If You have read this far, you have have known that Madison was a couple weeks ago and I ended up finding a lot of classic 45s from St Vinnies/Mad City Music X. Going to Madison to both stores after six or seven months away ensured there would be a bit of turnover and what didn't sell in the museum section would be in the quarters bin (all 10 boxes of quarter records) and I would be there till closing which always came too soon. Some records that i did buy were replacements for the ones that I had in my collection years ago and were too scratchy or bought at thrift stores in hopes of cleaning them up and making them sound well. Sometimes that didn't happen. I posted the 10 replacement songs on the Madison finds blog, just to get them out of the way. I do find some sort of listening entertainment with Paul Anka and Lonely Boy. And I can always count on somebody getting rid of Grandma's collection when I head to the mad city.
Ricky Nelson was a big part of my mom's 45 collection and she had good taste in teen idols, tho people would question Frankie Avalon or Fabian or Paul Anka. Some singles from the original box of 45s I will not buy, I never cared for the Chantels Maybe, and A Boy Witout a Gril from Avalon was too cheesy. The Happy Reindeer from Dancer, Prancer and Nervous (Capitol 4300) I did find a decent copy but I misplaced it and didn't have the time to search for it, tho I find a couple others that I did put back and then found again. Mad City did have a record player for me to review questionable songs, and a Margie Rayburn song got put back along with The Three Chuckles on X Records. As for Ricky Nelson, I think I found 20 of his Imperial/Decca/Verve/Capitol singles (no Epic ones tho) so if anybody made out for the singles going steady series, Ricky wins going away, Bobby Darin in a far second and Paul Anka 3rd. The kindness of strangers donating their collection for me to pick up and give them a good home till I'm gone. Then somebody will pick up when I left off.
The first batch of the 45s, deal with the 50s and 60s. the second will pick up the 70s and beyond. As I get older I tend not to really comment on the finds, just group them all together and take a listen and comment. It does seem like my attention span gets less n less with each posting. But like most collectors, I do like to toot my own horn about finding those bargains.
1) Drifting And Dreaming-The Mulcays (Coral 9-61221) 1953
My fascination with old Coral recordings is like the ABC Paramount, I get sucked in by the label and how it looks. Coral had the best with Chuck Murphy Buddy Holly, The Rock And Roll Trio and Tommy Duncan, at worst, the dated arrangements of Dick Jacobs and Jack Plies. Cliff Stoddard also make me smile with his Don't Put A Tax On The Beautiful Girls. Or the mysterious Georgie Auld and Harlem Nocturne. The Mulcays was a husband/wife harmonica duo that recorded for many labels of the 50s and 60s, like the Harmonicats. At that time, who ever could thought that you can form a band with harmonicas only? The Mulcays recorded for Dot, GNP Crescendo, Essex, Cardinal, MGM and Coral to name a few. Drifting And Dreaming has been a standard for many band (Grady Martin and The Slewfoot Five had a version) but I have to say, this is a very haunting number. Electric harmonicas? What a concept. B side is their take on Caravan which was the reason why I bought this in the first place. But turns out Drifting And Dreaming was the better of the two sides. The record despite no sleeve played fairly good.
2) Morgen-Ivo Robie (Laurie LR-3033) #13 1959
In the big box of 45s, there were no shortage of oddball music, The Little Train was one of them, Morgen was another one. Ivo was of Croatian fame and this version he worked with Burt Krampert, (the guy that produced the Beatles Decca sessions and later had Red Roses For A Blue Lady for a hit).
The term meaning "tomorrow" was one of those 45s me and my brother would use as a frisbee. B side Ay Ay Ay Paloma stinks and reminds me of the Frido Bandito commercial of the mid 60s. I have no use to seek out the number 58 charting Happy Muledeer. Morgen has grown on me tho.
3) Car Trouble-The Eligibles (Capitol F-4203) #107 1959
I remember this song from the Surf and Drag CD comps that Capitol put out in the 1990s. They were more related to the Four Preps than The Coasters. Produced by Ken Nelson who best known for helping shaping the Bakersfield Sound with Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. This record is highly sought out by collectors it seems. This one came from the library of WTAH, which also had Bobby Darin's Bill Bailey as a record too. B side I Wrote A Song sucks.
4) Walking Alone-The Diamonds (Mercury 71366 X45) #29 1958
To me, The Diamonds were the greatest cover band of black R and B songs, most of what they did were top notch and even did better than the originals, tho Little Darlin' was done as a fluke. Originally done by the Solitaires (Old Town 1034, later reissued at Argo 5316 to try to get some chart action after The Diamonds got a top 30 hit with this song.... neither the Old Town nor Argo charted) It's hard to better of the two, David Somerville really paid close attention to how the song went. Perhaps I should have picked up that Old Town label retrospective that Moondog Music had when me and Julie went to DBQ, the Solitaires are worth hearing. As well as the Diamonds which Mercury did issue a best of, before Universal bought out Polygram and deleted just about everything from the 50s and 60s.
5) Tragedy-Thomas Wayne (Fernwood 45-109) #5 1959
Produced by the one and only Scotty Moore (Elvis), this has made the Time Life One Hit Wonders 2 CD set. I'm guessing it's Scotty playing guitar to this song. One of teen songs of tragedy like Tell Laura That I Love Her or Teen Angel. For 2 minutes and five seconds it's a short song. B side Saturday Date is thirty seconds shorter and I have to hear it twice just to hear what I missed the first time. On the second time, it's fun but forgettable
6) Percolator-Billy Joe And The Checkmates (Dore 620) #10 1962
A top ten hit during the twist craze but I never heard this original till much later. Hot Butter did a cover in 1972 after their number 9 hit Popcorn, their version scraped the KCRG Super 30 but not the Billboard charts. Billy Joe did release many more singles for Dore up to 1973, but only Percolator made the charts. B side Round And Round And Round And Round is more background noise for you twisters out there.
7) This Should Go On Forever-Rod Bernard (Argo 5327) #20 1959
Originally on Jin Records, when Leonard Chess picked this up for distribution for Argo but somehow JD Miller kept the publishing rights from Chess. A rare occasion. It's mostly rockabilly swamp rock but some reviewer called it "chanted with soul" whatever that might be. When Sugarhill reissued New Orleans R and B, this song was on it, whereas the Chess Rockabillies had the b side Pardon Mr. Gordon which seems to be more memorable and more fun than This Should Go On Forever. One more single for Argo, and Rod moved over to Mercury and other labels before returning back to Jin.
8) Silver Dollar-Barry Darvell (Atlantic 2128) 1961
Teen idol pop somewhat akin to Bobby Darin but Barry Darvell only recorded two singles for Atlantic at that time, but the unmistakable sax of King Curtis can be heard. B side Lost Love is more Bobby Vee than Darin. I usually have decent luck finding ole Atlantic singles but the Madison I only found three of them. Only the unknown Darvell is from the early 60s.
9) Somebody Touched Me-Buddy Knox (Roulette R-4082) #22 1958
Basically Buddy Knox and Jimmy Bowen used the Rhythm Orchids for their rockabilly sides, and I haven't heard this song till this week. I'd say it's quality rockabilly as well as C'mon Baby the B side that I thought was the A side but that wasn't the cause. Somebody Touched Me owes lot to Stranded In The Jungle and Bo Diddley however it was written by Arment Ertaguen, who you know was the guy that was Atlantic Records. C'mon Baby, is Buddy Holly fun.
10) Send Me The Pillow That You Dream On-Johnny Tillotson (Cadence 1424) #17 1962
It Keeps Right On A Hurtin is the greatest RCA country album ever made on another label. Credit Archie Bleyer for spending no expense for getting the the best country artist for Johnny. Send Me The Pillow That You Dream On updated Hank Locklin's song but with Johnny doing the vocals, B side What'll I Do is my fave track off the album, taking a Irving Berlin number and turning it into country. What'll I Do charted at #106 on the pop charts. A shame it didn't do better.
11) Susie Darlin-Robin Luke (Dot 45-15781) #5 1958
I bought a copy in Waterloo but it was too far scratchy that I donated it elsewhere. Luke's only top five hit, part Fleetwoods, part Gene Vincent and part Buddy Holly. Somehow this influenced Jeremy Spencer during the Kiln House sessions, tho his version didn't get recorded. B side Living's Loving You is blues rockabilly.
12) Snap Your Fingers-Joe Henderson (Robb 45-1072) #8 1962
Henderson's big hit and what he could do best is take Brook Benton's phasing and turn it into a sexy country R and B romp. Don Gibson had a minor hit with this in the 1970s but the original cannot be beat. The best song that Brook Benton didn't sing. Written by Grady Martin and Alex Zanetis. B side If You See Me Cry is ho hum country.
13) California Sun-Joe Jones (Roulette R-4344) #89 1961
You Talk Too Much was a big hit, number 3 in 1960, however this single only slithered up to number 89 in 1961. One of those songs that you could do the twist to. However the better version was done by the Riverias And of course, The Ramones.
14) There's Nothing I Can Say-Rick Nelson (Decca 31656) #47 1964
With Beatlemania coming across the pond and Dave Clark Five and Herman Hermits and the Rolling Stones the teen idols of the 50s and early 60s were falling by the wayside. So we get this sappy ballad. B side Lonely Corner is much much better, to which maybe Rick was listening to the Beatles at that time. Betcha the Wrecking Crew was playing on this record.
15) Silver Threads And Golden Needles-The Springfields (Phillips 40038) #20 1962
For the folk revival that was happening in 1962 or 63, we have this offering from a band led by eternally sweet vocals of Dusty Springfield. Linda Ronstadt had a decent chart placing of this song. In terms of theory tho, this song did make the way of the sound of the Byrds with the jangly guitar, which might have inspired Jim McGuinn to pick a 12 string Rickenbacker. But then again, I like to imagine that he actually did after hearing this song. B side Aunt Rhody goes back to the skiffle era.
Part 2 of the Madison Singles Collection will continue later in the month.
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