Singles Going Steady 3

Here we go again folks.  More 45's found from various places.  Even in this day and age you can still find them in playable shape.  Unless they're Dave Clark Five and most of what I have seen, the grooves were wore off from being overplayed.

1.  Come On Over-Chilliwack (Sire SAA-718) (Goldfish GS 114 Canada)  1975   They had better success over in Canada then they did over here and the only top 40 they had was My Girl (Gone Gone Gone) in 1981.  They recorded for A & M, Mushroom and Millennium/RCA but when they were on Sire, they were at their most rocking.  Sadly this didn't chart but KUNI played this a couple times.  Ended up buying the S/T album that they had this song on.  I think it's the best cut on it.  Next album Rockbox didn't do much for me and I pretty much ignored them till My Girl came out.  Mike Flicker produced.

2.  It's Good News Week-Hedgehoppers Anonymous (Parrot PAR 9800) 1965  Featuring Johnathan King, this song was one of those bizarre singles that I heard back on AM radio and never really gotten into the irony of what he was saying but sarcasm runs supreme in King's music.  Found a nice 45 of this up in Madison the other day, despite having no record sleeve had little scratches on it.  B side Afraid Of Love has a nice Buddy Holly beat to it.  King would later form UK Records and signed up a certain art rock band called 10CC.

3.  Touch And Gone-Gary Wright (Warner Bros. WBS 8494) 1978  He came out of nowhere and scored big with Dream Weaver and Love Is Alive but later releases didn't do very well.  I was a big fan of Phantom Writer but the record bombed on the charts sad to say.  When this came out, radio didn't play it at all and it showed Wright going to a more MOR sound.  He would have a top forty hit with Really Wanna  Know You in 1981.

4.  Off And Running-Lesley Gore  (Mercury 72580) 1966  I grew up listening to some of her obscure singles, the ones we used to get in the 10 for a dollar package that Spartan Stores were famous for back then (or K Mart) and although we never had any of her big singles, we did have Young Love with a excellent b side of I Just Don't Know If I Can which is only available on a Bear Family comp and the out of print Mercury 2 CD set that came out in the 1990s.  Worth big bucks nowadays but by 1966, Gore's singles weren't selling like they used to.  Not that they were bad, actually this song is quite good, which was written by Toni Wine and Carol Bayer.  Jack Nitzche did the arrangements and Quincy Jones produced this.  I'll never understand why this failed to make it on the charts.  Another 45 found at Half Priced Books in Madison that was in like new shape despite no sleeve.

5.  Allentown Jail-The Lettermen (Capitol 4976)  1963  The other side Two Brothers was a poor attempt to create the folk sound that The Kingston Trio did for Tom Dooley, in fact you can call that song Tom Dooley part 2 since it starts out with a spoken piece.  Allentown Jail is the better side but The Lettermen were much better doing their vocal pop songs more than they did with folk. After this record bombed, they return to the pop sound of Where Or When.  A strange curio in the 45 archives.

6.   It Feels So Right-Elvis Presley (RCA Victor 47-8585)  1965  The movie years and most of what Elvis did for music was throwaway.  At times, Elvis could put out a rocker and this song was the end result although the B side Such An Easy Question may have been the A.  Hard to tell folks but this version hawks back to the rockabilly days of Scotty and Bill and DJ and the Jordanaires doing the backing vocals.  I don't even think I ever heard this song played on the radio, back then or today.  But another forty five found for 48 cents at HP Books made it clear that I had to check it out.   An underrated track, although Easy Question is one of lesser Otis Blackwell written songs.

7.  She's Just My Style-Gary Lewis & The Playboys (Liberty F-55846)  1965  Lewis seems to get a bad rap in the music department.  Yes, he was Jerry's son and he could act as goofy as his dad did but he did make a few fine singles and albums on Liberty.  Snuff Garrett produced them, and the secret weapon was Leon Russell arranging although Brother Leon pretty much doesn't talk bout those years.  It paid the bills and so be it.  May have been bubblegum but sometimes a good bubblegum song can beat anything that you hear on rock radio in these trying times.

8.  Shy Boy (Don't It Make You Feel Good) Bananarama (London 810 112 7) 1983  Really, Deep Sea Diving was a fairly good album from what I remembered, not that I have that album in my collection mind you but it seems oblivious that in the MTV era, this got plenty of airplay although top forty didn't pick up on them till Venus a few years later (the Stock Aikman, Waterman Production squad that also make a household name out of Rick Astley).  Cruel Summer was the other hit from Deep Sea Diving.  I think Dave Stewart married one of the Bananarama ladies a few years later.

9.  Arrested For Driving While Blind-ZZ Top (London   45-251)  1977  Tush here, La Grange there and don't get me started on Gimme All Your Lovin, classic rock radio has overkilled ZZ Top in more ways than one but they never would touch anything off Tejas with a Ten Foot Pole (as they would say a few years later).  Even today you don't hear this on classic rock radio (their loss and our gain) and this is a little fun boogie number that they are famous for today.  Found the 45 at Rock N Bach years ago and just bought it simply of the fact it was Z Z Top.

10.  Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way-Waylon Jennings (RCA Victor PB-10379) 1975  The other side was Bob Wills Is Still The King but country DJ's actually played this and the B side became a top 10 country hit for Waylon who was beginning to find his stride as the new country outlaw (as with Willie and Tompall).  In some ways this was the beginning of Waylon namechecking the country legends that he idolized and played.  Hank and Bob Wills?  Can't get no more country than that then.  Rock radio back in the 70s played this as a underground selection.  But in the mid 70's Waylon was far from the mainstream and liked it that way.   Alas, the glory years would end around 1985 and Waylon would drift over to MCA and then Epic for minor country hits but the 70's Waylon and Willie and the boys were outlaw country.  10 years removed from the world but Waylon lives on in music.