"Women of Motown" "The Velvelettes Let Love Live (A Little Bit Longer)"

"The Velvelettes Let Love Live (A Little Bit Longer)"

If you aren't aware that much of the music from Motown has a very distinctive sound, a certain aural aesthetic, that particular "Detroit Sound"; if you aren't aware that there was a 𝒗𝒂𝒔𝒕 difference between Motown's Detroit house band, 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙪𝙣𝙠 𝘽𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨 and every other studio band, this might just be the song that will educate your ears.

These are The Velvelettes. A wonderful group of young ladies who hailed from Kalamazoo, Michigan and were signed to Motown in 1962. The group began with five: Carolyn "Cal" Gill, who sang lead; her sister, Mildred Gill; cousins Bertha Barbee and Norma Barbee; and Cal's friend, Betty Kelley (who later joined Motown's other Girl Group, Martha & The Vandellas). The group started out as five, but eventually became a trio. Theirs is a story unique to Motown groups, and music groups in general; education was first and foremost.

When the group formed in 1961, Bertha Barbee-McNeal and Mildred Gill Arbor were students at Western Michigan University. Bertha's cousin, Norma Barbee, was a freshman at Flint Junior College. Lead singer Carolyn ("Cal") and Betty were the youngest with "Cal" being in the 9th grad and Betty being a junior in high school. There was a pronounced focus on education that was placed well before stardom and this, plus the tight familial bonds, gave The Velvelettes a quality rare among musical artists. At times, members left to continue with their education or to get married and focus on their families.

Because the group wasn't necessarily hungry for stardom, it seemed to have grounded the ladies so that the lack of a string of big Motown hits didn't harm them in any way. You get the impression that the singing was important to them but at the same time, they had other aspirations that helped them avoid much of the hardships other groups endured when the hits stopped.

So now that you've gotten a brief introduction to who these young ladies were, let's return to this sterling example of just what "The Motown Sound" was all about.

"Let Love Live (A Little Bit Longer)" is built on a foundation of a Rock Solid, funky, gritty, driving music bed. The rhythm section rocks with a bluster that no other group of studio musicians ever matched. The Funk Brothers were made up of seasoned Jazz musicians who had built up an alchemy over years of playing in various Jazz clubs. Other records had sported a 4/4, marching beat outside of Motown - Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman" is an excellent example - but Motown developed the groove into an art form.

Color is added to the already tight rhythm track by Motown's ace baritone sax player, Mike Terry. Mike breezes his way happily throughout the record, following, emphasizing, countering James Jamerson's stuttering and gutsy bass line, but also playing in a capacity as rhythmic as Benny Benjamin's exceptional drumming. And speaking of Benny Benjamin, his, as well as the other Motown drummers are one of the elements that immediately identify the difference between a Motown Detroit-recorded production and all other record labels' output. Nobody, 𝒏𝒐𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 could match those signature Motown drum fills and patterns developed by Benny, Richard "Pistol" Allen and Uriel Jones.

So listen to this record. Listen to it more than a few times and you'll hear one of the best examples of there really being a difference between Motown's 60s records and everyone else.

Recording Information from the site Don't Forget the Motor city:

Let Love Live (A Little Bit Longer) (Paul Riser-William Weatherspoon-Sylvia Moy) published Jobete 15-Aug-66

alt title: Come On Home

The Velvelettes; recorded Hitsville, completed 18-Aug-65 ; produced by William Stevenson

13-Sep-65 [acetate]; 45 (M): CBMN 2607-NH1 [title shown as "Come On Home"]
23-Mar-99; CD (M): Motown 31454 9507 2 The Very Best Of The Velvelettes
19-Mar-01; CD (M): Spectrum 544 467 2 The Best Of the Velvelettes [UK]
05-Jun-03; CD (M): Spectrum 067 016 2 Tamla Motown Connoisseurs Volume 2 [UK]
31-Oct-04; CD (S): Motown 980 9372 The Motown Anthology [alt mix] [UK]
31-Jan-06; CD (M): Reader's Digest RDCD 5121-3 The Ultimate Motown Collection - Girl Groups
25-Mar-13; CD (M): Ace CDCHD 1365 Finders Keepers - Motown Girls 1961-67 [UK]

#motownmusic #motown #thevelvelettes #girlgroup #graphics #graphicdesign