gordy. The film itself goes into the spirit of the sessions and surrounding musical times of constant creation, performance and release on and off the radar of their employer. The idea of the musical performances was great and showed that it was the songs that drove the musicians, and not the other way around. Srtill reading charts was evidence that these guys may not have owned their parts in their heads after all, especially Bob Babbit who inherited the greatest role stepping in for James Jamerson, but not committed to memory. The vocalists were hot and cold and most songs were cut off leaving "What's Become of The Broken Hearted" and "Aint No Mountain High Enough" to shore up the stage. The interviews were lackluster as the stories seemed to be told second hand and the recollection seemed to be corner stoop talk and less actual story. It was wrapped by the music and that's what I was thrilled to see, my musical bassist hero, finally given his credit, albeit posthumously.

You need to see this. Period. If you enjoy Motown music, or are a musician, you definitely need to see this movie.The Funk Brothers, the most accomplished musicians in history, finally get their due in this. About time too.This group of 13 musicians played on more number-one records than the Beatles, Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys COMBINED! The least you can do is give them 2 hours of your time.It moves between interviews with the remaining living Funk Brothers, re-enactments of stories they have, and a fantastic concert with the remaining Funk Brothers performing their biggest hits with several modern singers... Chaka Khan, Ben Harper, and (my personal favorite) Joan Osbourne.Allow me to stress my original point. You need to see this.

Everybody knows Motown music and pretty much everybody loves some if not all of the music and artists that came out of that stable. However not many people can name the group of musicians that supported the majority of these artists and are credited as the musical foundation for Motown records. That group of thirteen men became known as the Funk Brothers and this is the story of how they came together and influenced an entire generation of music.With so many reasons to make this documentary worth seeing, is there a reason why it is comparatively hard to find? Anyway, the story told here is not a great story but a collection of simple personal stories that come together to provide the story of the funk Brothers both as people but also as a group. On this level it is interesting, mixing some re-enactments with old footage/photographs but mainly talking heads with the surviving members of the group. The recollections are edited together well to construct a time-line of tales that manage to capture the personal side but also the scale of the influence the music (and the group) had at the time. On top of this, performances of the music for which they are famous are cut in every 10/15 minutes or so. While these are as funky as ever, it would have been nice to see more famous singers performing with them.Then again, maybe it was a deliberate decision to have the singers only be a couple of people who are not that well-known, in order to make sure that it is the musicians who get more attention than the singers – after all, isn't that why most people know the original artists but not the musicians? Also it may have been to back up the claim made early in the film by Jordan that anybody could have sung these songs and the Funk Brothers would have made them sound good! The music does still sound good although I suppose it depends how possessive you are about the originals – for example I didn't mind any of the changes except I didn't think a great deal of Chaka Khan doing "What's Going On?" because I just couldn't imagine anyone else doing it.Overall though, this film hits all the right notes in every sense of the phrase. It is informative and personal in equal measures and, although the original artists are not singing, the musical numbers are as funky as ever and show the influence the Funky Brothers had – crossing oceans, genres and generations.

The mere fact that these 13 people created so much of the best of American music in virtual anonymity is reason enough to watch this movie. But the performances of those great songs...lots of them, make it a really special movie. I think they could have found some better current singers to perform with them in the concert but even Joan Osbourne can sound good with the Funk Brothers playing behind her. Maybe that's the point of the movie. Steve Jordan said it best though when he said that Deputy Dog could have sung to their tracks and made hits. And just for the record, I was kind of proud that at least 2 of the 13 were Caucasian. :-)