Somehow no one has mentioned the most successful Motown group ever, right behind the Beatles in sales throughout the '60s -- the Supremes. You Keep Me Hangin' On, Love Child, Baby Love, Stop in the Name of Love -- these are great songs. The secret of the Supremes' appeal, besides Diana Ross's vocal talents, was the bass playing of James Jamerson. Amazingly inventive and fast, and he was really at his best, in my view, with the Supremes. Check out "Reflections." If you listen closely, you'll hear that there is no drum, just a tambourine and Jamerson's stunningly driving, rhythmic Fender P-bass. Since funk and soul is so heavily dependent on good bass playing, I think it's important to at least listen to this stuff closely at some point to appreciate the genre as a whole. By the way, Jamerson also played bass for Marvin Gay, the Four Tops, Stevie Wonder and Martha and the Vandellas during Motown's prime.
Soul Recommendations
I really enjoyed the Jazz Recommendations thread, and it is refreshing to get away from the religious debates on equipment. An area of music I want to explore more is soul, and am looking for some help. There is some cross-over between what I like and R&B, but I don't like much R&B released in the last 15 years or so, and there is also much cross-over into Blues. So what I do like in this area is - James Brown, Junior Wells and Al Green. I also like the old Stax stuff (I have the boxed set). But that amounts to my entire soul-tinged music collection - a dozen or so CDs. I don't care for Parliament, Barry White and so-called "sweet soul music" - eg. "Sexual Healing". I know my Jazz and Blues very well, and have very extensive collections there, but in crossing over the line into Soul I have found some great stuff by the artists I have mentioned, but feel I am only scratching the surface and want some pointers (pardon the pun) as to what to go for next. Maybe you will tell me that JB, Junior and Al are it, but hopefully there is more to explore.