When became the most successful musical of the 1981-1982 Broadway season, composer and lyricist 's score was not the primary reason most observers pointed to, opting instead first for director/choreographer 's imaginative, non-stop staging and second for the talented cast, led by in the role of Effie Melody White. (In the plot's fictionalized retelling of the story of Motown Records and the rise of, Effie is the character, shunted aside by manipulative record company president Curtis Taylor, Jr. (read: ) in favor of the bland Deena Jones (read: ), who he thinks is more likely to reach a crossover audience. Playlist The Very Best Of Tyrese Rarest. ) and did succeed in providing a showcase for in the volcanic torch song 'And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going,' which topped the R&B charts and made the original Broadway cast album a gold record (a rarity for show music LPs by 1982), but on the whole their score struggled to achieve its twin goals of shadowing actual Motown and other pop music of the '60s and early '70s, while also expressing plot and character points. Twenty-five years later, the score has been reshaped for a movie version of. On this 20-track soundtrack album (there is also a 36-track deluxe edition), even less of an attempt has been made at fidelity to the sounds of the '60s; in these new arrangements, the songs, which always had elements of early '80s Adult Contemporary styles, lean even more toward American Idol power ballad territory.

Ironically,, which on-stage was sort of an anti-star vehicle driven by the injustice against Effie and her subsequent revenge, has been partially transformed into a star vehicle for other characters. One of those characters is Deena, here played, even more ironically, by who is, arguably, the of her times in more ways than one. (, her former group, also had its share of controversy and personnel changes, with attendant lawsuits.) Not surprisingly, Deena Jones is softened in the movie and given a new solo song, 'Listen,' co-written. That the song is out of character for Deena and defies the logic of the plot doesn't seem to matter; must have a showcase, and this is it.