Singles Going Steady 21-Leftovers

The vinyl revival has hit big time in the thrift stores and specialty antique store that trying to find anything decent and not scratched beyond repair is becoming a chore upon itself.  I think at this point that I'm more interested in seeing what people are buying nowadays than I do myself.  In fact, I thought I saw my own clone self at Half Priced Books buying a Friends Of Distinction Friends LP (It has Love Or Let Me Be Lonely their best song over Grazing In The Grass) and an Mason Profit LP as well.  This is the kind of dude that I want to party with.  Or the good looking babe buying Eagles Greatest Hits in Moline and knowing I'll never meet her again. I could care less about Bob Lefsetz and his trying to stay hip to the times by naming a Luke Bryan song his single of the year, betcha can't get it on a 45 can ya Grand Dad?

In a era long ago discarded and outdated, I still look at 45s to be the original source of hearing it as it's supposed to sound, even though the record may be full of scratches and been played to death. I try to find the VG to Mint 7 inch plastic ones with the big hole in the middle.  I wouldn't say that the finds of 2014 were the best in years, that wonderful sunshine day of late August, turned out that the things found was the best overall that I ever had.  Never again will I see naked VG copies of Bob Dylan's red vinyl single and Buddy Holly and Sam Cooke's DJ promos in one setting again.   That fluke alone is the highlight of this year and nothing comes close.  St Louis had the more varied records and cost more; even FYE had a couple of hard to find 45s at two dollars apiece.  If the owner of Record Exchange would have let me, I would have gladly spent the night going through that gigantic 45's of paradise upstairs.

Elsewhere it was the usual hit and miss outside of Davenport this summer.  It's not unusual to find a few old jukebox copies of stuff once in a while.  Teens my age back in the 70s now have given their collection to the thrift store, and most of them I thumb through and put back but once in a while something different will be found and I will document it in this Series dedicated to 45s  that now have reached 21.  My version of look what I found show and tell, to which kids in my grade school what the hell I was on when I showed them a copy of Inside Looking Out by The Animals and having the teacher play it. That's probably not true but I do know that my fifth grade teacher did play Family Of Man by 3 Dog Night during a show and tell of records.

So basically this blog is dedicated to things left off from the St Louis and Davenport finds, plus a couple things found this weekend while somebody brought up some old scratchy ones without sleeves but with a history to tell.  If the scanner works, I fire off the best ones, but the last time I posted my own pics from other sites, the damn pictures went missing.  I have no idea what the offense of The Marvellettes Strange I Know that made it disappear but I did get that picture back up and hopefully it will stay there.  But then again Google can't be trusted. (Box of records photo taken at Vintage Vinyl in St. Louis)

So, here's another edition of Look What I Found Show And Tell 2014, the final one for this year.

1.   Let Me In/Bouncing Bass-The Sessions 1965  (Fontana F-1529)  Look hard enough and you can find a old worn out DJ promo years ago and then research your find and have it come up with some interesting information.  When I found this forgotten 45, I have no idea about this, I brought it on knowing the producer of this song went on to produce early Deep Purple and Wishbone Ash first couple albums.  And then looking it up and finding that this was a minor supergroup of future rockers.  Miki Dallon who wrote this song went on to The Sorrows and did a remake of this song.  Chas Hodges played bass and Nicki Hopkins is on piano, Hopkins the better known for session work with The Kinks, The Who and The Rolling Stones and many other bands. The main guitarist is Richie Blackmore originally from The Outlaws (of Joe Meek fame) and playing a very distinct guitar lead, which he continued to use in the first lineup of Deep Purple.  Consider this effort to be either UK garage rock or freak beat.  And of course it didn't chart.  B side is Bouncing Bass, to which Hodges channels his inner Duane Eddy, had Eddy played bass.  A curio.

2.  The Joker/King Lonely The Blue-Bitter End Singers  1965  (Mercury 72469)  Another interesting artifact from 1965 (seems to be a big year for singles don't ya think?) The Bitter End Singers were another folk vocal band in the style of New Christy Minstrels although not as successful.  I gather The Joker was the A side, but I tend to favor the catchy King Lonely The Blue.  One of the 18 singles that were brought during the big find of August in Davenport.  To which I still have to marvel at the fact that while none of these singles had sleeves and may have been out in the open, they were in very fine playing condition.

3.   88 Lines About 44 Women-The Nails 1984  (RCA PB-14084)  This year, I didn't buy a whole lot of 45s at the local Half Priced Bookstore in town, there simply wasn't much of a selection, a lot of the better 45s didn't stick around long enough.  Earlier in the month, I found two of them, Akasha's 1977 (copyrighted 1979)  Let's Hear It For The Man (Akashic SH 53), which became the talk of the town a Facebook page.  And the other from this oddball band from down under which got airplay on the alternative and college rock stations but didn't make the chart. Further research shows that it made number 46 on the dance pop chart.  The Nails would be heard from again, with a remake of Let It All Hang Out a year later, then faded from view.

4.  Gurney Slade-Max Harris 1960  (Atco 45-6187)  From a forgotten British movie The Strange World Of Gurney Slade featuring Anthony Newley which sowed the seeds of the likes of Do Not Adjust Your Set and later Monty Python the opening theme is beat nik jazz beginning with a tic toc drum beat, keyboards somewhat like Dave Brubeck and a flute that cool to hear.  I've only seen the Fontana import 45 of said song.  Gurney Slade, the TV show, was way ahead of its time, even to the point that when aired nobody laughed at the skits but they do remember the theme music.  Harris passed away in 2004.

5.  Mr. Farmer-The Seeds  1967 (GNP Crescendo GNP-383)  This record has seen much better days and probably would be more at home on the Destroyed Records blog since I can't play it no more.  A while ago, there was a grocery store in Webster City that sold records for a 19 cents or something like that, basically off the wall labels, I think I got The Turtles as well The Challengers version of Wipe Out.  I recall this place had a lot of The Seeds 45s to which I knew nothing about.  I think I like Mr Farmer a lot better than Pushin Too Hard although this followup to Pushin' Too Hard only made it to number 86 in March of 67.  The real audiophiles out there will note that the single version differs from versions that made it to Rhino's Nuggets albums.  Record collectors site this as one of the collectable records to get.  Only wished I could have taken much better care of my stuff before I left the jackets on the records in the mid 70s.

6.  Trip To Moscow-Joe Bee 1972  (Stop  ST-402)  Country cut up record that somebody gave up earlier in the year that I found in Coralville (Coralville's Goodwill seems to have plenty of country LPs and 45s it seems).  Dickie Goodman was famous for cut in records and back then before music lawyers put a stop to this, it was a fun to hear goofy shit like Frankenstein or The Flying Saucers although most of that stuff has dated quite bad and makes a painful listening experience for more than 10 minutes.  This is an rarity, a cutup 45 that uses country music instead of rock.  Nothing comes up about Joe Bee, nor in the credits, perhaps in a attempt to hide incognito from the music copyright lawyers who would like a word with Mr. Bee. Outside of that, nothing remarkable about this song.

7.  The Boy Next Door-The Secrets 1963  (Phillips 40146)  It made up to number 18 on the charts in 63 but you don't hear it anywhere.  They were from Cleveland and were supposed to perform on American Bandstand before JFK's assassination canceled that performance.  They eventually became the last band to perform on Bandstand in 1964, the last band to do so before the show moved from Philadelphia to Los Angeles.

8.  Can't Let You Out Of My Sight-Chuck Jackson & Maxine Brown 1965 (Wand 191)
      She Is Your Girl-The Pageants 1965 (Groove 58-0056)   

Basically a two for one special since both incorporates a Motown beat to these songs.  Both didn't do much on the charts, Jackson's sputtered up to 91 in August of 1965, whereas the Pageants did not chart.  Listening to both songs, Jackson with Maxine Brown was a bit more rocking.  B side was Don't Go written by future Motown writers and stars of their own Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson. Side note: The Pageants were produced by Joe Fogelsong, later head of Dot Records and more of a country producer.

9.  A Stranger In Your Town-The Shacklefords 1963 (Mercury 72112)  Number 70 chart position in 1963, but a more interesting band of the fact that it was Lee Hazelwood hooking up with Marty Cooper to make this single.  Hazlewood thought of this band to be like The Kingston Trio, in other words, a folk rock band that was the rage in 1963.  The Mercury album didn't do much on the charts. Later on Capitol would issue their second album, which somehow managed to be reissued on CD from Rev Ola.  A guest reviewer fills in the gaps. http://www.amazon.com/The-Shacklefords-Sing/dp/B001IF25M2


10.  The Dodo-Jumpin' Gene Simmons 1964  (Hi 45-2080)  He hit number 11 with Haunted House but this followup only stumbled up to number 83 on the charts, probably sounding too close and similar to the earlier hit. This Jumping Gene no relation to the money making mongrel who is in KISS but you already knew that.

Additions: (brought to you by FYE)

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes-Blue Haze 1972  A&M 1357  A one hit wonder band that made an uptempo reggae type of song, but in essence reminds me more of what Sha Na Na or Flash Cadillac was doing, modernizing  music of the the golden age of rock and updating the sound.  But like Sha Na Na and Flash Cadillac, you never hear this song anymore.  I forgot all about it till I came across it on a KCRG Super 30 survey and finding a scratchy 45 at Goodwill.

Willie And The Hand Jive-Eric Clapton 1974 RSO 503  Followup to I Shot The Sheriff and didn't do as well.  And a song that classic rock radio doesn't play too often. B side Mainline Florida got some FM airplay back in the day but usually classic rock radio plays the overplayed and you can guess what songs they do play.

A Ray Of Hope-The Rascals 1969  Atlantic  2584  Another FYE find (they're not much of a place to buy 45s)  and another song you never hear on the radio anymore.  It's not on the Ultimate Rascals Collection but is on The Very Best Of The Rascals that Rhino updated a couple decades ago.  Too radical for oldies radio the reason why you don't hear it.