Various: Standing In the Shadows of Motown soundtrack

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * * *)

The soundtrack to the brilliant doco — which screened at the Auckland Film Fest last week — about the session men behind the Motown's golden era might sound a curiosity if you hadn't experienced the movie first. While the recorded-live backing arrangements are vital and true to the original, the vocals are replaced by a younger generation of singers — Ben Harper (I've Heard It Through The Grapevine), Msehsell Ndgeocello (You've Really Got a Hold On Me) and Joan Osborne (What Becomes of the Broken Hearted) being among the stand-outs.

Add in a bunch of familiar-but-different takes on Motown classics, as well as the groovy instrumentals of Bernadette and You Keep Me Hangin' On and this ends up one enjoyable album of karaoke-soul. And if it seems every generation gets the movie-propelled Motown revival it deserves — think The Big Chill, The Commitments — then this one's the best yet.


Label: Universal