It gets to you, watching R&B legends such as Sam Moore, Jerry Butler, the Chi-Lites, Carla Thomas and the names above dig deeper into the music they made in the Sixties and Seventies. Journalist Roger Friedman conducts the trenchant interviews -- Moore recalls his dark days as a drug pusher, then performs a killer "When Something Is Wrong With My Baby." Most touching is Thomas, who recently died at eighty-four, duetting with daughter Carla on "Night Time Is the Right Time." Documentarians D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus (Startup.com) blend insights with rare concert footage, creating one for the time capsule.

“Tonight's the Night”

The lead cut and title track from this girl group's debut album, "Tonight's the Night" was written by 19-year-old bandmember Shirley Owens, who sings lead, and producer Luther Dixon. The band from Passaic, New Jersey met in high school, first calling themselves the Pequellos. The song's frank thoughts about sexual and emotional surrender was racy for the time, but that didn't stop the Chiffons from cutting a similar version immediately after the original came out. "We were the first female group to write some of our own material," band member Beverly Lee recalls. "We did have some say-so in our writing."