Motown was about presenting poppy black music. meaning polishpolishpolish. early stevie and marvin was str8 up targeted to black folks but filtered through an aesthetic that didnt run off white folk who as a whole couldnt digest the rawness of raw soul. i played some syl johnson on me show today, the track 'is it because i'm black?' this song wda neva come out of motown on the main label, maybe tamla ala eddie kendricks 'my people hold on' but neva the blue label. and to compare those two songs, i 'ont think motown woulda touched syl's song with a mile long pole even with the tamla label in early '70s.
Aretha was soul in the late 60s and the cats backing her had more soul than was coming out of detroit and they were white.
Otis was on some ol jukejoint type soul. str8 raw. white ppl as a whole to this day are scared of that energy.
-----------------------
>Otis put his mojo right out >in front. He wasn't trained >how to hold the mike >or how to stand on >stage. He was raw, >church soul. Marvin's father >was a sanctified preacher so >he came from the same >root as Otis. But, his >desire was to present himself >in a less threatening less >masculine manner. This was fostered >by Mowtown and it was >successful at getting crossover success. > > > >Remember that Otis got crossover success >with the hippie-love crowd who >rejected the poofy poodle skirt >and big hair style.
------------------------- ::bounce'n off yo'radar:: Blaktroniks - Testing Colonel Red - Soul Believer Til Tuesday - Voices Carry Prickly Pear/Jinesis - Ppl Kashif - The Mood Blk Bobby - The Grn Lite Zo/Tigallo - Human