If Motown didn’t write the book on modern American pop songwriting, it must’ve at least laid claim to one of the best chapters. This Detroit label was like a lens that focused the R&B that came before into the soul, pop, disco and more that would come later, and even more than fifty years after the hits started coming, the best Motown songs remain masterpieces in the truest sense. (Including, of course, producer Norman Whitfield’s 1963 Temptations album Masterpiece.) This Motown revue (part of a roster usually booked into casinos and cruises) breezes through the highlights of at least two decades of pop artistry, and it’s a testament to the Motown sound that these songs still sound so strong.
Thu., Jan. 22, 8 p.m.; Fri., Jan. 23, 8 p.m., 2015
