{"id":6559,"date":"2016-08-28T10:58:49","date_gmt":"2016-08-28T15:58:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=6559"},"modified":"2016-08-28T10:58:49","modified_gmt":"2016-08-28T15:58:49","slug":"the-velvelettes-these-things-will-keep-me-loving-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=6559","title":{"rendered":"The Velvelettes – These Things Will Keep Me Loving You"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"Example\"
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Listen\/Download – The Velvelettes – These Things Will Keep Me Loving You MP3<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Writing and listening to music as much as I do, I often wonder why some groups are considered \u2018major\u2019 and others are not.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, it\u2019s obvious issues of quality that disqualify a group, but often it\u2019s less objective criteria.<\/p>\n

When you consider a group like the Velvelettes<\/strong>, who had three R&B hits (one a year for 1964, 1965 and 1966) only one of which grazed the Top 20, most people \u2013 at least casual listeners \u2013 would not think of including them alongside much better known acts.<\/p>\n

However, to soul fans, who are willing to dig a little deeper and familiarize themselves with slightly less obvious facts (like who produced a record, for instance) the Velvelettes are a group worth reconsidering.<\/p>\n

They made seven 45s between 1963 and 1966, almost all classics, and for most of that time were one of the early examples of the genius of Norman Whitfield.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whitfield wrote and produced all but their first and last singles, and they remain among the finest things to come out of the Motown hit factory in its prime.<\/p>\n

The record I bring you today was the group\u2019s swan song, and though Whitfield was no longer involved, the Velvelettes were in good hands, indeed.
\n\u2018These Things Will Keep Me Loving You\u2019 failed to chart here in the US, but it was a favorite of the soulies in the UK, where it grazed the Top 40 in 1966 and then returned to it in 1971 (another one of those records that the Northern Soul explosion brought back into the charts).<\/p>\n

Written by Harvey Fuqua, Johnny Bristol<\/strong> and Sylvia Moy<\/strong> (and produced by Fuqua and Bristol), \u2018These Things Will Keep Me Loving You\u2019 is one of those records whose absence from the charts is positively mind-boggling.<\/p>\n

It is beautifully written, performed, arranged and produced, highly danceable, and with enough hooks to make an east crossover into the Pop charts, yet, bizarrely, it did not.<\/p>\n

I always attribute these incidents to the veritable deluge of high quality music entering the market in the mid-60s, yet in this case it is especially curious and galling.<\/p>\n

Had the Velvelettes had the opportunity to remain with Whitfield, and had lead vocalist Cal Gill<\/strong> not decided to leave music (at least temporarily) it\u2019s possible that we\u2019d be talking about the group in the same breath as the Supremes<\/strong> or Martha and the Vandellas<\/strong> (and certainly their records are at least as good as both) instead of trying to bolster their reputation.<\/p>\n

Though their 45s aren\u2019t incredibly hard to find, they\u2019re not cheap, either, and this one can be a little more expensive than most. That said, all of their work is easy to find in reissue, and is, as described above, indispensable.<\/p>\n

So dig it, and I\u2019ll see you on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

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

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

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

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____________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

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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

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

The Velvelettes Listen\/Download – The Velvelettes – These Things Will Keep Me Loving You MP3 Greetings all. Writing and listening to music as much as I do, I often wonder why some groups are considered \u2018major\u2019 and others are not. Sometimes, it\u2019s obvious issues of quality that disqualify a group, but often it\u2019s less objective […]<\/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":[14,209,76,24,12,18],"tags":[166,169,164],"class_list":["post-6559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-funky16corners","category-motown","category-norman-whitfield","category-northern-soul","category-soul","category-soul-45","tag-funky16corners","tag-northern-soul","tag-soul"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-1HN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6559","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=6559"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6635,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6559\/revisions\/6635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}