A return back to Madison so soon? Let's just say I had some unfinished biz to do. Namely trying to find a elusive Brenda Lee song, Is It True? To which I didn't but found a few in the 25 cent bin. To which I will extend this out for the week in conjunction with the Beaker Street Friday list.
I can't have fun in Madison. Riding a bike and having some dumb fuck liberal old white guy yelling at me. To which I told him to go fuck himself, these cockroaches simply will not let me have any fun riding the bike. For the first time, I rode down State Street and seen a lot of abandoned places, boarded up plywood full of graffiti and the usual change chasers and beggars down the street. I have no ideal why old Mr. Fucky White Guy had his man bun in a knot but may he get smacked by the BLM protesters. I used to love going up there, now I look at it like getting a root canal without laughing gas.
If anything, getting to Mad City Music X and extra hour I managed to find some noteworthy stuff. At the junk shop, I found a big sized keyboard for fifty cents, however, the keys are in a disarray. Also, my car discman gave up the ghost, and I trusted a Jensen 1.88 special player that I thought could do the job. Wrong, it skipped on all of the cd's I played with the exception of a Grant Green CD. With Sony Baloney discontinuing the memory and 60 skip function, it's hard to find a decent replacement and I'm not about to spend 250 dollars on the Amazon black market for a used one. I will try my chances on what's available and is a five star recommendation. For CDs, I found 14, a few more than the June hunts, mostly jazz stuff at St Vinnies. And I finally got a vinyl copy of Homegrown from Neil Young for 21.99 and Brandy Clark's Jukebox Of Your Life for 19.99. I rather have the vinyl than the oblong and cheap digipacks that Warner Music tends to favor. Mad City Music continuing to do the 11-4 hours, it was the first place to be, then I could go to Strictly Discs for whatever they had. I did pick up a couple of museum 45s, including I Do from the Marvelows, Here I Am Baby by the beloved Marvellettes and Ray Agee's The Gamble, another forty five from my past that I never thought I could find. They have had I Do up there for a while. For CDs, there were some oddball quarter finds at the Pick n Save St Vinnies, as well as this worthless keyboard. But once again I found a best of Al Hibbler (the Decca Years), Dave Edmunds' Pile Of Rock and X live at the Whiskey A GO GO, A Gospel collection with King/Gusto Country artists of long ago and far away, A Joe Williams best of the Verve Years, A Jimmy Smith Open House/Plain Talk, Grant Green-Grantstand, and another Chris Isaak I didn't have, Always Got Tonight. Oh, and the new X CD as well.
In the era of the Convid virus Cds are continuing to be found, even if we are on the verge of once again being quarantined for another three months. However, the Madison bargain hunts are a case study in how to hoard records, find off the wall stuff, bring it home, listen to it once and then donate it back to St. Vinnies. They didn't take too long of putting my donated forty fives back to me, to file them away, or pick the best record sleeves, put replacement copies in and take them home again. This time the St Vinnies Williamson St. had the 45's at 30 cents, not the overprice that was experienced when they had the ultimate record sale there. In fact, the leftovers were still there. Also, a few copies came from donations....from Mad City Music X.
For a hoarder/collector, finding pop stuff from the 50s can be rewarding, as well as frustrating. Like Davenport, some pop singles were worthy, most weren't. Somehow I managed to let go a few of the Davenport singles, as well as The Rascals' Carry Me Back, a 45 I did my damnest to keep in the collection but repeated cleanings meant nothing and sound never improved. Why Steve Allen's Pretend You Don't See Her didn't get donated is luck of the draw. It's not rock n roll but Allen was such a nice guy when he was alive. Perhaps next time, on the next trip to St. Vinnies but for now, it's safe.
I found 33 singles to which I'll run 10 of them at a time per week. At some point the usual artists will be there, (Bobby Darin, Brenda Lee, etc).
1) What Can I Say-Boz Scaggs (Columbia 3-10440) #42 1976
The third single from Silk Degrees, an album that broke Boz Scaggs with Lowdown and Lido Shuffle, but It's Over and this song kinda had disappointing sales. I always liked What Can I Say as a opening track. Like Steve Miller's Fly Like An Eagle, Silk Degrees became a signature album taylor made for soft rock radio. It's open to debate if it's his best album. B side was We're All Alone, which was also a b side to Lido Shuffle. Rita Coolridge had a top 10 hit with We're All Alone but I thought We're All Alone was bland and less favorite off Silk Degrees.
2) Life Is A Song Worth Singing-Johnny Mathis (Columbia 4-45975) #54 1973
It's odd that Johnny decided to go to Philadelphia to work with Thom Bell and the MFSB band for the 1973 I'm Coming Home album but I think it's one of the best albums he's ever done. Makes me wonder what would have happened had Norman Whitfield decided to produce Mathis. Mathis proves that he could do soul music with the best of them.
3) Two Doors Down-Zella Lehr (RCA PB-11174) 1977 #7 Country
Written by Dolly Parton, Lehr's version was her highest charting single. Of course Dolly would have her version pop on the Pop 100 (#19 in 1978). Lehr's version is a bit more rocking but not rock enough. My copy is warped.
4) Band Of Gold-Don Cherry (Columbia 4-40597) #4 1955
Let's discuss the b side Rumble Boogie first, a direct variation to Rock Around The Clock by Bill Haley and The Comets all the way down to the echoed drums. Coming from the late stuff neck Mitch Miller, this is considered to be his response to the jumping beat of rock n roll. Ray Conniff does the arrangements tho. The number 4 hit, was the beginning to also, Buchanan and Goodman's Flying Saucer and also features in the opening of Mad Men. Forty years after the fact this song was still being used in tv shows speaks for itself. I'm certain that a R N B doowop group might have done this song as well but I have yet to find that on the internet. For Cherry, his best known song.
5) Need You Bad-Ted Nugent (Epic 8-50648) #84 1978
Recorded in 78, but charted in 79, it was the beginning of the Charlie Huhn era, to which the future Humble Pie and Foghat vocalist made his start, backing up ole Terrible Ted and having Cliff Davies on drums. The comedown in quality after Derrick St Holmes departure was shown but then again it was Terrible Ted writing the songs. As with CBS standards, the 2:44 edit chops off about 16 bars of Nugent's lead guitar work, but unlike You Better Think Twice (poco) or Maggie (redbone) it wasn't a total butcher job. Per usual we prefer the album version 4:18 isn't going to bother anybody, unless it's you're trying to sell commercials. I remember a local band covered this song at the talent show. And their drummer was the inspiration for me to take up drums. B side I Got The Feelin' is more of the Nugent rave up we all grown up and love before his right wing ways made us want to disown him. The record actually plays pretty good despite a shoddy mix and subpar plant pressing.
6) Clementine-Bobby Darin (Atco 45-6161) #21 1960
Our annual Bobby Darin find, a copy of Baby May (on direction) was cracked in three places so I opted for this Richard Weis arrangement of this song, done in the style of Mack The Knife and Beyond The Sea, but the least effective of the trio of songs. And the most silliest. B side Tall Story continues that Pop Jump Jazz Junk that Darin was exploring at that time. We're not done with Bobby just yet.
7) I'll Be There-Gerry And The Pacemakers (Laurie L-3279) #14 1964
Remember on our last Singles Going Steady segment that we discuss the B side to Bill Bailey? It sounded perfect for a second tier British Invasion band, well I didn't say it at that time but little did I know that Gerry Marsden did cover this Bobby Darin song for a top twenty hit. Which works better for The Pacemakers than Darin himself. I don't highly on Gerry and the Pacemakers, they're a step up from the banality of Freddie And The Dreamers or the halfwits that are Herman's Hermits. The B side You You You is a throwaway 2 minute ditty.
8) Don't Be A Bunny-Sugar And Spice (Wing W-90081) 1956
http://doo-wop.blogg.org/sugar-spice-1-c26505380
Buck Ram (The Platters) signed this duo and made three singles, this one features Mickey Baker's guitar work. An oddball term, A bunny is a square that disrupts the live concert settings. Only in today's world that would be somebody yakking on a cellphone and standing in front of you at a live gigs, before the CORNY virus and social distancing became a part of today's music live venue. B side There Were No Angels, combines the worst of Since I Met You Baby and Over The Mountain Over The Sea to make a third rate doo wop song.
9) The Dick Hyman Piano Concerto Excerpt From Movement 1
Dick Hyman (Command 45-4132) 1970
Hyman has been a long in the tooth conductor, making albums for MGM and Command before discovering the Moog and getting a couple of interesting chart placing sides like Topless Dancers of Corfu and the 7 and half minute Minotaur. This was his final Command single, which has a part 1 and 11, to which the latter is more muzak and channels his inner Liberace.
10) Here I Am Baby-The Marvelettes (Tamla T-54166) #44 1968
I always thought they were more sexier and tougher than Diana Ross and The Supremes tho Barry Gordy has his interests at hand on the former band. The Marvelettes still got good songs from Smokey Robinson, such as this song. B side is a Barry Gordy/Johnny Bristol throwaway Keep Off No Trespassing. The Funk Brothers do lively up this ho hum song but The Marvelettes don't sound that interested in this song.
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