THE RECORD PRODUCERS
Monday 27 August 2007
1900-2000
Richard Allinson and Steve Levine present the latest programme in the second series of the Record Producers.
In celebration of ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 2’s sixties season, the subject of this documentary is the legendary team of Holland/Dozier/Holland.
Whilst concentrating on their golden period at Berry Gordy’s Motown label, the programme will also highlight their pioneering use of multi-track recording techniques several years before it was fully recognized on material by The Beatles and The Beach Boys. It will also focus on the establishment of their own record labels – Invictus & Hot Wax.
For the first time on UK radio and with the full co-operation of Lamont Dozier, listeners will be able to hear original session multitracks of classic songs from his personal archive, including You Can’t Hurry Love, How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You, This Old Heart Of Mine and The Same Old Song. Richard and Steve will play a previously unheard ‘jazz’ version of Baby Love as well as unearth an alternative Levi Stubbs vocal for Reach Out I’ll Be There – demonstrating how different a song can sound when a melody we know and love so well is given a different interpretation.
The programme includes new interviews with not only all three members of the production team, but also Abdul ‘Duke’ Fakir (Four Tops), General Johnson (Chairmen Of The Board), Bob Babbitt (bass player, Funk Brothers), Louvain Demps (from Motown sessions singers The Andantes) and other recording luminaries.
This edition will also mark a first for the ‘Record Producers’ series, with a specially extended ‘Producer’s Cut’ aired on 6Music on Saturday 1st September.
The extended 90-minute version will delve deeper into the original session tapes and include extra music and commentary on the production team’s post-Motown work with their own Invictus/Hot Wax labels.
