Trama

Documentary about the Funk Brothers, a group of Detroit musicians who backed up dozens of Motown artists.

In 1959, Berry Gordy Jr. gathered the best musicians from Detroit's thriving jazz and blues scene to begin cutting songs for his new record company. Over a fourteen year period they were the heartbeat on every hit from Motown's Detroit era. By the end of their phenomenal run, this unheralded group of musicians had played on more number ones hits than the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, Elvis and the Beatles combined - which makes them the greatest hit machine in the history of popular music. They called themselves the Funk Brothers. Forty-one years after they played their first note on a Motown record and three decades since they were all together, the Funk Brothers reunited back in Detroit to play their music and tell their unforgettable story, with the help of archival footage, still photos, narration, interviews, re-creation scenes, 20 Motown master tracks, and twelve new live performances of Motown classics with the Brothers backing up contemporary performers.—Anonymous

The plot is the history of these fantastic musicians and their crucial involvement in the success of the Motown, (and Tamla), record label(s). The stories told, mostly by the principles themselves, are a fascinating look at the City of Detroit when it was very much alive and contained countless music venues, clubs, ballrooms, etc. which are now gone. The film is an extremely moving account made exponentially more so by the deeply felt faithful renditions of some classic hits performed by contemporary young artists during the film. Never was the term 'unsung' more appropriate than it is for the Funk Brothers. One can only hope that they have seen some remuneration from this film, as the record company left them mostly high and dry when it moved to LA, virtually in the middle of the night. At the end of the film we are shown very enthusiastic crowds entering a theater to see the Funk Brothers and the young admirers and adherents perform live. Previously in the film there have been performances by this gathering of highly talented artists but one hasn't really been aware of the audience in the dark back ground.