Motown: The Sound Of Young America

by Adam White, Barney Ales, Andrew Loog Oldham (Foreword)

The music of Motown defined an era. From The Jackson 5 and Diana Ross to Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson, Berry Gordy and his right-hand man, Barney Ales, built the most successful independent record label in the world. Motown not only represented the most iconic recording artists of its time and produced countless global hits, it created a cultural institution that redefined pop, and gave us the vision of a new America: vibrant, innovative, and racially equal.

In this first official visual history of the label, new research, a dazzling array of images, and unprecedented access to the archives of the makers and stars of Motown lend new insight to the legend. In addition to extensive specially commissioned photography of treasures extracted from the Motown archives, as well as the personal collections of Barney Ales and Motown stars, Motown: The Sound of Young America draws on interviews with key players from the label’s colorful history, including Motown founder Berry Gordy, Barney Ales, Smokey Robinson, Mary Wilson, founding member of the Supremes, and many more. 

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, History, Art, Business

400 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2016

Reviews

[John Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone who loves Motown music or has an interest in mid-century Black American culture should give this book attention. The photos are outstanding, the material is comprehensive and authoritative, and the text goes way beyond the true-believer gushing that's usual in music histories to present the story of Motown as it was: as a deliberately profitable business that happened to produce some of the finest mass culture artifacts of its era. I read this book not long after visiting Hitsville U.S.A., Motown's original headquarters, and standing in its Studio A, which features prominently in this book. The book greatly expands on what I learned in Detroit to paint portraits, not just of Motown recording stars, but of the people behind the scenes: the entrepreneurs and sales execs and publicity professionals whose personalities formed Motown just as surely as did the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and the Temptations.

My only quibble is that the book designer does a disservice to the excellent text by setting it in a small, gray, sans serif font that can give you eyestrain in a hurry. Together with the size of the physical book—it's about 10 inches by 12, and heavy—the book is difficult to read as a book, and the reader's inclination is always to abandon the attempt and to get lost in the excellent pictures. Fortunately, the pictures alone are worth the price of the book, but do read the text if you can. You'll become more knowledgeable about Motown than 99% of fans, and you'll have fun doing it.

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Motown sound is the music of my youth. I received an early introduction from my older sister and grew through the music of the 60's. I began the journey learning about the two men Berry Gordy and Barney Ales who are responsible for the development of the sounds of my time. Shroud businessmen and partners in transforming a generation through music and lyrics. The great tragedy is what has happened to Detroit during the past sixty years. The photographs are remarkable and stir vivid memories of my youth. The Temptations, Four Tops, Martha and the Vandellas are my favorites from this label. The most interesting thing I learned was that not all black recording artists were a part of this Detroit recording business. Where were James Brown and Aretha Franklin? Also my single most favorite song, "You Send Me" sung by Sam Cooke was produced by another label. All this music was the sound of my life.

[Lee Wellbrook · Rating 3 out of 5]

An opportunity missed. The pictorial side of the book is wonderful - brilliant photos, montages of album covers, adverts and so on - and is almost worth the purchase price alone. However, the text is leaden (a thing happened and then a thing happened) and is almost entirely focussed on the story of Motown as a corporation rather than as a creative force. Given that it was written in conjunction with Barney Ales (head of sales for Motown), it is heavily slanted towards distribution deals, sales arrangements, financing and so on, and almost entirely misses the fact that, for a period in the 60s and 70s, Motown was a major creative and cultural phenomenon. The Funk Brothers get mentioned once, HDH get a couple of mentions (they were here, they wrote some songs, they left) and so on. If you want a history of the Motown product, and how it captured the imagination of a generation, then I’m afraid this isn’t that book.
Great pictures though...

[John Albers · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the most part, the photographs were great, but the photos and the text did not line up. The author of the book is English, since he devotes a lot of pages to Motown acts on the British tv show Ready, Steady, Go and the sales of Motown product in England. The rise and fall of Motown is an interesting story, the source of television shows, movies and Broadway musicals. The book is good, but not great.

[Keith Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

High quality coffee-table book with a competent narrative but perhaps lacking real analysis of both the artists and the times. But worth it for the pictures which are for the main part excellent and occasionally spectacular.

[M Pye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting book with lots of anecdotes about the singers and the back-room people (Berry Gordy etc...) Lots of photos, so lots of heavy pages-- book was unwieldy to hold! My favorite photo was the Supremes meeting the Queen Mother!

[MirandaLeest · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prachtig boek, vooral vanwege de schitterende foto's. De tekst is helaas wat minder prettig leesbaar.

[Martin Raybould · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marvellous photos - weak text.

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loads of fabulous pictures but a barebones narrative clearly ‘authorised’. A wasted opportunity.

[Chris H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating account, the history of one of the best known record labels in the history of popular music with loads of great photographs too.

[Odd Ball · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars. A fantastic coffee table book, telling the story of Motown with a huge wealth of archival photos and pictures. A must-have for any Motown, or even music, fan.

[Sandy Costanza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful book!

[Joy]

this is an amazing coffee table type bk. it has so many photos of people/places from the time period it covers--but so many of these people continued on making music. even if this is not your style--it is worth looking at. you could play group games trying to guess who did what--when. even pulling up music on your phone/computer. beautiful book with music people you never heard of & those who still make things happen today.

[Hapzydeco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adam White joins Motown founder Berry Gordy and Gordy's right-hand man Barney Ales to deliver a wonderfully written history of Motown. Hitsville U.S.A., an incredible building that housed the sounds of Motown, is featured upfront. A compilation of absolutely stunning iconic photographs of the stars of Motown plus album art and lavishly illustrated posters pay a tribute to the music that revolutionized a generation.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gorgeous photos and spreads. Loved all the Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye photos. Information is rather dryly presented. Best for skimming the paragraphs and poring over the pictures. I need to spend some extra time learning about the 1967 Detroit uprising.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book through Goodreads. A wonderfully written book filled with tons of information. A great look into all these great musicians and people.