Singles Going Steady 57-Moondog Music Take 2

Moondog Music called and said they found a couple of new boxes of forty fives.  Here's what I found.


1)    Run Run Run-The Gestures (Soma 1417)  #44 1964

In the mist of Beatlemania, came this minor hit single from the teenage band from Mankato recording for the Minneapolis based Soma Records, home of The Fendermen I believe.  A bit more refined than the Chartbusters' She's The One but the collective coolness of Run Run Run does foretell the future of The Castaways Liar Liar.  Nothing special about the B side It Seems To Me.


2)    Armen's Theme-Ross Bagdasarian (Liberty F-55462)  1962

An updated version, the original was made in 1956, this one was more big band and pop.  Ross was trying to take a break from recordings he was doing with The Chipmunks and David Seville.  He was very good arranger and composer as this track suggested.  B Side Russian Roulette is the product of the time all the way down to the jazzy sounds of the chorus.  Silly fun.


3)    Stardust-Nino Tempo & April Stevens  (Atco 45-6256)  #32 1964

One of the early singles I had in my collection but did find a replacement.  A big dust clod on the hit side.  A cool update of the big band standard but I bought it for the B side 1:45, which didn't make the album, nor CD.  Took me fifty years to find a decent replacement.  I also like this one better than Deep Purple.


4)    Give Them My Number-Rick Nelson (Capitol B-8178)  1982

The end of Rick Nelson.  The last Capitol single, which was supposed to be for a new album but since sales of Playing To Win were poor, Capitol cut their losses.  It's more country than rock, but it was too rock for country.  I was one of the few that did buy Playing To Win and I thought it was a pretty good album.   Give Them My Number is no different than any of the country rock songs from his Decca/MCA years but like that label, Capitol didn't promote it.  B side No Fair Falling In Love is more country sounding but probably wouldn't charted over there either.  I have to say that Moondog Music has a lot of Rick Nelson 45's, over 50 different titles from the 50s up to this single.  Perhaps in the future we'll continue to explore Nelson's lesser known songs.  He has plenty of them.

5)   Never Be Lonely-The New Colony Six (MCA-40215)  1974
Long Time To Be Alone Charted at #93 at Twilight 1004

Confusion time.  45 Cat lists this as the A side but the B side Long Time To Be Alone can be found on the Rhino best of, which has been out of print for a while.  It came out in 1971 after Roll On, but MCA reissued it in 1974 and only God knows why.  Long Time To Be Alone is the typical NC6 balladry that they started with I Will Always Think About You and had some success with other like minded singles.  How MCA decided to reissue this remains a mystery upon itself.  A safe pop rock ballad.  And I do like Long Time To Be Alone better.

6)    Love Hurts-Jim Capaldi (Island IS-045)  #97  1975

I prefer this version over Nazareth from the beginning.  While the latter band made it a dark and paranoid ballad, Jim went more toward a pop disco.  That's Gerry Conway trying out his china cymbals on the accent.   I'm disappointed the record sounds a bit scratchy, it's been one of my sought after 45s.  B side Sugar Honey is a rockabilly number not sounding alike Dave Edmunds.  It does sound like Albert Lee playing guitar.  Which is a plus.  Of coure, somebody overdubs some screaming girls at the end of the song.   YAY!

7)    Lamplight-David Essex (Columbia 4-46041)  #71 1974

KLWW played this more in 1975 than in 1974 when it peaked.  One of the more oddball songs in that time, a bit of a departure then Rock On with the novelty horns at the middle and end of the song.  For a jukebox 45 it does play better than I thought it would, especially from a Columbia single.  B side We All Insane, is glam rock I think including drum solo.

8)    Drums-Jon & Robin (Abnak AB-122)  #100 1967

Being the music audiophile I have to find their second of three top 100 singles for Abnak.  Drums is written by Wayne Carson Thompson (Soul Deep, Jon The Medicine Man), and no it didn't do as well as their first hit Do It Again (a little shower), it did cling to the number 100 spot for two weeks.  Perhaps Abnak should have gone with the B side You Don't Care, tho' it does sound like clumsy Byrds.  Still fun to hear.  Jon and Robin did record 12 singles for Abnak.  Perhaps Sundazed should consider putting out a best of?

9)    Respectable-The Outsiders (Capitol 5701)  #15 1966

It's hard to decide who did the best version of this song, The Chants, Isley Brothers and even The Yardbirds but I always like The Outsiders' version since I was more familiar with it. In the final listening, The Chants win out by a hair.  If only oldies radio could play all three versions.  B side Lost In My World is more in tune with Time Won't Let Me, but not as inspired.  But we do miss Tom King, and Sonny Gerasi too.

10)    Let Me Belong To You-Brian Hyland (ABC Paramount 10236)  #20 1961

Well it's been a while since we found any Hyland 45s to take home. Actually I did come across two Dot Singles a couple weeks ago but found them a bit too scratched up to buy.  But what's another ABC Paramount single in the collection?  Brian remains one of the better teen idols of the 60s, he wasn't too sugary sweet as Frankie Avalon or as cornball as Bobby Rydell.  Love the line tie me down and make me your slave, that was kinda testing the censors back in 1961.  B side Let It Die! rocks harder than that pop sound that Stan Applebaum lays on the arrangements.  What's with that tweety bird singing chick singer on the bridge?  Note the Bo Diddley homage at the end.

11)   Tearing Us Apart-Eric Clapton/Tina Turner (Duck/WB  7-28279)  1986

This didn't chart?  Strange how everything Phil Collins touches did turn into top 40 magic, but for Slowhand and Tina on board. Probably didn't help that the song sounded more like a throwaway, with Phil Collins borrowing Gerry Conway's china cymbal.  In typical fashtion this is single edit that fades after the final chorus.  Alas, you get the full 4:55 of Hold On, one of those boring ballads that E.C. is famous for.  Course that 80s dated Collins production doesn't help either.  This record is a bit warped but does play without skips.

12)   I Found Someone Of My Own-Free Movement (Decca 32818)  #5 1971

I think this got mentioned in a previous blog but the record found was scratchy and didn't play worth a shit, so...SURPRISE..I found another copy.  Maybe one of these days I will find Cal Smith's version that charted pretty high on the country charts.  It's a soul ballad from The Free Movement but sounds more at home on the country side with Cal Smith.  A weird note: while this single came out on Decca, the album was issued on Columbia who issued the follow up single The Harder I Try, which made it to number 50.  I Can't Convince My Heart is a bit more uptempo soul.  Second hand soul but like New York City and their I'm Doing Fine Now album, The Free Movement had some inspired moments.  This record played much better than the one I had to donate back to Goodwill.

13)   One Piece Topless Bathing Suit-The Rip Chords (Columbia 4-43093)  #96 1964

The fun thing about going through the Moondog Records box of 45s is how much oddball stuff I have found for a dollar, most have seen better days but once in a while I could find something that still sounds decent despite the age of the record and how many times it's been played. This was the Rip Chords last top 100 single, which peaked at 96.  And it was written by Steve Barri and P F Sloan (with D altfield). but it is Barri/Sloan on B Side  Wah Wahini, basically a Jan and Dean knockoff.  The Rip Chords were Bruce and Terry (Bruce Johnston and Terry Melcher) who would go on to bigger and better things, as well as Barri and Sloan.

14)   Long Tall Sally-Little Richard (Specialty 572)  #6 1956

It's a reissue but hey, it's Little Richard.  And that's all right by me.  Usually the original Specialty 45s have their grooves off and very pricey.  Still it's vintage Little Richard, maybe the real king of rock and roll.  B Side is Slippin and Slidin'.  Of course that's Earl Palmer on drums.  The best session drummer ever says Mr. Penniman. He should know.

As always, thanks to the wonderful folks at Moondog Music for continuing to contribute to the Singles Going Steady series of the past couple months.  For all the latest in records, cds and other cool stuff, Please visit Moondog Music at 806 Wacker Drive in Dubuque.

Singles Going Steady 56-More Moondog Records Finds

This summer has been sizzling with amazing finds of forgotten 45s from different places.  While I have yet to frequent Madison this year, I managed to do quite well staying close to home from the St Vincent De Paul and Salvation Army stores.  For the last three weeks, I have been a regular at the CR SA store and sorting through the same scratched up 45s and thinking I can save a few more, but in reality, the majority of the 45s are in poor shape, and no matter how much I try to clean them up, the majority of them are too far gone.  It's sad that I can't clean up Last Night by the Mar Keys, that would have been the find of the week, but then again I can live without Sun Arise by Rolf Harris.

The truth remains, that there's not much turnover for me to continue to hang at the thrift stores since 45s are few and far between, unless they're worn out juke box copies.  Bored with the surroundings, it was time to return to Dubuque and see what the thrift stores and Moondog Music had in store.  The other record store I haven't been much to, they have outpriced themselves for me to really go in there.  In the final overview, chances are that Moondog will retain the number 1 place to go.  Wax Estatic in Marshalltown may finally get to see me there but for now I have remained east of Cedar Rapids and probably will do so for some time.

While hanging at Moondog, I found another record collector really combing through the 45 section. He had a pile about 20 to 30 records of varying degree but he did put a couple of them back, to which I picked up.  To which he gets special thanks for doing that, but he did snag somebody on Modern Records to which I don't know who the artist was.  But I may have overlooked that on my last visit.

With the fifth anniversary of the best 45 finds ever, I'm always compelled to try to find the next batch to be memorable.  There are classics in this one, best ever?  Well, time will tell.


1)    Stormy Weather-The Four Casts (Atlantic 45-2228)  1964

If there's a connection to Ruben And The Jets and The Rivingtons, this would probably be it, tho I doubt Frank Zappa ever heard of The Four Casts.  They were from Philadelphia better known as The Ly-Dells and recorded a few sides for various labels and paired with Freddy Cannon on the song Broadway.  This is their only Atlantic 45 and this was the single that the dude sorting through them at Moondog passed up.  I get a kick out of finding the one off Atlantic singles of the 50s and 60s.  The Lone Twister got props from the last blog and we uncovered him as Murray The K Kaufman.  These guys, somebody managed to do a bio on them.  http://doo-wop.blogg.org/four-casts-c26502672

There was crumbs lodged in the grooves, but a nice bath took care of that and it played without skips.B side Workin' At The Factory is more of a hardcore doo wop number. The Four Casts might have been unknown but these two songs are quite worth seeking out.  Stormy Weather can be found on You Tube.

2)    Mystery Train-Elvis Presley With  Scotty And Bill (RCA 47-6357)  1955

Oh the Sun Sessions, and what begin the rock and roll era.  Good luck trying to find the original Sun single, or for that matter the Preview Copy from RCA.  My copy is the first generation stock copy and is in fairly decent shape.  For a 65 year old Elvis record, I'm impressed that the folks did sell this to me for a dollar. I've seen worse being sold at five to ten dollars.  The booby prize of the last Moondog visit gave us Orion, not the same thing at all.  Nevertheless, the RCA issue of any Sun recordings are a must buy, Blue Moon was the other Sun Sessions 45 that I found and I think that was from the last Madison visit.  I need to go up there soon.  The song itself sounds a bit more polished than the rough and tumble Sun version but then again I didn't have the stereo up too loud.  I didn't want to wake my brother.  This Friday marks the 42 year that Elvis left the world.  Somehow I managed to find a Elvis 45 in the process.

3)   Gypsy Pilot-Rick Nelson (Decca 32906)  1971

The teen idol become a solid country rock and roller in the early 70s but nobody was buying his singles whatsoever.  Rick have a chart placement here and there, beginning with She Belongs To Me (#33) and Easy To Be Free (#48) but this song was ignored.  It's really one of Rick's harder rocking numbers about life on the road, but this record might be autobiographical, especially on the final lyric When they claim my body
They won't have much to say
Except that he lived a good life
He lived every day
The Ending has to be heard to be believed.

4)    Daisy Mae (And Daisy May Not)-Terri Lane (Monument 8565)  1973  #37 Country

A country 45 that my dad had in his collection and I may have gotten it for him after finding a bunch of old jukebox forty fives.  I tend to give the country records to my dad for fear of being ridiculed by my schoolmates, real people don't listen to country, they listen to rock.  Bullshit, I have tend to enjoy the songs that Dad used to play, even tho this song is kinda slight, somewhat a lighter Lynn Anderson number.

5)    Happy To Be Unhappy-Leroy Van Dyke (Mercury 72198)  #54 Country 1964

Written by Bobby Bare, it managed to top some of the local country charts and it's uptempo in the way of Walk On By but it's unremarkable and hasn't stood the test of time.  Not that country radio plays it much if at all.  Leroy's Mercury songs have been on my record player including scratchy ole favorite How Long Must You Keep Me  A Secret.   Like Dave Dudley, I tend to buy the Mercury singles if they're in reasonable shape.  Even without a record sleeve it does play like new.  B side Now I Lay Me Down shows Leroy going toward a more mellower sound. With so so results, tho I give him credit, the song is only 2 minutes long.

6)   You Talk Too Much-Frankie Ford (Imperial X-5686)  1960 #87

Frankie benefited from Huey Piano Smith  and The Crowns backing him up when he was with Ace Records and moving over to Imperial resulted in some fine New Orleans rock and roll.  Once again, Ford lost out to another person in covering songs, this time to Joe Jones who made number 3, while Frankie's toiled down near the bottom.  Some say that Ford had the better version had they heard it.  B Side If You Got Troubles Frankie co wrote with Huey Smith and does rock.

7)   Oh Julie-The Crescendos  (Nasco 45-6005)  #5  1958

Prime choice rockabilly doo wop that has been featured on a couple of Excello best ofs.  In a way reminds me of Gene Vincent's Wear My Ring (don't ask why).

8)   Anti-Protest Protest Song-David Winters (Mercury 72537)  1966

Thanks to Bob Dylan, there were plenty of protest songs and parody protest songs.  This one escapes me tho', Never heard of it before finding a decent copy at the St Vincent De Paul.  Working with Shelby Singleton and Alan Lorber, this is actually a decent pop rock song.  Not much is known about Winters, he did record for a few minor singles for minor labels and this was his only Mercury single.

9)   I Don't Miss You-Shoes (Elektra E-46598)  1979

The third and final single from Present Tense, Zion Illinois' very own Shoes were too power pop for the radio, Single number 2, Too Late went to number 75 on the charts but radio didn't play them much over here.  I'm not sure why I kept passing up on this single over at Moondogs, unless I kept overlooking it, or somebody did bring it in for trade.  I Don't Miss You is a bit more harder rocking complete with fuzz guitar.  When Real Gone issued a best of, this song didn't make the cut but it can be found on Shoes Best.  But Real Gone tacked on B Side In Your Arms Again, which is okay but a bit out of the 3 minute comfort zone. Hmm

10)   Gone Long Gone-Chicago  (Columbia 3-10935)  1978  #73 (79)

After a long night of scouring for 45s and unlike my record hunting buddy, I didn't dig very deep, I decided to grab something on the way home, Kwik Star had nothing of note so I went over to Taco Bell and hung out with the teenagers, and not one of anybody in that place was born before 2000. Including the help.  It begin to dawn on me that perhaps going to Taco Bell at 9 30 at night isn't a good idea if you over 50.  Eventually they all cleared out to go hot rod'ing on JFK Drive in DBQ.  Which really has nothing to do with this song.  The third and final single off Hot Streets, this is Chicago beginning to be taken over by Peter Cetera's vocal work and Donnie Dacus had the tough task of replacing Terry Kath, who lost out to a shotgun.  The beginning of the wilderness years? I still like this song, tho the 45 sounds a bit too scratchy for my liking.

11)  Brooklyn Roads-Neil Diamond (Uni 55065)  #58 1968

The beginning of Neil's Uni career and a song that managed to pop in the top 60.  The Velvet Gloves And Spit album is strange Uni debut, including the Pot Smoker's Song.  Brooklyn Roads is a sweet ballad that Neil would be famous for later on down the road.  Neil's bizarre Holiday Inn Song shows a more playful side shall we say?  Kudos to arranger Howard Johnson for this one.  *wink*

12)    Hey Little Girl-Del Shannon (Big Top 3091)  #38 1961

Del may have been a walking contradiction, (Geoff Redding says working with Del was a pleasure, local legend musician Timothy said he was a A hole) but his songs are always been paranoid and tortured, Hey Little Girl is something like Runaway but a bit more optimistic on the chorus tho in this PC age anything with Little Girl in it is frowned upon.  Damn republicans anyway. The song isn't as urgent as Runaway was but it's a passable listen. B side I Don't Care Anymore is textbook Shannon songwriting, sounds like it was written for the Everly Brothers. But probably a bit too dark for their liking.

13)    MTA-Kingston Trio (Capitol F-4221) #15  1959

Protest music 1959 style.  In the years of collecting 45s, The Kingston Trio seem to make their way to the Singles Going Steady Series. This was the third single bought at the St Vincent De Paul (3 for 50 cents).  I could have swore I have the Tom Dooley single but have yet to find it, or maybe I donated it back to the thrift store?  Certainly the Kingston Trio did make a few duds, but MTA is not one of them.  B side is All My Sorrows.  Record plays better than the Neil Diamond and Chicago singles.

14)   It's Nothing To Me-Jim Reeves (RCA  PB-10956)  1977  #14 Country

The last song, comes from my dad's collection, I think I gave this to him when I moved out of the house the first time but I could never locate another copy that wasn't chewed up and so I went back home and found this 45 once again.  By then Jim was thirteen years removed from this world, but RCA continued to put out his songs in varied form.  Originally from 1960 thereabouts, Bud Logan overdubbed a rock guitar to update the sound.  It was chart fairly high on the country charts, even beyond the grave, Reeves still made the country charts, his next seven selection made top 40 country. However the writing was on the wall and after a disappointing number 54 pairing with Patsy Cline's I Fall To Pieces, RCA would issue one more single, the number 70 The Image Of Me in 1984.  We're still waiting on a decent best of from RCA on Gentleman Jim.

UPDATE: Five years after the big find, I returned to the Salvation Army Davenport Store and found nothing.  They still have a few of the scratchy juke box records from the last couple visits but I went away empty handed.  One thrift store had 45s but the only one that looked good Sam The Sham' Oh That's Good No That's Bad I didn't buy.  I figured I would get my record player a break from the scratched up wonders I found last month and this month.    I didn't go into Illinois to seek out records, but stayed in Davenport and watch the CR Kernels beat the River Bandits in a 6-2 game that took three and a half hours to complete.  It was so boring that one of the Kernels outfielder asked me what time it was,  I said 9:30.  Turns out I was right for a change.  The game was three hours and thirty six minutes long.

Fact: Both Austin Shaffer and Felipe Tejada started the July 8th game at the QC which Cedar Rapids won 6-5.  On this game, both were relievers  Tejada got rocked for 4 runs in the fifth inning and lasted 2/3 of a inning. Attendance of this game was 3,400, tho' most of them left before the 9th inning, to which Josh Winder pitched 6 stellar innings and striking out 9 River Bandits.  For the first time I didn't see any home runs by either team this year.  In the games I watched of this rivalry, Cedar Rapids won both.