{"id":6137,"date":"2016-01-03T12:57:49","date_gmt":"2016-01-03T17:57:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=6137"},"modified":"2016-01-03T13:16:33","modified_gmt":"2016-01-03T18:16:33","slug":"velvet-hammer-happy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=6137","title":{"rendered":"Velvet Hammer – Happy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Example\"
\n<\/strong>
\nThe reunited Velvet Hammer!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Example\"
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download – Velvet Hammer – Happy MP3<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Greetings all.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I hope the new week finds you well.<\/p>\n

The tune I bring you today is one of those records that I happened upon quite by accident, and fell in love with instantly.<\/p>\n

Oddly enough, the song popped up in a medley in a video by the \u2018Northern Soul Girl\u2019 Levanna Mclean,<\/strong> in which she dances through the streets of Bristol, UK, first to Pharrell Williams \u2018Happy\u2019, and then to another song that I\u2019d never heard before.<\/a><\/p>\n

I found out in short order that the tune was \u2018Happy\u2019 by the group Velvet Hammer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Recorded in 1977 in Chicago, with the songwriting and production assistance of none other than Andre Williams<\/strong> (this may be the latest thing I\u2019ve ever heard by him) \u2018Happy\u2019 is a delirious mixture of a danceable beat (thus it\u2019s popularity with the Northern Soul crowd), sweet soul falsetto soul and a classy arrangement.<\/p>\n

What I know about the group I owe to the efforts of the late, sweet soul expert Bob Abrahamian<\/strong>, who traced the group\u2019s roots to the 1960s Chicago group the Admirations<\/strong>, on through their evolution into the Green Berets<\/strong>, the High Society<\/strong>, and then in the mid-70s, into Velvet Hammer.<\/p>\n

They recorded an entire LP for the Chicago-based Soozi Records (apparently run by the owners of a chain of barbecue restaurants!), from which \u2018Happy\u2019 and its b-side \u2018Party Hardy\u2019 were culled.<\/p>\n

As I mentioned above, \u2018Happy\u2019 has that straight up, four on the floor beat that endears it to the soulies, yet it\u2019s couched in an elegant, restrained arrangement (dig the way the organ and the jazzy guitar play against the strings) that makes it as easy to listen to as to dance.<\/p>\n

It tends to be a relatively pricey 45 (especially after it was featured in the video above), but seems to have settled down a little (the promo, like mine, tends to run a little cheaper than the issue on the flowered label).<\/p>\n

If you get a chance, take a look at the video of the reunited Velvet Hammer performing the tune live.<\/a><\/p>\n

I hope you dig the tune, and I\u2019ll see you all on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Keep the faith<\/strong><\/p>\n

Larry<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Example\"<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong> \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

____________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived!<\/strong> The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock.<\/strong> They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US).<\/strong> Click here to go to the ordering page.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The reunited Velvet Hammer! Listen\/Download – Velvet Hammer – Happy MP3 Greetings all. I hope the new week finds you well. The tune I bring you today is one of those records that I happened upon quite by accident, and fell in love with instantly. Oddly enough, the song popped up in a medley in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14,24,69,12,18,142],"tags":[171,166,169,164],"class_list":["post-6137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-funky16corners","category-northern-soul","category-original-versions","category-soul","category-soul-45","category-sweet-soul","tag-chicago-soul","tag-funky16corners","tag-northern-soul","tag-soul"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-1AZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6137"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6182,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6137\/revisions\/6182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}