The Best of the Velvelettes [Import]

Product Description
Budget price compilation for the Motown girl group. Featuring 15 of the 16 tracks on the closest domestic equivalent (including their hits, 'Needle In A Haystack', 'He Was Really Saying Something', 'These Things Will Keep Me Loving You') along with four additional tracks. 2001 release. Standard jewel case.

The Best of the Velvelettes,Velvelettes,Universal/Spectrum,Girl Group,Motown,Pop-Soul,Popular Music,R&B/Soul,Soul,Soul/R & B,United States of America

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Average customer rating: Expanded version of only LP An under-rated Motown group The Boy From Xtown ........at last

The Best of the Velvelettes Velvelettes Manufacturer: Universal/Spectrum ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | R&B | Styles | Music Motown | R&B | Styles | Music General | Soul | R&B | Styles | Music Girl Groups | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music R&B | Imports | Stores | Music Similar Items: Brenda Holloway - Greatest Hits & Rare Classics [Karussell] Kim Weston - Greatest Hits & Rare Classics The Essential Collection Our Day Will Come: Very Best of The Ultimate Collection ASIN: B00005AFQ3 Release Date: 2001-07-02

Tracks:

1. He Was Really Saying Something
2. Lonely Lonely Girl Am I
3. Since You've Been Loving Me
4. There He Goes
5. That's The Reason Why
6. I Know His Name (Only His Name)
7. Should I Tell Him
8. Throw A Farewell Kiss
9. These Things Will Keep Me Loving You
10. I'm The Exception To The Rule
11. Needle In A Haystack
12. A Bird In The Hand (Is Worth Two In The Bush)
13. Let Love Live (A Little Bit Longer)
14. I'm So Glad It's Twilight Time
15. Think Of The Times
16. Stop Beating Around The Bush
17. Love Is Good
18. Save Me (My Ship Of Love Is Sinking)
19. The Boy From Crosstown

Album Description

Budget price compilation for the Motown girl group. Featuring 15 of the 16 tracks on the closest domestic equivalent (including their hits, 'Needle In A Haystack', 'He Was Really Saying Something', 'These Things Will Keep Me Loving You') along with four additional tracks. 2001 release. Standard jewel case.

Album Details

Not as Well Known but Still Part of the History of Motown, the Velevelettes Had their Five Minutes of Fame in the Early 60's.

Customer Reviews:

Expanded version of only LP.......2005-03-11

Although the Velvelettes gave Motown a number of hit singles in the mid-sixties, they had to wait until 1999 before they were awarded the luxury of their own LP, a US compilation fleshed out with some unreleased nuggets from the legendary Motown vaults. This very welcome more recent UK collection improves on that album as its final four additional tracks are previously unreleased.
These include their version of The Boy From Crosstown, which as it was laid down between January and August 1965, pre-dates the Marvelettes' released version recorded May/June 1966 and also produced by Norman Whitfield; and the Mickey Stevenson produced Stop Beating Around The Bush, recorded in 1964. This has long been sought after on acetates and bootlegs and has gone down very well in the Northern clubs, so its legitimate release is alone cause for celebration.
When they signed to Motown in 1963 the Velvelettes featured lead singer Cal Gill, her sister Mildred, Norma and Bertha Barbee and Betty Kelly, though Betty left in 1964 to replace Annette Sterling in Martha and the Vandellas. In 1966 they were upgraded from the subsidiary VIP label to the Soul label. The quartet line-up remained stable until 1967 when two left to marry and were replaced by Sandra Tilley and Annette McMillan, who feature on I'm So Glad It's Twilight Time, one of the tracks that was quite undeservedly left unreleased until 1979. Slightly confusingly, only three girls are shown in the cover picture and are not identified.
Possibly the domination and promotion of the Supremes at the time was at the expense of other Motown acts such as the Velvelettes as listening to and enjoying these 19 songs now it seems surprising that only their handful of hits are at all well known.
This is an extremely worthwhile and overdue collection, at a very generous price. Disappointingly, all tracks are in mono. Of their major hits included here, to my knowledge Needle In A Haystack and He Was Really Saying Something appear on Big Motown Hits And Hard To Find Classics Vol. 2 in true stereo; likewise Lonely Lonely Girl Am I, These Things Will Keep Me Loving You and A Bird in The Hand are to be found in full stereo on This Is Northern Soul! Vol. 2. I do not understand why Motown or the labels who license their recordings are still so parsimonious with their stereo mixes 30-40 years after the fact, or why they do not clearly state on the sleeve whether tracks are stereo or mono

An under-rated Motown group.......2004-01-01

The Velvelettes never actually had an album release during their time with Motown, so this compilation comprises three hit singles, their B-sides, some unsuccessful singles and some tracks never released during their years together. Some of the previously unreleased tracks were made available on an American compilation released in 1999. Four more were dug out of the archives for this British compilation released in 2001, which also includes everything available on the earlier American set. The four extra tracks include a cover of The boy from Crosstown (first recorded by the Marvelettes) and Stop beating around the bush (a track that had previously been popular with collectors via bootleg copies).

There he goes failed to chart in 1963. Needle in a haystack was an American number one hit in 1964 and was followed up by He was really saying something, another huge hit. Lonely lonely girl am I and A bird in the hand missed the charts in 1965. These things will keep me loving you provided the Velvelettes with their third and last hit in 1966. Their comparative lack of success is probably due to competition from their own label-mates, the Marvelettes, the Vandellas and the Supremes, but though there are some similarities in style with all of those fine groups, they had a distinctive sound of their own.

If you are a fan of sixties Motown and not just the obvious stuff, the Velvelettes are well worth a listen.

The Boy From Xtown ........at last.......2001-08-25

The last track on the album.......but one of the best! Thank you UK Spectrum for this and the other 3 never before issued tracks from my favourite singer of all time....... Cal Street - you are the best!

Average customer rating:

1964: Shakin' All Over (Time Life Music Classic Rock) Major Lance , Brenda Holloway , The Hondells , Jumpin' Gene Simmons , The Velvelettes , Jimmy Hughes , Bobby Bland , The Impressions , The Searchers , and Gerry and the Pacemakers Manufacturer: Time-Life Music ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B000FPHJBS

Product Description

Song listing: 1 Roy Orbison Oh, Pretty Woman (2:58) 2 Major Lance Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um (2:22) 3 Peter & Gordon I Don't Want To See You Again (2:01) 4 Chuck Berry Nadine (Is It You?) (2:34) 5 Brenda Holloway Every Little Bit Hurts (2:53) 6 Beach Boys, The Don't Worry Baby (2:49) 7 Hondells, The Little Honda (2:05) 8 Jumpin' Gene Simmons Haunted House (2:35) 9 Velvelettes, The Needle In A Haystack (2:26) 10 Dionne Warwick Walk On By (2:53) 11 Gerry & The Pacemakers Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying (2:37) 12 Diana Ross & The Supremes Baby Love (2:39) 13 Searchers, The Don't Throw Your Love Away (2:17) 14 Ventures, The Walk, Don't Run '64 (2:25) 15 Marvelettes, The Too Many Fish In The Sea (2:30) 16 Little Anthony & The Imperials I'm On The Outside (Looking In) (3:09) 17 Jimmy Hughes Steal Away (2:28) 18 Bobby Bland Ain't Nothing You Can Do (2:31) 19 Jan & Dean Drag City (2:17) 20 Martha Reeves & The Vandellas Quicksand (2:36) 21 Impressions, The Talking About My Baby (2:32) 22 Bobby Vinton Mr. Lonely (2:39)

Average customer rating: Much More Than A Motown Footnote I cant' really rate it 5 because.... Great Motown Delightful, long-lost Motown 1 Monument, 1 Souvenir and the rest is filler.

The Very Best of the Velvelettes The Velvelettes Manufacturer: Motown ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | R&B | Styles | Music Motown | R&B | Styles | Music General | Soul | R&B | Styles | Music Girl Groups | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music General | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music ASIN: B00000IFUF Release Date: 1999-03-23

Tracks:

1. He Was Really Sayin Somethin
2. Lonely Lonely Girl Am I
3. Since You've Been Loving Me
4. There He Goes
5. That's The Reason Why
6. I Know His Name Only His Name
7. Should I Tell Them
8. Throw A Farewell Kiss
9. These Things Will Keep Me Loving You
10. I'm The Exception To The Rule
11. Needle In A Haystack
12. A Bird In The Hand (Is Worth Two In The Bush)
13. Let Love Live (A Little Bit Longer)
14. I'm So Glad It Is Twilight Time
15. Think Of The Times
16. Season's Greetings From Motown (Bonus Hidden Track)

Amazon.com

The Velvelettes were a Vandellas-style girl group that never quite gained a foothold at Motown, despite two deathless singles, "He Was Really Sayin' Something" and "Needle in a Haystack." This collection--their first album--contains some other examples of their near greatness; interestingly, two of the best, the pounding "Let Love Live (a Little Bit Longer)" and the touching "I'm So Glad It's Twilight Time," never got past the company's Quality Department and finally appear here. --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews:

Much More Than A Motown Footnote.......2007-07-31

In 1961 at Western Michigan State University sisters Millie and Carolyn Gill and their cousins Bertha and Norma Barbee, perhaps inspired by earlier black girl group pioneers like the Cookies, Teen Queens, Bobbettes, Shirley Gunter and "The Queens" and Chantels, and most certainly by The Maarvelettes, grouped together to form The Velvelettes.

Their initial work involved performing at small clubs throughout the state which eventually brought them to the attention of IPG Records where they cut There He Goes, attracting just enough interest to bring them to the notice of a Motown agent, a label they joined in 1963.

The only problem was, The Marvelettes were already well established [seven hits to date] with the Tamla subsidiary, The Supremes, with one hit under their belts and another ready for release, had been ticketed for the main Motown label, while Martha [Reeves] & The Vandellas held down the fort on the Gordy subsidiary, registering one solid hit and with Heat Wave ready to begin chewing up the charts.

So, at the beginning of their Motown career, the girls had to be content with doing background vocals for other Motown stars, albeit not to the extent of yet another girl group, The Andantes. Initially consisting of Jackie Hicks, Louvain Demps, and Marlene Barrow, and eventually joined by Pat Lewis, The Andantes - who also performed as The Blackberries - reportedly worked on over 20,000 Motown songs and would never have their own single release.

That was not to be the fate of The Velvelletes, however, and in 1964 their very danceable single, Needle In A Haystack, was released on the V.I.P. subsidiary, reaching # 45 Billboard Hot 100 that November [the Billboard R&B charts had been temporarily suspended] b/w Should I Tell Them.

By the time of their second V.I.P release early in 1965 the R&B charts had been re-instated and this time He Was Really Sayin' Something made it to # 21 R&B and # 64 Hot 100 in March b/w Throw A Farewell Kiss. A V.I.P. LP titled The Velvelettes was then recorded that year but, sadly for their future, was never released. At least two of the tracks from that album are included here [2 and 12], and there are reports that the entire album has been bootlegged and is currently floating about on the black market.

Always given musical hand-me-downs in favour of the three big Motown girl groups, they began to despair of ever having another hit, to the point where all but Carolyn pulled out. Subsequently adding Betty Kelly, Sandra Tilley, and Annette McMullen, the group had a minor R&B hit for the Soul label in October 1966 when These Things Will Keep Me Loving You reached # 43 [and "bubbled under" on the Hot 100 at # 102] b/w Since You've Been Loving Me.

But this collection would also soon dissolve, with Kelly and Tilley becoming Vandellas in two of that group's many incarnations. Relegated to a footnote in the vast Motown history, these girls deserved much better.

I cant' really rate it 5 because...........2005-09-29

PBS was doing a pledge drive with all Motown and I caught the Velvelettes. I vaguely remember them but now I wish i had spent more time listening to the Velvelettes than the glitzy Supremes. I was so impressed by watching them on the PBS special now I try to catch it in rerun. (The way they were just moving on the stage and I thought "my god these ladies have class and style and talent and they are still going at it after all these years). It is too bad that now 40 years later they are being recoginzed for talent but late is better than never.

Great Motown.......2002-06-26

The Velvelettes, finally an album after 30 some years, if you like the great girl groups, get this cd, in the tradition of Motown enjoy The Velvelettes!!

Delightful, long-lost Motown.......2002-04-11

How sad is it that an album of songs recorded in the early sixties wasn't released until 1999? Sad, I suspect, if you happened to be a Velvelette, and sad, you'll discover, if you are a Motown fan. There is some powerful stuff on this CD. I'll avoid putting it as crudely and as succinctly as I'd like, and resort to "these girls have testosterone." While the Supremes were all glitz, class, sophistication, airiness, and smoothness, the Velvelettes are soulful, powerful, grounded, and solid.

Compare their version of "These Things Will Keep Me Loving You" to Diana Ross' cover- you'll find the V's offer more soul, intensity, and force. "Needle in a Haystack" is catchy and jumpy; you'll be moving and grooving as you take their advice. "Bird in the Hand" is gorgeous- Motown at its finest. The lesser-known cuts will delight as well: "That's the Reason Why" is marvelous. I find no filler at all here, but rather a string of Motown gems.

If you are a fan of Motown, take the time to dive into this CD. The voices and harmonies are spectacular, the Motown musicians show their finest wares, and the total effect is supreme (sorry-that works better than saying the total effect is velvelette!).

1 Monument, 1 Souvenir and the rest is filler........2001-12-15

He Was Really Saying Something is a great song. It is Motown at it's happiest. The Bananrama version, which was my first introduction to this song, is so lame compared to the original. The other good cut is Needle In A Haystack. A great Martha and the Vandelas style romp. The rest of this collection is second shelf. I do love Motown.

Average customer rating:

The Best of Motorcity Records Volume 2 Chuck Jackson , Kim Weston , The Fantastic Four , Sisters Love , Ivory Joe Hunter , Jake Jacas , The Velvelettes , Sandra Edwards , Scherrie & Lynda Jean , and Barbara Randolph Manufacturer: Motorcity Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Blues | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music ASIN: B000B6KKSA

Product Description

The Best of Motorcity Records Volume 2// 1. All Over The World - Chuck Jackson 2. Case of Too Much Lovemaking - Kim Weston 3. Back in Circulation - The Fantastic Four 4. Courage - Sisters Love 5. Running Through My Fingers - Ivory Joe Hunter 6. Forever in the Groove - Jake Jacas 7. It Keeps Reminding Me (Of Happy Memories) - The Velvelettes 8. Tow-Away Zone - Sandra Edwards 9. Hit and Miss - Jean, Scherrie & Lynda 10. Chasing the Hurt Away - Barbara Randolph 11. Watching the Hands of Time - Billy Preston 12. My Brother - Frankie Gaye 13. Man up in the Sky - Johnny Bristol 14. Talking in My Sleep - Barbara McNair 15. Look up to the Sky - The Elgins 16. Standing Still - The Monitors

Average customer rating:

Best of the Velvelettes The Velvelettes Manufacturer: Hot Productions ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | R&B | Styles | Music Motown | R&B | Styles | Music General | Soul | R&B | Styles | Music Girl Groups | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music General | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music ASIN: B000001QXP Release Date: 1996-04-02

Average customer rating:

The Very Best of Northern Soul L.J. Johnson , Sandra Edwards , Evelyn Thomas , Barbara Pennington , Barbara McNair , The Lovestones , Linda Grinder , The Velvelettes , Richard "Popcorn" Wylie , and Edwin Starr Manufacturer: Hallmark Music & Entertainment ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B000NYO45U

Product Description

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