Over the years the St Vincent De Paul managed to get some interesting old 45s up there but they were so hit and miss that it took me over a year to decide to see if they have enough turnover to make this trip worth going to. This time out, I managed to find some vintage rock and jazz 45s, tho a few of them needed a good cleaning.
It's hard to tell if some of these singles came from the closing of the Salvation Army. Since my last visit, the St Vincent De Paul cleaned up the music room. It was so cluttered and chaotic that it was impossible to locate anything, and most albums were missing their records. There was more 45s located in a box and of course the jackets and records were not with each other. I found a Gerry Mulligan Fantasy EP and stuck it back into it's rightful jacket. There were plenty of EP 45s, from the likes of Jackie Gleason, Nat King Cole and a few others. Usually, Waterloo is famous for having R and B 45s at St Vincent De Paul and this time I managed to find some cool stuff, tho they were, once again, in need of a record bath. To which turned the faucet on and crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. The problem of cleaning 45's from the 50s is that some of the labels are red and getting them wet would not be a good thing. This applies to the Charles Brown, Aladdin 45 of Trouble Blues. This one was the worst looking of the batch. But I'd never seen a copy of anything from Charles Brown. I could save that but not Flip Flop and Fly from Johnny Ray.
I do think I found the most R and B and Doo Wop songs this time around. Despite without record jackets, all forty fives play VG+ to VG-
So here we are, yet another batch of selections you might not hear on radio. Cuz Spotify doesn't have them.
1) Only One Love-George Hamilton IV (ABC Paramount 45-9782) #33 1957
Lonesome George seemed to be ABC's answer to Ricky Nelson in the teen idol department, they had Paul Anka and Johnny Nash. George's time with ABC he was groomed as a teen idol, sometimes he had some good songs (A Rose And A Baby Ruth) and some not so great (The Teen Commandments damn near ruined it for all involved) Only One Love is lackluster, a pale imitation to Ricky Nelson's ballads and the B side If I Had A Printing Press is just as forgettable. George's best years would come later, when he went to RCA and went country and discovered Gordon Lightfoot in the process. This crappy song doesn't do him justice.
2) I'll Make Every Day Christmas (for my woman)-Joe Tex (Dial 4068) 1968
A Christmas song that made it to Soul Christmas. Joe Tex is one of my all time favorite soul singers and most of my 45s got chewed up in the process. This record is not in the best of shapes either but it actually fairly well. It's soul good. B Side Don't Give Up is another slow groove. Joe is in need of a decent overview, or at least a A and B side of his Dial singles and I pitched the idea to the folks to Real Gone Music. Hopefully they get compile one up in the future.
3) Wrapped Tied And Tangled-Lavern Baker (Brunswick 53311) 1967
Her Atlantic years passed by and she moved over to Brunswick and Carl Davis to update her music to a Chicago R and B sound that Davis had been favoring for those who were on the label. He had good success with Jackie Wilson (higher and higher) but with Lavern, this style didn't fit her well. B side Nothing Like Being In Love is better, Davis goes for a Motown style sound, which works about half way through the song.
4) Trouble Blues-Charles Brown (Aladdin 45-3342) #1 R&B 1949
The oldest record of the batch, it charted at the top of the charts in 1949 but it was regulated to a B side to Confidential in 1956, a so so ballad to which Brown was trying to find a suitable style for the R and B crowd. Trouble Blues is the better of the two. This is the record after I cleaned it up, still plays a bit rough but I can probably say it's a keeper.
5) I Adore You-Johnnie And Joe (ABC Paramount 45-10079) 1960
Forever known for Over The Mountain Across The Sea, Johnnie And Joe pingponed between Chess and J & S, to which my guess is Zell Sanders owned the latter label and Chess purchased some of the masters. This is one of two singles recorded for ABC Paramount, neither did much on the charts. I Adore You does sound a bit too much like Over The Mountain including Johnnie's rap at the end. B Side, Rex Garvin gives them the rocking R and B I Want You Beside Me. A shame Johnnie And Joe didn't do more of this.
6) I Can't Put My Arms Around A Memory-Al Hibbler (Decca 9-29543) 1955
A side was the MOR They Say You're Laughing At Me (while I was crying for you) but I like the B side better and decided to use that one as the plug side. It really doesn't matter, This didn't chart except on the R and B side of the charts.
7) Moonglow and Theme From Picnic-Morris Stoloff (Decca 9-29888) #1 1956
Since I had 9 45's with me, I decided that this song would be the 10th purchase of the day. It's jazzy muzak, kinda like Beyond The Reef or what Earl Grant was putting down. The other side George Duning, who wrote Theme From Picnic leaves out the jazz. I remember this a few times growing up.
8) Boom Boom Boomerang-The De Castro Sisters (Abbott 3003) #17 1955
A nice fun novelty pop jumper with Tony Tiger (Thurl Ravenscroft) doing the bass vocals, Thirl could do anything. B side Let Your Love Walk In, is big band pop without the novelty.
9) Just Another Face-The Blades Of Grass (Jubilee JB-5590) 1967
They charted with Happy (#87 in 1967) but I have know nothing of this band. The most psychedelic from this batch of 45s, it owes a bit to Traffic or The Moody Blues. B side Baby You're A Real Good Friend Of Mine, with the kiddie choir owes more to 1910 Fruitgum Company. Take it for what its worth.
10) Midnight Ride-Red West (Dot 16268) 1961
This one was another 45 that needed a good cleaning. This single had my interests up to the point that I needed to hear this one. West patterned this song after Duane Eddy's signature guitar sound and revved up sax and this one is the most fun and rocking of the bunch. Unforgiven, (Listed as an A Side, but again Midnight Ride is the better version) could pass for a Quentin Tarantino movie background music. This was the only single Red West recorded for Dot Records, who at that time also was into surf and guitar instrumental music (as well as Lawrence Welk and Billy Vaughn).
11) Heart Of A Rose-The Charms (Chart 613) 1956
It's hard to tell if these singles are valuable. I've seen the Chart single start at 28 dollars at bid time but are there any takers? Perhaps, Otis Williams led the Charms to some hit singles for DeLuxe/King (Hearts Of Stone) but the Chart singles, didn't chart. Heart Of A Rose is a uptempo R&B number and not so much Doo Wop but the B side I Offer You, hard core Doo Wop. I don't believe this version of The Charms is the one from Ohio and Williams leading them. The guess is that Henry Stone produced these guys and they may have come from Florida. The other guess is that Richard Parker leads this group. This is the second of two single releases from Chart Records (no relation to the Nashville Chart Records, but that's another story).
Post script:
The original intent was to go to Marshalltown to check out their record store Wax Xtatic since the owner mentioned that they had a good selection of 45s that came in. On Sunday Night, thieves came in and ransacked the place, stealing many video games, players and vinyl. They'll be close for few days while the owner figures out the next step. In the past year, they had a tornado that ripped through downtown and blacken out alleyway to which the city officials drag their feet of getting lights back to that alley. We do hope they will reopen and hope that they too get better luck. It's getting very tiring to have assholes taking away people's hard work to keep a record store open.
Later arrivals:
12) It's Too Late To Run-Dennis Smith (20th Century Fox 499) 1964
Unknown singer that made a one off single. Interesting for the Acker Bilk type of lead oboe sax including fart noise at the end. The best part of the song. B Side: Maria Elena, more farting around.
13) Carol Of The Drums-St. Patrick's Cathedral Choir (Roulette R-4204) 1959
Roulette was famous for this type of Christmas tunes. Better known as The Little Drummer Boy. Not exactly recorded very well. Of course it's a dirty record too, a cleaning didn't help much either. B side is Carol Of The Bells. Very shrill sounding. Time to donate this one back to the Salvation Army
14) You Should Have Seen The Way He Looked At Me-The Dixie Cups (Red Bird RB 10-012)
#39 1964
Another scratchy 45, with a bad needle ruining the start of the record. You can only do so much cleaning.
15) Dr. Jon (The Medicine Man) Jon & Robin With The In Crowd (Abnak AB-127) #87 1968
This one spent a lot of time at The Salvation Army. There was a write up about this single at another Blogspot site, so this one was yet another cleaning attempt, it had some dirt marks buried in the grooves. Plays so so. Dr Jon is some of freaky folk song, kinda corny kinda fun. B side Love Me Baby is more Psychedelic fun, based on the Gloria riff. It's the more fun side. And the keeper of the final four dumpster forty fives from the Salvation Army in CR.
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