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Funk brothers vs the wrecking crew
- Thread starter Precision101
- Start date
To paraphrase Big Duke Wayne, if one was better than the other, I sure as hell wouldn't want to live on the difference.
(I read Kent Hartman's "The Wrecking Crew" a month or so ago. Couldn't put it down!)
(I read Kent Hartman's "The Wrecking Crew" a month or so ago. Couldn't put it down!)
Tough choice. Wrecking Crew rhythm section vs. Funk Brothers rhythm section ? I'd take the Funk Brothers.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
Different time, different sound. You could throw in Stax (Duck Dunn et al). Love 'em all.
Definitely. But for melody I'd take wrecking crew. Timing and groove-funk brothers.
Nailed it. Comparing the Detroit, LA and Memphis sounds is like comparing... you know the rest.
The OP's question is meaningless unless you throw in the Stax rhythm section (Booker T & the MG's) and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Personally, I'd take either of these over the OP's choices. YMMV
Which do you prefer among commercial rock tunes oriented toward white rock radio, rootsy Memphis tunes oriented toward R&B commercial radio, or northern industrial commercial tunes deliberately oriented toward R&B commercial radio AND for crossover to white-oriented stations-- "The Sound of Young America," per Berry Gordy's aspiration?
Each rhythm section was a function of its place and time. The LA folks might get the nod for breadth of sheer capability and professionalism because they were thrown such a wide range of things. Personally, I vote for the Funk Brothers - they had the good fortune to be working with a production machine that had a singular vision and included producers, writers and arrangers who had the good taste to give the Brothers a lot of latitude, but within a context that lead to an identifiable feel and style, but also permitted development and application of that style across a wide range of grooves, and which was not afraid to embrace and incorporate jazz and latin influences. I love the Stax stuff, but those players didn't get the range of grooves and challenges that were available through the Motown songwriters. Conversely, the LA folks confronted so much material, in such a diffuse fashion, that unless you start subdividing the folks into particular sub-genres (like Kunkel, Sklar, Wachtel et al. doing country rock), you don't get a particular groove identity.
But hey, opinions are like lower intestinal tracts - everybody has one!
I like what I like and try not to over think why. They were all, no doubt, excellent in their own way, but I have to admit that I hated the west coast beach music. Make that beach music, period. Motown, for the most part is to "uptown" for me. I like bottom-heavy driving soul music.
Yeah, like I said, tough choice. I really dig the early Phil stuff like The Ronettes., Wall of Sound indeed. But, The Funk brothers seemed to do more with less, imho,, and were an actual working band, who would play instrumental versions of some of the songs on their gigs, thus making a very cohesive unit, much like the Stax guys who went out to tour with the artists they recorded with.
Love the stax records and the group I guess I just narrowed it down a bit. Duck Dunn is fantastic!
Ok that's Carol Kaye vs James Jamerson on bass comparison and Tommy Tedesco vs Eddie Willis/Joe Messina/Robert White. I couldn't choose a best representative guitar player from the funk brothers because those 3 are so close skill level wise. Whereas Tedesco is definitely the best guitar choice from the wrecking crew because I used Carol for bass even though she's 1 hell of a jazz guitar player. My favorite funk brothers guitarist is probably Joe Messina because he started out as a bop guitar player and played with some of the greatest jazz musicians of all time on that late night show band he was in.
Hi Rhythm Section | Memphis Music Hall of Fame
Don'r leave these guys out in any discussion of great Rhythm sections! Just sayin...
As to the OP, apples & oranges. PBS recently aired "The Wrecking Crew" documentary by Denny Tedesco-
EXTREMELY interesting; they were Pro's pros.
As to the Funk Bros? Does it get any better than James Jamerson et al? I think not.
Don'r leave these guys out in any discussion of great Rhythm sections! Just sayin...
As to the OP, apples & oranges. PBS recently aired "The Wrecking Crew" documentary by Denny Tedesco-
EXTREMELY interesting; they were Pro's pros.
As to the Funk Bros? Does it get any better than James Jamerson et al? I think not.
DiabolusInMusic
Functionless Art is Merely Tolerated Vandalism
I'm thankful we were blessed by all those and others, they all brought more beauty into the world than was ever given to them.
