what do you think?
i think joan osborne's performances were the best and chaka khan's were the worst.
i thought joan osborne's "what becomes of the broken hearted" was the absolute best. bootsy collins was terrible in my opinion.
Tiocfaidh ar la.
You're completely right. And Ben Harper was second-best---a revelation!
shareI don't know about a bad performance; I think the Funk Brothers could make Michael Bolton sound good! Anyhow, Joan Osbourne's performance of "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted" was by far the best.
sharem'chele indegeceello (sp) was the worst. she was a lazy performer, relying on the great back-up singers to carry her. in fact, the back up singers were the best part of the live performances. best was gerald levert. i could think of better artists to represent the unique soul of motown other than ben harper and joan osbourne.
shareI have to agree with the "better artists to represent the unique soul of motown" comment. I am curious as to why other, more prominent artists didn't perform. Though, I have to admit that I really do groove on Osbourne's take of "What Becomes..."
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Okay, I thought Joan Osborne's was the best, too, but I also thought Gerald Levert, rip, was just as good.
I thought Ben Harper, who is that guy, along with Ndescho, or whatever the hell her name is, were awful! The rest were somewhere in the middle.
I think that unless each and every one of you are musicians, this is a really stupid thread....
..no, I take that back, now that I've read the entire thread it doesn't matter (I KNOW most of you aren't musicians, it's obvious)... this is a stupid thread
Note to Musicians: don't bother reading this gawdforsaken waste of electrons and magnetic dipoles, just watch the movie.
There is no WORST anyone or anything in the documentary. It was magnificent!
I was so overwhelmed by it all, it brought tears to my eyes.
Well, I think musicians -- especially Motown musicians -- have a very thick skin and are used to dealing with smarmy remarks from the great unwashed public, which also has a right to voice their opinions, even if they appear shortsighted.
I don't think there's any need to rank performances "best" and especially "worst" here, where all of the musicians played off each other. This was not "American Idol" (thank God).
That said, I was really mesmerized by Joan Osbourne and was saddened that her career seemed to plummet after a strong start.
Just a simple word of support for your comments. The other previous comments on this thread are jawdroppingly inane and show an amazing lack of appreciation for an outstanding set of performances. One beneficial effect of free speech is that it allows one to expose himself as completely ignorant regarding any given subject. This thread has provided several examples of that assertion.
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When Joan sang the first few lines of Heard it Through the Grapevine earlier in the movie, I was really hoping that she would be performing that song. I think grapevine is a song that is perfectly suited to her skills. Harper was ok, but man, just imagine...
shareI keep hoping that when they start shooting 50th anniversary specials, They bring Joan onboard and have her sing Grapevine with the Funks. I also hope Ashford and the other guys can mend their fences and play together.
Larry
joan osborne and chaka khan were the best. mshelle ndege ocello does what she ALWAYS does, which is lag behind the beat cause she's cool or something. she is a one trick pony. ben harper, meh. bootsy collins eh. the guy who did shotgun was great.
shareJoan sang all those great tunes with the Funk Brothers at a concert
at the Montreal Jazz Fest in 2004. An amazing show, I did my own dvd
of it, I think you can buy the real thing from the folks that run the
Jazz Fest.
ld
When Joan sang the first few lines of Heard it Through the Grapevine earlier in the movie, I was really hoping that she would be performing that song. I think grapevine is a song that is perfectly suited to her skills. Harper was ok, but man, just imagine...
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I thought ALL the performances were great. Of course, each of them added a little bit of their style. Hey, that's okay with me as long as it's still a good sound. This film was so good. Joan Osborne's performance of "Heat Wave" was killer good. Actually, I'd never heard of her. She can really nail a tune. I'll be looking up her recordings now. Man, I remember hearing these tunes on my little transistor radio on the way to school. I wasn't much into soul but I listened to everything. Now I'm watching this video and trying to play along on my guitar. I can't hang with 'em but it's sure fun to try!
shareJoan surprised me, she was really good. I thought M'chele Indegeceello was the worst. She sounded like she was on downers and was waaaaaaaaaaay behind the beat.
shareOsborne the best (Khan a close second). Harper the worst -- lacking sweetness, and couldn't hit the high notes on "Heard it through the Grapevine".
shareI thought that Gerald Levert and Joan Osborne were the best. Ben Harper was the absolute worst. I know that David Ruffin and Marvin Gaye have big shoes to fill, but he didn't even come close.
shareHer hit song that everyone knows her from did NOT show off her amazing voice at all, IMO.
I loved Chaka Khan as well, she is really a jazz singer in her heart - though she became famous as a funk singer (and is darn good at it). I think Marvin would have loved her take on "What's Going On."
Yeah, that stupid "One of Us" song... She had two minor hits off that same album that were actually really good, and showed off her voice and had some soul to them, so of course it was the boring whitebread thing that was the big hit.
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Joan Osbourne's version of "What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted" was astonishing. I thought all the performances were good, but I guess Bootsy's take on "Cool Jerk" was the weakest (though I hate that song in any case).
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