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.
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