Marvin Gaye's isolated vocal track for "I Heard It Through The Grapevine"

By Jack Brummet, Music Ed.



I have been amazed at the a cappella (actually, isolated) vocal tracks coming out from classic albums the last couple of years—especially Abbey Road, Queen, a bunch of Karen Carpenter songs, and this, which I just heard tonight.  Wow.

   

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It's A Family Affair by Sly & The Family Stone (and happy 70th birthday to Sly)

By Jack Brummet, Music Ed.

Happy 70th birthday to Sly Stone a/k/a Sylvester Stewart later this week... [listen in, but ignore the strange marina footage...what did that have to do with anything?].  We forget now, but Sly changed music with one of the first interracial rock/funk/soul bands with women and men, white and black. And he turned music on its ear, adding funk and rock, guitars, and women into the mix. He did this in 1968, and we still haven't caught up. Motown and Volt/Stax never really recovered.

BT Dubs...this is one of my favorite songs to sing at karaoke.  The best version was at a family function with Keelin and my sisters in law on the chorus and me on those rough-edged vocals.

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Motor City meltdown, part 17: Police guild warns people to avoid Detroit

By Jack Brummet, Cities and Metroplex Editor

The men and women  of the Detroit Police Department now believe their city is flat out too dangerous to enter.  And they have begin letting the citizens know this.

Detroit Police Officer Association Attorney Donato announces a couple of weeks ago that the members of the Association would be holding an “Enter At Your Own Risk” rally at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, October 6th.  The police were gathering in front of Comerica Park to let the public know that their police force is "overworked, understaffed, and at times, fearful for their lives."

“Detroit is America’s most violent city, its homicide rate is the highest in the country and yet the Detroit Police Department is grossly understaffed,” Iorio told Kathryn Larson, a reporter, from WWJ, . “The DPOA believes that there is a war in Detroit, but there should be a war on crime, not a war on its officers.”

This flyer/handbill was passed out by Detroit police prior to the Oct. 6 rally.:

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Marvin Gaye "heard it through the grapevine" hit No. 1 on the charts 43 years ago today::::::How Marvin changed the music biz

By Jack Brummet, Music History Editor

43 years ago today, in 1968, Marvin Gaye hit No. 1 on the charts with "I Heard It Through The Grapevine," one of the great R&B songs of all time, and the biggest selling Motown single up to then.

MG also changed the way that corner of the music business worked.  He controlled the recording and arrangements of the song, and along with Buddy Holly, Brian Wilson, Stevie Wonder, and other makers and creators, broke the crooked--and stifling--music business system where artists ("talent") were robots, answering to the producers and A&R men.  MG's album "What's Goin' On?" with its sweet melange of of funk, jazz, and Latin soul was a strident departure from the Motown Sound, and was Motown's first really autonomous work, made without the "help" of Motown's staff producers, A&R men, or Barry Gordy himself.

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