I think in the past 15 years my Mini Vinyl (45s) collection has doubled in size. The kindness of strangers giving up their collection so I can bring some of them in and make them part of the family of records and CDs here at Hoarders Are Us. Alas, nobody had Call On Me, tho' Ragged Records did have Cruel World (Don Hollinger) for the price of a new CD. Get it before it's gone. At the moment, Ragged Records is still cleaning up from the flood mess of 2019 and it will be another three months before they open up that place. Their second location in Rock Island is open for business.
After a quiet five months, I have been finding some 45s at the usual locations. This week was the Salvation Army having a cart full of 45s, mostly in sad shape but I did buy six of them and five did play, the sole exception: Free Movement's I Found Somebody Of My Own which despite looking fair, the grooves were muddled and sounded bad. I resisted for years of buying scratchy records, but when I got a decent turntable and needle, I decided to experiment. And it turned out that records are slightly more tougher than originally thought. Some of my most played vinyl from years ago, sounds pretty good, especially after a good cleaning. But if there's deep scratches, then that defeats the sense of purpose. A shame that I couldn't save the two Freddie King Federal 45s, and while the Willie Maborn USA single did worked, that too have a lot of surface scratches that could still be heard. Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl, a prized 45 from the The Barbarians simply had dirt buildup that managed to get scrubbed away and sounded like new. Which then gave me the bright idea of why not clean more records? The success rate I'd say about 75 percent. I still would love to find a better version of Call On Me, but the last time I bid on one from EBAY, the final price was 40 dollars and I finished runner up. Since then, I have yet to see another one listed.
So we have to make due what we got. But I still remain hopeful that in my next vinyl adventure, I'll find that, and a few more to boot. I have not been disappointed in my adventures when I did strike it.
What I did find was.
1) Open Up Your Heart-Buck Owens (Capitol 5705)
2) Where Does The Good Times Go-Buck Owens (Capitol 5811)
3) Dumb Blonde-Dolly Parton (Monument MN-982)
4) Saturday Night At The Movies-The Drifters (Atlantic 2260)
5) Ruby Duby Du-Tobin Matthews Orchestra (Chief 7022)
In this collection there was actual record sleeves available, and I took the six best sleeves. Four of them were Hit Records sleeves, to which there was a few Hit Records in the cart, most were scratched up, or probably needed a bath. I'd go back to check if there's still in the cart or some that i could save but that would be a waste of time. But I have been known for a followup, The Buck Owens 45's were the best in shape, The Drifters needed a bath and sounded better afterward. The Tobin Matthews record a curio since I rarely see anything from Chief Records. The Dolly Parton was found inside a trashed Buck Owens picture sleeve and it plays VG-. Tobin Matthews would later have ambitions of being the next Buddy Holly and his sides for USA shows some promise, but later efforts for Columbia and Warner Brothers, it sounds like them trying to turn him from Buddy to Steve Lawrence, with ridiculous arrangements this side of Mitch Miller. And so it goes.
Of course you knew this but I had to make a return trip back to pick up more records but this time taking them home to clean them up. Alas, the third Buck Owens single Before You Go had a scratch that kept skipping over and over so that one will have to go back to the donation pile. The rest of the batch.
6) Guitar Country-Anita Kerr/Chet Atkins (RCA 47-8246)
7) So Long Dearie-Louis Armstrong (Mercury 72338)
8) Things In This House-Bobby Darin (Capitol 5257)
9) What A Price-Fats Domino (Imperial X-5723)
10) Wheels-The String A Longs (Warwick M-603)
11) That's How You Treat A Cheater-Dobie Gray (Cordak C-1605)
12) 8 Great Hits On Gilmar (G-242) 1960
These 6 singles, had to be cleaned up. I had reservations about the String A Longs and Louis Armstrong but after a good clean, the playback was much better, tho. Wheels had a bit of wear on the grooves, The Louis Armstrong single was quite dirty, but played much better after its bath. Louis had a nice hit with Hello Dolly, Dearie made number 56 in 1964. As a child, I did have Mame, which sounds lot like Hello Dolly, So Long Dearie, but of course Jerry Herman wrote all them songs. Not a lot of thought on the banjo, Marti Gras like arrangements and the b side Pretty Little Missy, Louie writes his own Hello Dolly. Both Wheels/Dearie were on hard plastic, to which with a paper label I had to be careful not to wet that down unlike the soft plastic of the Capitol/RCA singles.
The ones that needed to be cleaned the most was the Fats Domino/Bobby Darin singles. The latter I wanted for Wait By The Water, which a few dirt clots in the grooves but they washed out well and there was no major cuts or scratches on that record. Better was the What A Price 45 with Ain't That Just Like A Woman that played just about like new. Usually, Fats Domino forty fives are chewed up and people played them on a regular basis. There was some Ricky Nelson sides but I came to the conclusion that they were beyond repair. You can only wash out the dirt and dust but mold is another story. The Dobie Gray single was warped a bit but played VG-. I had to buy the Anita Kerr single just because I wondered if it was the muzak inspired Nashville sound that purists frowned upon back in the early 60s. Anita Kerr did polished up most of the RCA acts with her vocal group sounds and the Chet Atkins song is polished Nashville. For better or for worse. But then again I was brought up on RCA and the Nashville sound. So I tend to listen to just about everything.
The curio was the Gilmar 8 song EP, to which we heard faceless singers sing the hits of Tall Oak Tree, Baby You Got What It Takes, El Matador, Midnight Special and Puppy Love. Not as polished as say, the artists that recorded for Hit/Giant/Country Western Hits out of Nashville. But back in those days, you can send 89 cents to a PO BOX number in Encino California for the record of the month. If the record was damaged you can send a postcard for a replacement but you could keep the defective record. Kind of a nice set up from a minor label specializing in covering songs made famous. It's hard to know how long Gilmar Records stayed in business. The internet has been vague about that. There were some key HIT Single covers of Beatles numbers but once again it was deemed that the records weren't not savable due to mold, mildew and worn out grooves. They would have paled next to the originals but if you look hard on You Tube you can find those covers. The Gilmar stuff, not so much.
With that, I managed to open up my can of old records that I have had all these years but couldn't play and decided to clean up Desert March from Jorgen Ingmann (Atco 6305). This record has been a part of my collection for over 55 years and where it came from, I'm not sure. It may have been bought at a Lincoln Illinois liquor and smoke store around 1964, or it might have been part of a box of 10 singles bought by my folks in Waterloo a year later, but my guess remains it's more from Lincoln. I've found multiple copies of Cherokee and Apache, but never Desert March.
Which out of all these forty fives that have been cleaned, Call On Me and Desert March are the two that reconnect me from the childhood years of playing them on VF record players on a plastic record arm. To which I am surprised the sound quality of these beaten classics are still good. I also cleaned up Mexico by Bob Moore. The jury is still out if this will be kept in the collection or sent down the road.
Of course you knew this but I had to make a return trip back to pick up more records but this time taking them home to clean them up. Alas, the third Buck Owens single Before You Go had a scratch that kept skipping over and over so that one will have to go back to the donation pile. The rest of the batch.
6) Guitar Country-Anita Kerr/Chet Atkins (RCA 47-8246)
7) So Long Dearie-Louis Armstrong (Mercury 72338)
8) Things In This House-Bobby Darin (Capitol 5257)
9) What A Price-Fats Domino (Imperial X-5723)
10) Wheels-The String A Longs (Warwick M-603)
11) That's How You Treat A Cheater-Dobie Gray (Cordak C-1605)
12) 8 Great Hits On Gilmar (G-242) 1960
These 6 singles, had to be cleaned up. I had reservations about the String A Longs and Louis Armstrong but after a good clean, the playback was much better, tho. Wheels had a bit of wear on the grooves, The Louis Armstrong single was quite dirty, but played much better after its bath. Louis had a nice hit with Hello Dolly, Dearie made number 56 in 1964. As a child, I did have Mame, which sounds lot like Hello Dolly, So Long Dearie, but of course Jerry Herman wrote all them songs. Not a lot of thought on the banjo, Marti Gras like arrangements and the b side Pretty Little Missy, Louie writes his own Hello Dolly. Both Wheels/Dearie were on hard plastic, to which with a paper label I had to be careful not to wet that down unlike the soft plastic of the Capitol/RCA singles.
The ones that needed to be cleaned the most was the Fats Domino/Bobby Darin singles. The latter I wanted for Wait By The Water, which a few dirt clots in the grooves but they washed out well and there was no major cuts or scratches on that record. Better was the What A Price 45 with Ain't That Just Like A Woman that played just about like new. Usually, Fats Domino forty fives are chewed up and people played them on a regular basis. There was some Ricky Nelson sides but I came to the conclusion that they were beyond repair. You can only wash out the dirt and dust but mold is another story. The Dobie Gray single was warped a bit but played VG-. I had to buy the Anita Kerr single just because I wondered if it was the muzak inspired Nashville sound that purists frowned upon back in the early 60s. Anita Kerr did polished up most of the RCA acts with her vocal group sounds and the Chet Atkins song is polished Nashville. For better or for worse. But then again I was brought up on RCA and the Nashville sound. So I tend to listen to just about everything.
The curio was the Gilmar 8 song EP, to which we heard faceless singers sing the hits of Tall Oak Tree, Baby You Got What It Takes, El Matador, Midnight Special and Puppy Love. Not as polished as say, the artists that recorded for Hit/Giant/Country Western Hits out of Nashville. But back in those days, you can send 89 cents to a PO BOX number in Encino California for the record of the month. If the record was damaged you can send a postcard for a replacement but you could keep the defective record. Kind of a nice set up from a minor label specializing in covering songs made famous. It's hard to know how long Gilmar Records stayed in business. The internet has been vague about that. There were some key HIT Single covers of Beatles numbers but once again it was deemed that the records weren't not savable due to mold, mildew and worn out grooves. They would have paled next to the originals but if you look hard on You Tube you can find those covers. The Gilmar stuff, not so much.
With that, I managed to open up my can of old records that I have had all these years but couldn't play and decided to clean up Desert March from Jorgen Ingmann (Atco 6305). This record has been a part of my collection for over 55 years and where it came from, I'm not sure. It may have been bought at a Lincoln Illinois liquor and smoke store around 1964, or it might have been part of a box of 10 singles bought by my folks in Waterloo a year later, but my guess remains it's more from Lincoln. I've found multiple copies of Cherokee and Apache, but never Desert March.
Which out of all these forty fives that have been cleaned, Call On Me and Desert March are the two that reconnect me from the childhood years of playing them on VF record players on a plastic record arm. To which I am surprised the sound quality of these beaten classics are still good. I also cleaned up Mexico by Bob Moore. The jury is still out if this will be kept in the collection or sent down the road.
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