There were eight Funk Brothers left. That's when the bell went off in my head, and I wanted to do something for the guys who had given me all of the information about Jamerson, so I thought, all right, well, let's go.
11 Years of Hell
Allan: You can't believe what we had to go through to get this film made. I saw Hearts of Darkness, the making of Apocalypse Now. Coppola didn't struggle anywhere near what I went through! And I'm not being facetious: I lived like a lunatic for 11 years. I pawned my guitars, or sold them off and re-bought them, hundreds of times.
I remember the lowest I ever got: I had all seven of my guitars in the pawnshop. I had just taken my last one over, I was hoping to get some checks in, or something, before the weekend, when I had some gigs. As soon as I got home, I got a call from Sigma Sound, which is a big recording studio in Philadelphia. So I had to bum some money, get the guitar that I had just pawned, then I had to pay the service fee, because as soon you walk out the door, it's an instant month of interest. Then I go play the gig, as soon as the gig's over, I bring the guitar back, pawn it again to get the money so I can bring it back to my neighbor. And that's the way I lived for 11 years.
We had lawsuits, we had deaths. There were actually executives (who shall remain nameless) who actually tried to torpedo it. And even when we were making the film, once we got funded, it was still insane.
"God was the Art Director"
Allan: After 11 years, the guys in the Funk Brothers thought I was nuts. But they were right with me for the first five or six years, because they figured, "Well, he did get the book done. And he did win an award." But after six years, it started to wear thin. They were always polite, but I think they were treating me like the crazy aunt again. "Oh, there's Slutsky, talking about the movie again."
So finally it happened, and they didn't believe it! I remember calling [pianist] Joe Hunter when I was up in Detroit, and saying, "Joe, come over here, I've got a check for you. We're ready to go!"
He said, "Oh man, c'mon, I'm too old for this s***!"
Article comments
1 - Philip Walker
I read that Allan slutsky was writing a biography of Junior Walker - is this true.
Please let me know
Regards
2 - Mac Diva
Barry Gordy did work on a car assembly line in Detroit briefly. It was sometime between his prize fighting career and when he penned his first hit for good friend Jackie Wilson.
I think the Motown assembly line myth is somewhat cliched. There is too much variation in how Motown acts sound for it to be really true. Phil Spector's wall of sound is more formulaic. As was Philadelphia International Records' sound later. What Gordy did was organize. He made acts fit a fairly rigid schedule of recording and performing. Some of the best, such as Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, rebelled. They were not suited to regimentation.
The last word I had on the Funk Brothers was that they have fallen out with their 'discoverers,' i.e., the men who brought them out of obscurity. Litigation was in progress.
3 - Reg
Regardless of the location of the assembly line, there is no denying that Gordy created a sound that is still raved about today. How many of these fantastic artists would have remained undiscovered if it had not been for Gordy's business genius?