Singles Going Steady 16-Recent Finds And Rejections

Since our last get together in this latest go rounds of Look What I Found department for the seven inch black circles, I managed to find a few goodies and past on a couple of them.  Why I didn't pick some of them up is simply that they were worn to the nubs.  Some are Philco rejects, Philco meaning jukebox copies and some do look unplayed but you know about jukebox records, most are played down to no grooves or have the juke box love marks on the vinyl.





I think my life revolves around the 45, it has held me hostage when I see it spin around on the turntable.  I could make a decent box set with all the ones that I put up for examples in the previous 15 entries.  And from the last entry to this one I have found plenty more candidates in the discarded pile of scratched up plastic in your local Salvation Army bins.  The future still looks bright for more of them.  The ones that stick out more often gets my attention.

1.  Uptown-The Chambers Brothers (Columbia 4-44296 1967)  A chewed up copy found in Davenport. Oldies radio has pegged the Chambers to be a one hit wonder band with Time Has Come Today (I don't know what version Underground Garage plays but it's not the 45 single edit but rather a pointless edit with the ending tacked on before the freaky cowbell part), but that's not the case.  They had another hit with Can't Turn You Loose but Uptown was a single before Time Has Come Today but radio didn't play it.  It didn't even chart on the top 100. Written by Betty Mabry, later known as Betty Davis who had some freaky albums on her own in the 70s.

2.  I Remember You-Frank Ifield (Vee Jay VJ-457 1962)  Not everything from the 60s was gold, in fact this record is  putrid.  There was a nice copy that I came across but I couldn't bring myself to buy this. Frank must have been a big Slim Whitman fan and it sounds like it with I remember You OOOOOOOOO, to which images of Mars Attacks! aliens's head explodes after they witness the power of Slim Whitman. Ifield would have just as been lethal to the invading army. ACK ACK ACKACKACK Boom!  Vee Jay Records were so intrigued by the Slim Whitman wannabee that they put a couple exploitation albums with Frank's selections added to a side of songs from a up and coming British band in around 1964.  I'll leave you to guess the name of that other band ;)

3.  That'll Be The Day-The Crickets (Brunswick 9-55009 1957)  It's a rare occasion to find anything from Buddy Holly and company in good shape on the original Brunswick label and I did find a VG copy still in a paper sleeve, a rare feat upon itself when going to Goodwill. A Jerry Allison and Buddy Holly co write although I'm sure Norman Petty, the other "songwriter" had little to do with the song itself outside of recording it.

4.  Groovy Grubworm-Harlow Wilcox & The Oakies (Plantation P-28 1969) Country instrumentals are rare when they hit the charts, even more so when they hit number 1 (number 30 pop chart) , but I remember hearing this song a lot on country radio in 1969 and took me years to even find a playable copy of this (last week in Davenport) somewhat of a cross between The Ventures, Johnny And The Hurricanes and Bill Black's Combo, in some ways reminding me of Vaughn Monroe's Mr. Moto.  Not much is known about the song although the folks at Engine 145 wrote a blog about it. http://www.engine145.com/the-curious-case-of-the-groovy-grubworm/
For some odd reason I ended up buying Golden Guitar Flower (Plantation P-45)  for a birthday present for my dad.  I don't think he thought much of that one, nor did the buying public.  It didn't chart.

5.  Time Can Change-Dick Glasser (Columbia 4-41782  1960)  I guess you can consider him a pop or teen idol artist although I don't recall hearing this on the radio at all. Glasser is better known as producer to Freddy Cannon, The Everly Brothers and The Vogues but no longer around. He passed away in 2000 from smoking too many cigarettes.

6.  If The World Don't End Tomorrow (I'm coming after you) Carl Smith (Columbia 4-41729 1960) One of the lesser known and anthologized songs of Carl's long tenure at Columbia (outside of a measly one cd best of, he's basically forgotten) this song is in a tempo of the way I Ain't Never is like for Mel Tillis.  B side Lonely Old Room is a bit more rockabilly as well.  Bear Family has a 6 CD set of his Columbia years and it's a good one although in Bear Family tradition very pricey too.  Written by Billy Sherrill, aspiring songwriter who later would become staff producer for Columbia and produced Carl Smith's later stuff (as well as George Jones and a few others) although I doubt Bill was producer at this time.  Probably Frank Law and Don Jones.

7.  They Don't Know-Kristy McColl (Stiff  Buy-47 1979)     Located deep in the archives I came across this single from McColl, which Tracey Ullman would have a bigger hit in 1985 thereabouts. Didn't know I had this.

8. Harlem Nocturne-Georgie Auld (Coral 9-65504 1952)  Jazz saxophonist  who was a big deal back in the 40s and 50s but also did the main saxophone solos on the Robert DeNiro move New York New York back in 1977.  Usually for the uptempo songs that Auld tends to favor, this version is more darker, kinda like 3 AM and on a misty and foggy night.  Written by Earle Hagen better known for Themes for TV series (I Spy, Gomer Pyle, The Mod Squad and The Andy Griffith Show.

9.  3000 Miles-Brian Hyland (Phillips 40354  1966)  It seems like ole Brian has been making plenty of appearances here and he has, a few Paramount ABC singles here and there.  As a teen idol, Hyland did have some catchy singles and next to Johnny Tollison one of the more under appreciated artists of that time and era.  3000 Miles, a forgotten single was produced by Snuff Garrett, Leon Russell arranged the sessions and you can bet the wrecking crew played on this.  Had a scratchy old promo copy found at a garage sale but found a much better copy (for about 3 dollars and not the 29 cents as advertised on the record sleeve) from Ragged Records.  Hyland recorded for Kapp, ABC Paramount, Phillips, Dot and Uni in the 60s, all now part of Universal Behemoth Corporation, best known for giving consumers and artists plenty of misery.

10.  Slippin Away-Bellamy Brothers (Warner/Curb WBS 8558 1978)  Random pick from the archives, this song really didn't do much on the pop or country chart.  After scoring a number 1 hit with Let Your Love Flow, four other singles from their debut hung around the lower 70s of the top 100. With Beautiful Friends the LP, they would go from Phil Gerhard (Lobo) to bubblegum specialist Michael Lloyd and results were not that great.   In fact, I don't think I ever heard this on the radio and how I managed to have the 45 is the stuff of hoarders being made.  With a number 19 chart rating of said song, The Bellamy Brothers decided to cast their lot with the country music crowd  and had better results with Lovin On and later their 1979 country hit (and last pop charting single) If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me?  And managed to have a successful country career in the progress.

Crank: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2014/05/30/can-stop-talking/