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VIP 25030 (A), November 1965
b/w Since You’ve Been Loving Me
(Written by Norman Whitfield and Edward Holland Jr.)
Ladies and gentlemen, the return of the Velvelettes. My one-man campaign to raise the profile of Motown’s most criminally overlooked group isn’t helped by this being the first time we’ve written about them here on Motown Junkies in over a year, which gives you some idea just how far down the Hitsville pecking order the ladies had fallen.
Apparently, this song – which, like every Velvelettes single, is excellent, let’s get that out of the way right at the start – was intended as a follow-up to their previous, stupendous Motown 45, Lonely Lonely Girl Am I, back in the summer. But someone at Motown decided they didn’t like the final mix, cancelling the single (slated for VIP 25021, for all the discography nerds out there) and commissioning several new overdubs which were eventually discarded anyway. By the time this sneaked out at the end of 1965, any momentum from Lonely Lonely Girl Am I was lost, and the single failed to chart; there would be just one more Velvelettes 45 before the group disbanded.
But let’s stay on the bright side. This is yet another fine seven-inch from the least-heralded of Motown’s genius writer/artist partnerships, Norman Whitfield’s burgeoning stock within the company owing much to the brilliant interpretation of his ideas by the Velvelettes, who are on excellent form again. If it’s not quite the equal of the two world-beating Velvelettes efforts that came before, well, only in Velveletteworld could this be considered any kind of disappointment, because it’s splendid.
In the liner notes to The Complete Motown Singles: Volume 5, lead singer Cal Gill (who provides a lovely series of recollections) singles out the James Jamerson bass and Jack Ashford tambourine on this track for special praise, and she’s absolutely right; this pummels along like it’s on rails, the constantly-bashed four-to-the-floor tambourine showing up R. Dean Taylor’s horrible Let’s Go Somewhere (which had tried the same trick to disastrous effect) for the disappointment it is.
If the delay in getting this one out to the people initially makes it seem as though the Velvelettes are taking their cues from the Marvelettes and Vandellas, rather than providing them, a look at the recording dates reveals that once again, the Whitfield/Velvelettes team are at the cutting edge of the Motown sound, muscular and menacing. It’s not their fault a six month holdup pushed them back in the Motown innovation pack as we transition into 1966.
To listen to a good Velvelettes record is to be transported, in so many ways. There’s something magical about the Velvelettes when they hook it all together, something which makes it a lasting regret they didn’t have a longer time in the sun at Motown. Knowing their story was all but finished, on top of the fact that nobody at the time seemed to care, it’s difficult not to start pining for the great late-Sixties Velvelettes songs we never got to hear, the new songs they might have teased out of Norman Whitfield, the amazing records that might have resulted. The pain is eased by the group’s Motown Anthology double CD set, collecting together their considerable unreleased Motown output, which is positively stuffed with quality castoffs – but when you hear something like A Bird In The Hand, which again seems so effortlessly brilliant compared to almost any pop record you care to mention, you can’t help but feel we missed out.
Here, they’re on top form again, their intricate dovetailing harmonies (very much a Velvelette USP) as mesmerising as ever as they swirl and loop around the listener, a three-ring circus of sound with Cal Gill barking like a ringmaster. Apparently she had a case of laryngitis coming on when her lead vocals were laid down, accounting for her throatier, raspier lead vocal here in comparison to the smoke and silk of her earlier cuts, but Whitfield liked the effect so much he forced her through several takes to get the right amount of breathy worldliness into the sixteen-year-old lead singer for her to convincingly dispense seasoned relationship advice.
It worked; she gives it the full Martha Reeves here, with spectacular results. When she leaps up the register with a heartfelt exclamation of “HOLD ON TIGHT is the thing to do” at 2:14, we’re witnessing what should’ve been the start of a magnificent new phase in an already highly accomplished singing career, rather than the beginning of the end. Yes, yes, I know, spilt milk, tears, whatever.
The chorus is yet another killer stomp of repetitive elements and a blasting 4/4 beat, once again underlining just how good the Velvelettes were at selling this sort of thing, Cal switching off altogether for the other Velvelettes to take up the mantra-like earworm chant – bird in the hand is worth two in the bush now / bird in the hand is worth two in the bush now – and floating over the top with her interjections (“Remember girls! Hold on!”) And the high harmonies are just again slotted in exactly right, fitting the rhythm with digital-watch timing (“Hold on, baby, to what you got!”) It’s just a remarkable record.
It’s not my favourite Velvelettes 45 (we’ve had those already), but what it is is another outstanding Motown single, full of hooks which will instantly take up residence in your head for weeks, from a group who were unjustly overlooked at the time. It should have been another fantastic track to go on the million-selling best-of package their brilliance deserved; instead, it’s one of the last things Motown released on them, one of the last things left to remember them by. But it does them justice, there’s no doubt about that.
MOTOWN JUNKIES VERDICT
(I’ve had MY say, now it’s your turn. Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment, or click the thumbs at the bottom there. Dissent is encouraged!)
You’re reading Motown Junkies, an attempt to review every Motown A- and B-side ever released. Click on the “previous” and “next” buttons below to go back and forth through the catalogue, or visit the Master Index for a full list of reviews so far.
(Or maybe you’re only interested in The Velvelettes? Click for more.)
Stevie Wonder “Purple Rain Drops” |
The Velvelettes “Since You’ve Been Loving Me” |
DISCOVERING MOTOWN |
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Landini said:
This is a delightful record. Very nicely sung & arranged. However, I can understand why it wasn’t a big crossover hit. I feel like it has that few extra degrees of “Soul” that kept many wonderful records from becoming big top 40 hits. I imagine this record would be popular on Teen Dance Party TV shows because of its danceability. When I was a young un, i was introduced to many great soul/R&B/Motown records via their airplay on Teen Dance Shows.
Major thesis material — I wonder if the Velvelettes could be the “missing link” between the Supremes & Vandellas???
Second possible thesis — Did Motown aim certain records for the “pop” market & others for the “soul” market???
Okay I’ll stop! Ha ha ha!
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Lord Baltimore said:
Regardless of Real-Time Chart Status, this single has the officlal MOTOWN stamp on it; You know right off this is the Funk Brothers (Fill in the group). This is the window in time where Motown could do no wrong, but we simply couldn’t afford to buy everything they put out. I just heard this for the first time 5 minutes ago, and it was immediately accepted as a good song I had overlooked in my research (I’ve misplaced my fine tooth comb somewhere. I would personally give it a “7”, but would not begrudge someone for giving it an “8”.
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The Nixon Administration said:
Your fine tooth comb can be saved a job by simply following this rule: is it a Motown 45 by the Velvelettes? Then it’s a good song.
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nafalmat said:
I first became familiar with this recording in February 1968 when it was initially released in Britain on that great compilation LP “Motown Memories” TML 11064 which was specifically compiled for the UK market and had liner notes by Dave Godin. I was immediately hooked on it, and indeed the whole LP. The “Motown Memories” album was released at the same times as The Supremes “Greatest Hits” LP, and these two albums I used to play nearly every evening during the winter/spring of 1968. They were both worn out by the end of that year and I had to buy replacements the following year. Although lyrically, this song is pretty basic, the melody is very strong and the production and mix are incredible. It’s just loaded with excitement and power. Love it!!
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144man said:
If Berry Gordy was inspired by the Detroit automobile assembly lines, you can almost hear how the individual pieces are put together on “A Bird In the Hand”. It’s still a high quality product, so 8/10 is a fair mark.
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The Nixon Administration said:
That’s an interesting point – this is the most obviously “modular” Motown 45 we’ve had for a while, with the different components laid on top of each other, and that concept is taken even further on the next (and final) Velvelettes A-side we’ll meet. Yet there’s an argument (by me, anyway) that nobody ever made art out of such paint-by-numbers structures like the Velvelettes, such was their mastery of the interlocking harmonies and floating lead.
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144man said:
I’ve never considered “These Things…” as sounding contrived, but “A Bird In the Hand” is a jigsaw-puzzle of a record that seems to have a worrying self-consciousness in the precision of its construction. Ultimately, it is not more than the sum of its parts (and good parts they are too!), whereas in comparison “These Things…” is a masterpiece.
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Seacow said:
Does anybody know anything about the recording/engineering setup at Hitsville? It seems that by the end of 1965, the records develop a certain clarity and spaciousness that, to my ears at least, had been somewhat missing in many of the earlier records. On top of that, James Jamerson’s bass really comes up in the mix by this point, and I think that this song is the best illustration of that so far. No wonder Cal Gill singled out his (and Jack Ashford’s) part. To me, the bass has never sounded as fat and clear as it does on the opening of this song, and it doesn’t lose an ounce of its power as the other instruments and voices pile up. This is my favorite Velvelettes record so far. A 9/10 for me.
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mndean said:
I don’t know anything about the Motown recording setup except what I’ve seen here and there, some of which stated they did upgrade and Jamerson was playing through the board rather than through his B-15 by the time of this recording, actually even earlier from what I read. Older album tracks like Jr. Walker and the All-Stars’ “Mutiny” (recorded Dec ’64) have Jamerson similarly prominent in the mix.
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Robb Klein said:
It has great background tracks, and great singing. But, I don’t think it’s all that extraordinary. I’d rate it at 7.5 – 8 on a good day, and 7 on a bad day. Still, a very nice song to hear.
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Landini said:
Hi Robb! I hope you are doing well. What do you think about my theory that Motown produced some records for the Pop market & others mainly for the R&B market?
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Robb Klein said:
I think that Motown was trying to capture both markets with most of their releases, but some were better aimed at one or the other. I think it had more to do with the vision of the producers, songwriters, arrangers and singers than with a “company policy”.
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John Plant said:
While it’s true that this can be seen as a very belated follow-up to ‘Needle in a Haystack’ – another ‘proverb/advice’ song – there’s a joyful vitality and a near-demonic energy to every aspect of the song which makes it really splendid. When Cal sings ‘The grass looks greener on the other side/but you just might be taken for a ride’ – there’s a gusto and a momentum which irresistibly invites us to accept the invitation to be taken along for this particular ride, even if we follow her excellent advice as regards affairs of the heart. I can live with an 8 – bearing in mind that this puts the song in the same ranking as ‘Dancing in the Streets…’ and I’m deeply sad to know that there’s only one more Velvelettes single to come. I NEVER heard a Velvelettes single when it was new.. The closest was the inclusion of ‘Needle’ in Motown Hits vol. 6 – all the others were 45s which surfaced (for me) in record stores years after their release.
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Dave L said:
I didn’t hear this at all till the first half of the 90s, and I flipped. This is outstanding.
Don’t chance losing a love that’s true
For a love that might last a day or two,
Why gamble when you have a sure thing
You might end up losing everything
That fantastic bass and tambourine intro, and Gill’s both alarmed and authoritative lead. I just love it. It is my favorite Velvelettes record, and I’m pissed that I didn’t learn of it in the autumn of 1965, a tornado of warning to provide contrast to the sustained and secure bliss of “I Hear A Symphony.”
It is readily the equal or better of the other, girl-to-girl ‘advice’ songs from Motown: Haystack, Fish, Heartbreak Dead Ahead and You’ve Been In Love Too Long. Would anyone argue it didn’t deserve at least much public familiarity as those other greats?
Put me down for a 9. 🙂
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John Plant said:
You could make a wonderful anthology of these advice songs, perhaps from both sexes – balancing the masterpieces Dave just mentioned (to which I would add ‘Never Leave Your Baby’s Side, less liberating than the others, perhaps but O what power!) with ‘You Can’t Let the Boy Overpower’, ‘Beauty’s Only Skin Deep’, ‘Shop Around’ etc. .. Thanks Dave, I never could quite decipher the third line of that quatrain you quote.
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bogart4017 said:
Theres nothing i can say that hasnt already been said except i think its a shame the way this and other Velvelettes releases (as well as the Monitors and the Elgins) were marketed. They mostly turned out “turntable hits” that needed just that extra push to be as big as a Temps release. It took a little extra effort back then to find a Velvelettes single or you would have special order it from a little mom and pop record store. The fact that some radio stations ignored this and other Velvelletes records astounds me too this day because i remember going to platter parties and if you heard the Supremes or the Tops you were going to hear “He Was Really Saying Something”.
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MichaelS said:
Take a listen on youtube to mosogotam’s extended version of this song. He ups it, imo, to at least a “9.”
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soshe said:
A great track indeed, but for me, the Velvelettes at the very top of their game has to be “These Things Will Keep Me Loving You”.
Any chance of including that one in a review?
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The Nixon Administration said:
It’s the final Motown 45 the Velvelettes released, so it’ll be reviewed in full when we get to it.
We’re going through the entire Motown singles catalogue in chronological order – quite slowly at the moment as I’ve been snowed under with work, family and radio stuff, but some new reviews are due to go up starting on Friday to get us back on track (not that it’s been too bad having the Velvelettes advertised to the wider audience for two weeks…!)
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soshe said:
Excellent.
Carolyn Gill was a much underrated talent during her time at Motown
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jam said:
Although I already knew the song I purchased one of the ‘Hard To Find’ Motown CD’s with a take on this where the percussion sounds, to me anyway, just like birds twittering in the bush. Made me love it all over again.
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Kevin Moore said:
Yet another example of why it would be so cool to add a field to each song showing how high it got on the charts or how many it sold. There have been dozens of fantastic songs so far that I’m hearing for the first time, but this one sounds quite familiar (although, ironically, I hadn’t been familiar with the group name “Velvelettes” before coming here). Was this record a big hit? Or did someone else have a hit with this song?
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Robb Klein said:
It certainly did poor nationally. It wasn’t even played on KGFJ in l.a. or KDIA in Oakland. I think i remember a few plays on WVON but, only for a few days or a week, and it didn’t chart. So, it MUST not have even gotten any play on Pop station. I don’t remember any other Motown act singing it, and certainly not any non-Motown artist.
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Kerry L May said:
This song in my opinion, by the Velvelettes stands toe to toe to anything the other motown girl groups. Released at that time(not to diminish any of them). This song i feel, was one that truely helped define the motown sound!
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