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Nice Basses in Dreamgirls

Dr. Cheese

Dr. Cheese

Supporting Member
Mar 3, 2004
57,348
120,764
Metro St. Louis
#1
I caught Dreamgirls with the family tonight. It was a good, not great movie with lots of good music. What I did enjoy was the basses were all very accurate for the period. Even the 1970's restrospective seen features a bassist with a 1970's Jazz. Early on their is a guy with a '62 Jazz. There are several shots of P-basses with the bells on, and one seen with a '55 P-bass.
 
#3
you'd better hide, steve21. cuz if i find you......

nuke.gif
 
#4
Hey,Dr. Cheese-
I saw "DreamGirls" yesterday, and I was going to post as well!

I agree about the film, some GOOD Motown-type tunes, so-so plot,etc.
etc. Jennifer Hudson sings her ass off, and Eddie Murphy did an excellent job-

But the Bass-Players/Performing "parts"! Very good-
The instruments were vintage, & I'm sure you noticed both the
B-15 in the studio and the Kustoms on stage. Nice touch from whoever took care of those details.
There was also some nice jazz upright playing as well.
In addition, I stayed for as many of the credits as possible, to see if the players themselves were credited- To me it seemed like they were actually players; their positions and fingering was matching the music-
Either I missed it, or they weren't named.
Interesting to see this stuff on the big screen...


BTW---
Not sure I understand the reason for the previous reply :confused: ...
 
#5
realdeal said:
Hey,Dr. Cheese-
I saw "DreamGirls" yesterday, and I was going to post as well!

I agree about the film, some GOOD Motown-type tunes, so-so plot,etc.
etc. Jennifer Hudson sings her ass off, and Eddie Murphy did an excellent job-

But the Bass-Players/Performing "parts"! Very good-
The instruments were vintage, & I'm sure you noticed both the
B-15 in the studio and the Kustoms on stage. Nice touch from whoever took care of those details.
There was also some nice jazz upright playing as well.
In addition, I stayed for as many of the credits as possible, to see if the players themselves were credited- To me it seemed like they were actually players; their positions and fingering was matching the music-
Either I missed it, or they weren't named.
Interesting to see this stuff on the big screen...


BTW---
Not sure I understand the reason for the previous reply :confused: ...
Click to expand...


I'll confess, you have a better eye than I do; I didn't catch the amps. I agree, they did a great job on details. I'll never forget when I saw the great Clint Eastwood film on Charley Parker. In the scene, when where rock and roll had taken over New York in the 1950's, they had a guy on stage at the Apollo with a Stingray!!!:eek: Just imagine, Charley Parker died before there were even split coil P-basses, let alone Stingrays.:o
 
#6
Stingray? That is just piss poor prop work.

I mean, would you film Iwo Jima with guys using M-16's?

I'm looking forward to seeing this movie as well, it is not
often anything comes out of Hollywood any more that isn't
worthless drivel.
 
#7
It WAS pretty cool-Whoever takes care of such details in the scenes
either really knew their history, or did their homework!

In emulating the whole Supremes-Motown era in the film, the backing musIcians represented the Funk Bros. the players who MADE the Motown sound happen and were undoubtedly the most in-the-pocket section ever. There's even some dialogue in the movie where Jamie Foxx' character tells the rhythm section to "keep it back in-the-pocket"!
That line alone qualifies this movie for best picture IMO~:cool:

The P-and J basses shown were stock, and right-on for the era-
I seem to recall a couple of nice 'Bursts and a Black finish, as you said, complete with bridge and pup covers! Sweet!

A sweet B-15 was shown in the background, hooked up & ready for a session, just like it woulda been in the day; and the Kustom tuck n' roll rigs were shown on stage, just like Jamerson used in concert.

Whatever else "DreamGirls" accomplishes in terms of Box-Office, awards, or whatever, Good on those involved for giving the Bass details the accuracy & props it deserves. The Fender Bass MADE that music, which pretty much defines Modern Popular sounds.
 
#9
It was realistic-

Jamie Foxx plays a character based on Berry Gordy-
Obviously the Funk Bros. kept the music in the pocket-

The scene and the dialogue had to do with his (Gordy's) desired tempo, feel, and attack of the song that was being recorded.
He was telling the rhythm section to lay back; take it "back to the pocket", along those lines.
No doubt there were different versions of many Motown tunes rehearsed before the final cut was recorded.
And along with the Funk Bros, Berry Gordy's contribution to the Motown Sound was equally important.
Check out the movie, the rhythm section/bass depictions are pretty
right-on.
 
#10
I was checking out the basses also ... this is what I remember:

P-Bass (3TS)
P-Bass ('51 or '54 w/White PG)
J-Bass (3TS & ashtrays)
J-Bass (Arctic White w/Tort & ashtrays)
P-Bass (Black w/White PG)
J-Bass ('77 style -- Nat w/Black PG. Especially cool because this was during the "Disco" era of the movie.)

... whomever was doing the props, did their homework!
 
#15
Loved it. I noticed the basses too. I couldn't help but notice a little well deserved nod toward The Funk Bros. The basses were nice too. I did notice. I always notice things like that. That and cars. Making sure they don't slip a car from a future year in there. You'd be surprised how often they do that. Sigh. I'm not a proud man. :scowl:
 
#16
I liked the little throwaway lines on the news reports as well (George Martin expressing interest in working with the Dreams, matching a potential Supremes/Beatles collaboration in real life) - where in an alternate UK, the label (Rainbow) would have been distributed through EMI (matching the Tamla Motown imprint), Luxembourg/Caroline/Radio London would have been playing out their stuff till '65 followed by Radio 1 in '67, they'd have been bimbling into Associated-rediffusion to record Ready Steady Go and into BBC Manchester then Lime Grove for TOTP...

I caught it on Channel 4 the other day then streamed it off Blinkbox to catch all the dressings and props - and I did geek-squee like you all did..
 

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