"Standing in the Shadows of Motown"

Twenty-three years ago, Greil Marcus described a compilation album called "The Motown Story" as "the history of James Jamerson's bass playing, on fifty-eight hits." There's also a fair amount of misinformation in the narration as well, starting with that false old chestnut that "white performers" simply smoothed out black music for a white audience. "Motown was America's introduction to soul music," says Harper. Maybe it's the pleasure the Funk Brothers still take in playing this music that allows "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" to make it sound so vital, but I don't think that's entirely it.