‘Soulful’ films highlight history of record labels

Oct 9 2009 by Barbara Hodgson, The Journal

A TRIO of films is to track the history of three iconic record labels, taking in music legends such as the Supremes and Bob Marley.

In its mini-season programme billed as “a juicy range of films, succulent with soul”, Side Cinema near Newcastle Quayside is celebrating three classic independent labels – Motown, Chess and Island – on successive Tuesdays between October 13 and 27.

Each will be introduced by Chris Phipps, pop historian and former producer of North East music showcase The Tube, who co-produced and wrote the third film, Time Will Tell, a biopic of Chris Blackwell’s Island Records which showcases previously unseen footage of the label’s biggest star Bob Marley.

But first up, next Tuesday, in the Independents Day line-up is Standing in the Shadows of Motown, a 2003 film by Paul Justman which re-united the Detroit label's original session musicians for a one-off performance.

It was the label dubbed the sound of young America; getting people dancing in the streets by backing talents such as Marvin Gaye, and the Supremes (who are soon to be the focus of a new exhibition at Shipley Art Gallery in Gateshead).

Then, on October 20, it’s the turn of Chess’s Cadillac Records.

Darnell Martin’s 2009 film re-creates the days of Chicago’s Chess Studios where blues and R&B stars like Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry were snapped up by the enterprising Chess brothers and went on to inspire a trans-Atlantic generation of young musicians from the Rolling Stones to Led Zeppelin.