It's no secret that I hated high school. I either was being picked on by the upperclassmen or being harassed by the lower grades. None of my high school sweethearts are worth mentioning, although one of them was a good person in HS but when we reconnected 10 years down the road, she was a bartender and had three other guys she was doing with. The other moved to Texas and became a lesbian. Or she married somebody that looked a lot like me in Texas, hell i don't know, it's all water under the bridge. Or I told the story one too many times and got tired of telling it. Or perhaps I found the one that finally put to rest of all of the others that got away.
So in honor of the proms that I never went to, I figured it's time to pull out some 45s. Because it sounded like a good idea at the time.
1. You Were On My Mind-We Five 1966 (A&M 770) I'd love to play you this song but it has a crack on it so I guess you'll have to settle for the cd version. The followup was Let's Get Together but it didn't do so well. The Youngbloods would have a higher chart position with it. When I bought this 45 at Sweet Living Antiques I could have swore it didn't have a crack but then again maybe I didn't pay attention to that.
2. Saturday Night At The Movies-Ray Stevens (Mercury 72039) 1962 I added another Ray Stevens 45 to my collection after bidding a dollar on this from a EBAY site and forgot all about it till I got an email saying that I actually won it. The other side Further More limped up to number 91 on the charts. I think Ray was going for the Roger Miller sound since it sounds a bit like Dang Me. Even back then Ray had a knack of being a great ear of other people's songs and incorporating into his own. Saturday Night At The Movies sounds a bit more like Gene Pitney to which Ray's love interest develops a crush on a movie star only to be disappointed after meeting the dude with his toupee falling off his head. Hell, Ray tells it better than I can blog it.
3. Your Graduation Means Goodbye-The Cardigans (Mercury 71251) 1958 For a collector like myself I like to go buy things on groovy names or name association. Sometimes that can be a good thing, other times not so much. Mercury Records back in the 50's was one of the biggest record companies to come out of Chicago and many a regional act would get their stuff released from that label. While waiting to go to my co worker's wake last Friday I stopped at Sweet Living Antiques and sorted through some 45s of varying degree, the majority of them scratched up or too moldy to keep or in the case of We Five had a crack that ole Blind Eyes didn't pick up at the time. I know nothing of this version of The Cardigans but they sounded like a white doo wop band. Not to be confused of the 90's Cardigans who had a hit Love Fool that was released on Mercury as well. The 45, despite no jacket to protect was in pristine condition. The way I like them.
4. Money Changes Everything-The Brains (Mercury 76065) 1980 Certainly God bless Cyndi Lauper for having a hit version of this although I never cared much for her over the top video that MTV played back in the early 80's but let's face it, I prefer the original version that appeared on their S/T album (also released on Mercury, Geez is this getting the be the Mercury hour?). Tom Gray got enough royalties to learn how to play the steel guitar and reinvent himself via Delta Moon. Wished that Universal would get off their collective asses and reissue The Brains albums but they don't seem to be too interested of doing so. The original version of Money Changes Everything was issued on Radar Records in the UK (I've seen a copy of it years ago but never picked it up).
5. Stranger In Town-Toto (CBS CBSA 4461 UK) 1984 Toto gets a bad rap as a mellow soft rock band but I think they had some sort of rock and roll in them. On this record they recruited Fergie Frederiksen (who used to sing in such high profile bands such as Trillion and LeRoux) for Isolation and he gives the high octane vocals on the chorus. The song surprisingly bombed on the charts. Can't figure out why, I love this tune.
6. Remember The Future-Nektar (Passport PPA-7902) 1973 They did managed to edit the album down to 3 and a half minutes. Back in the mid 70's concept albums seemed to be the rage with Jethro Tull's Thick As A Brick and the lesser Passion Play. The edit of Remember The Future isn't that bad, in fact it's preferable to the 10 minute edit that came out on the CD years later. Unfortunately the US 45 edit may have gotten thrown out with the trash, as ABC policy back then was that once a 45 edit's job was done, then they threw it away. The folk at ABC were never bright half the time.
7. Money-Pink Floyd (Harvest 3609) 1973 I never considered Pink Floyd all that great while growing up. I got bored real easy with 10 minute songs on the radio. To this day I still don't have Dark Side Of The Moon and still don't need it. However during the last year of going over to my grandparents in Lincoln Illinois in 1974, they had a record store that had a bunch of 45's they couldn't return to where I found a forty five of Money. And yes Roger Waters does utter the word bullshit on this song. But it is a edited version so we only get part of David Gilmour's lead guitar. Back then, most great songs got edited down for airplay but since I wasn't familiar with albums, I wasn't that concern till I got that 3 and half minute edited version of Long Time by Boston. Then decided it was time to quit wasting money on certain songs in their butchered version.
8. Fins-Jimmy Buffett (MCA-41109) 1979 I'm not a big Buffett fan and if I never hear Margaritaville again in this lifetime it would not break my heart. However there are some of Jimmy's stuff that I do like and Fins is one of them. It got played both on the AM rock station and country too back then. But neither plays it now but they will Margaritaville. Rest assured somewhere in the world it's being played.
9. I Had It-Fanny (Casablanca NEB 0009) 1974 All female rock and rollers at the end of their rope. Made four albums for Reprise and then moved over to Casablanca for Rock And Roll Survivors and then broke up. This was a cover of the old Bell Notes hit and it got some airplay on KLWW. Produced by Vini Poncia who would go on to produce KISS and Ringo Starr. Alice DeBurr the drummer was an Iowa native (just thought I point that out).
10. Are 'Friends' Electric?-Gary Numan & Tubeaway Army (Atco 7209) 1979 Finally, some oddity from Mr. Numan to which this song actually got issued after Cars became a hit although I cannot recall any radio station playing Friends. Numan's band used keyboards only and no guitars (although they did have a bass player)and for a while the cool folk had The Pleasure Principle in their collection before Numan became uncool and most copies went to Goodwill or the local record store (when we had record stores). But even in my bargain hunting adventures to other states, I still tended to buy 45's and this one came from a store in Oklahoma. Hard to figure Numan's music, is it prog or kraut rock or pop? I think it was unique in itself. And so it goes.
Other noteworty singles
11. Blind Eye-Wishbone Ash (Decca 32826) 1970
12. Buffalo Girls-Malcolm McLaren (Island 7-99941) 1983
13. Mirror Star-Fabulous Poodles (Epic 8-50666) 1978
14. Hey St. Peter-Flash & The Pan (Midland International JB-10934) 1977
15. Rubber Bullets-10cc (UK 45-49015) 1973
Final Five
16. Ride With Me-Steppenwolf (Dunhill ABC D-4283) 1971
17. Roundabout-Yes (Atlantic 2654) 1972
18. I'm On Fire-Dwight Twilley Band (Shelter SR 40380) 1975
19. Money Man-Martha Velez (Sire SAA-735) 1976 Produced by Bob Marley
20. Don't Let Him Know-Prism (Capitol B-5082) 1982
http://www.lpdiscography.com/?page=discography&interpret=342
Reference to Ray Stevens Saturday Night At The Movies.
4 comments:
Hello Mr. Smith
With you on the prom thing. I had no GF to go with, and my buds were more interested in, well, buds.
Haven't been to a reunion, either, for that matter. It was oneupmanship bullshit then and it's oneupmanship bullshit now.
However, I can't help but think that you should have included "All the Young Dudes," just 'cause of the scene in Juno where Jason Bateman's creepy character expounds on *his* prom night.
Also with you on DSOTM. It may have been in the top 100 for two decades or whatever, but it's, like, the sixth best Pink Floyd album. I honestly don't know if I have a copy . . . .
Hi Rastro
Like you I had no interest in the prom, didn't see the need to spend a 100 dollars trying to get laid by some plastic chick with fake Farah Fawcett hairdo. For the most part reunions that I went to went okay, got to talk to the real folks and left the faker at their own table. I just go up there to them to let them know I'm still around.
All the songs came from 45s this week which is why I had Money in there and not All The Young Dudes although I saw a cracked 45 of it at Salvation Army years ago. I may have to revisit Juno to see that scene you were talking about. DSOTM I never see the need of getting, radio played it to death. But i recall a old friend had it on 8 Track and turned it up during the clock intro to Time. I think the tape hiss enhanced it a bit more than the cd myself ;)
Cheers!
Hey there!
Your mention of the Midland Int'l version of "Hey St. Peter" brought back memories of when I actually found a copy of that single about a year after the Epic album had already been released, and I was surprised to hear the edit. Any chance you know where I can get an mp3 of that version?
Furrball
(sheplives@hotmail.com)
Hi Furrball
Thanks for writing. Like you I bought the album and not know of the 1977 Midland Int. version that runs at 3:20 till I found a DJ copy at the old record store. I picked the 45 up thinking I'd never see it again and so far I haven't.
I looked at all the search engines out there and you tube links but sorry to say that I haven't found the 3:20 edit version. The MP3 songs that I came across are the 4 minute full version of said song. So you might be out of luck trying to find the Midland Int version. I'd never known about it if I didn't come across a DJ version years ago.
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