The trip to Madison and to the records stores (namely Strictly Discs and Mad City Music X) and the thrift stores have yielded some interesting finds and to this reviewer another reason to document the whole thing. Record collectors and hoarders still roam the stores every day. Tho' I disagree with the stores inflating prices on scratchy 45s (believe me, my grading of a VG- record and the record stores ratings differ, especially if the record is scratched up, I'm not paying 30 dollars for a G- version of I Walk The Line by Johnny Cash). I do have a review anything that looks interesting method, who else can explain four Gogi Grant records found and taken home to listen to perhaps one time. Pristine copies of Tommy Dorsey and Jaye P Morgan likewise played and filed away till the next record dump. But it is the rock records that will continue to hold court here. Will there be a cut off date for the last 45 I buy? After death perhaps but as long as people continue to donate their collection and if i can find them, I pick out the best of the bunch.
The pop singles do paint a vivid picture of the music of the 1950s, Big Bands turning to the cha cha cha or the twist in order to be remembered but sounds dated today. Even the best faltered, Sam Cooke and Teenage Sonata comes to mind. And those weird space pad jazz sides and muzak bands, it boggles the mind to see a orchestra find its way to Atlantic Records (Raymond Lefevare's Come Softly To Me) or Henry Mancini's Peter Gunn that showed that even orchestras could rock out.
While I was digging deep into the 45s at the Madison St Vincent De Paul, I had a twenty something pop up and was wowing through some of the scratched up records. (oooh, Make It With You by Bread) and we talked a bit about music. he didn't buy the Bread cd or some other single of some band I forgotten but she settled on a first edition copy of Saturday Night Fever for a dollar twenty five, which it had the original Polydor stamp on the bottom of the label. I enjoyed the conversations with the kiddies about music, but I really doubt if he'll go full tilt into the art of dumpster diving for 45's. His woman wouldn't allow it.
I didn't find much of rock 45s at the thrift store, but the majority was found at Mad City Music X. The museum pieces at Strictly Discs I didn't buy and the most expensive were three two dollar singles, a couple that my mom used to have in that historic big box of 45s that was at my Grandma's house. As for the usual suspects, Paul Anka was left behind, I had most of the Brian Hyland and Johnny Tollison singles and anything else was curio buys. And as well a few forgotten songs from bands who's time has past. And I didn't buy everything, I left behind 25 cent copies of Road Runner by The Gants, Everybody Loves A Clown by Gary Lewis and another copy of Are You A Boy by The Barbarians, the latter I had a copy at home and after I cleaned that up, sounded good enough to keep. But I did find enough rock to be happy with. I think two years ago, we found better singles and left most of the pops stuff on the racks, but this crop of singles hold their own.
1. I Understand (just how you feel)-The G Clefs (Terrace 45-7500) #9 1961
Later covered by Freddie And The Dreamers. This is one of the forty fives I remember from the Big Box Grandma had. My mom and Aunt Sarge would go on record buying sprees. I tend to think my mom would have brought this dark doo wop pop number. G Clefs are more geared toward The Lettermen on this version. As well as the sappy Little Girl I Love You.
2. Alone (why must i be alone) Shepard Sisters (Lance T-125) #18 1957
A irresistible, catchy and sweet little R & B number, and this may have been one of the earliest songs that I remember ever hearing. Four sisters from a big family from Ohio and Marty Craft wanted them to record this song. Despite it's success, the sisters would record singles for various label with little luck (Mercury, MGM, Warwick, Big Top, United Artists, 20th Century, Atlantic, Private Stock). Alone would be remade twice, one for Warwick and then later for York. They work with Lieber/Stroller for United Artists and their last chart placement Don't Look At Me (#94 in 1963) was produced by Bob Crewe (Four Seasons). B side Congratulations To Someone is doo wop all the way. Blue eyed soul so to speak.
3. Born Too Late-Poni Tails (ABC Paramount 45-9934) #7 1958 .
Continuing the girl group vibe, here's another of those singles that came from The Big Box. Girl group doo wop could rival the guys at times. The Poni-Tails would score two more chart placing singles. I'm surprised how nice sounding these forty fives are, especially from the quarter bins. B side Come On Joey Dance With Me, sounds a lot like the previous song Alone (why must i be alone), uptempo and lots of fun. Poni-Tails would remain on ABC Paramount through their tenure and score two singles that made it to number 85 and 87.
4. Lovey Dovey-Buddy Knox (Liberty F-55290) #25 1960
A cover of the Clyde McPlatter classic, done with the usual strings as noted with early Snuff Garrett productions when anybody was on Liberty Records at time. B side I Got You (written by Dick Glasser, later producer for The Vogues, Everly Brothers) is passable teen pop with a Bo Diddley beat for a decent pop hook.
5. More Than I Can Say-Bobby Vee (Liberty F-55296) #61 1961
Stayin' In #33
Stayin' In, wasn't one of Bobby's bigger chart topping hits and like Buddy Knox's Lovey Dovey, Snuff Garrett is behind the arrangements with lively strings here and there. Written by John D Loudermilk (Tobacco Road). B side More Than I Can Say, is a faithful recording of the Sonny Curtis/Crickets classic and I'm surprised by the low chart showing. Bobby Vee would later record an album with the Crickets which is worth hearing if you can find it.
6. Alvin For President-David Seville/Chipmunks (Liberty F-55277) #95 1960
Growing up and if you were a kid, you love The Chipmunks. A lesser known song varied on It's Nice, It's Good till Alvin takes over the record to declare his presidency. Alvin would certainly be a better than the joke that is in the white house. We want Alvin! We want Alvin. B side Sack Time is a short minute long ragtime jazz number. Complete with yawns for laughs.
7. By The Light Of The Silvery Moon-Jimmy Bowen (Roulette R-4083) #50 1958
His final top 50 single. Bowen was a fairly good rockabilly singer but he would find himself to be in the producer's seat and reviving the careers of Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra as well as MCA Nashville president in the 1980s and reviving Waylon Jennings' career after the outlaw movement died down. B side The Two Step, would sound perfect for Marty Robbins to do had Marty knew this song existed. Written by Ersel Hickey (Bluebirds Over The Mountain).
8. Wear My Ring Around Your Neck-Elvis Presley (RCA 47-7240) #2 1958
Don't Cha Think It's Time #15
If anybody questions the ability of Elvis rocking out should take a listen to this rocking classic. DJ Fontana plays his butt on the drums. And of course Scotty and Bill too. B side Don't Cha Think It's Time is an underrated rocker. Written by Clyde Otis and.... Willie Dixon! King of rock and roll, Elvis in the 50s for sure.
9. My Babe-Ronnie Dove (Diamond D- 221) #50 1967
Written and produced by Neil Diamond! Reminds me of My Boy Lollipop. One of the earliest songs that Neil wrote and Ronnie covered. Dove was more middle of the road but this is more uptempo than he usually has. The guess is that Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry are the background singers. B side is another Diamond comp, Put My Mind At Ease but this time Phil Kaye produced and Ray Stevens arranged and it sounds closer to Gene Pitney. Which reminds me....
10. Princess In Rags-Gene Pitney (Musicor MU-1130) #37 1965
I had this on record years ago but of course it didn't survive very well. Ya know, frisbee tossing. So I found a better record, tho' the mastering is quite loud. Pitney has been an oddball recording artist, he would make great songs and then turn around make total crap. Amore Rio the B side is interesting Spanish influenced song that would turn off the casual fan but I find it a fascinating song. A shame that didn't make it to a best of.
11. Sweets For My Sweet-The Drifters (Atlantic 2117) #16 1961
One of my all time favorite songs from The Drifters, later covered quite beautifully by The Searchers. Even Stan Applebaum throws in a very good arrangement as well. B side I'll Take You Home (Atlantic 2201 #25 1963) written by Barry Mann/Cindy Weil is another quality song. This 45 is The Golden Series collection (OS 13018) and not the stock copy of 2117 B side to Sweets, Loneliness Or Happiness was a early song written by Burt Bachurach and Hal David and B side to I'll Take You Home is I Feel Good All Over. All four songs can be found on the excellent Drifters 1959-1965 Collection or The Ben E King Years and Beyond.
12. River Of Love-B W Stevenson (RCA APB0-017) #53 1973
Back in 1973 at the old Woolworth's in Town n Country Square, I had a choice to either buy this single or pick up a train box car and ended buying the Illinois Central Box car (to which I gave to a friend after my interest in train collecting died off). It took me forty five years to find a decent copy. I've seen five singles that seen better days. My Maria was BW's biggest hit but I loved this song better than My Maria. B side Lucky Touch could have been pitched as a country single.
13. Falling In Love-The Souther, Hillman,Furay Band (Asylum E-45201) 1974
This band got hyped to the gills and imploded. A great pairing of Chris Hillman and Richie Furay with J D Souther writing songs. I have the album and CD about three times, played them once and then traded them in. Never heard the Trouble In Paradise followup. Asylum made a mess out of their catalog, this was the lead off single, the follow up was Border Town but Asylum reissued the B side Safe As Home as the third single and then Mexico. None made the top 100. Falling In love remains their best song, Border Town number 2 and the rest you could live without. Heavenly Fire the B side was written by Chris Hillman, not one of his best but Falling In Love is the best Richie Furay song written after he left Poco. Side note: Jim Gordon plays drums on the first album, Ron Grindel (Joe Walsh) replaced him on the second album. Side note 2: Richie Polodor (Three Dog Night, Steppenwolf) produced this effort. Side note 3. In a perfect world, this would be played on classic rock radio.
14. It Doesn't Matter-Stephen Stills (Atlantic 45-2876) #61 1972
Rock And Roll Crazies B Side later (Atlantic 2888) #92
While both singles charted, none got airplay around here but I was familiar with them on the Manassas album that came out. While Stills is credited as solo artist, this song is co written and sang by Chris Hillman. Firefall would covered this song with different lyrics in 1976. B side Rock N Roll Crazies is the full version, but Atlantic issued this as a 2:35 single edit version. The Medley concludes with a shortened Jet Set (Sigh). The edited Rock n Roll Crazies is credited to Manassas and the B side is Colorado a so so country number. Collectibles reissued the My Maria album and tacked on River Of Love and a couple more singles and renamed it Greatest Hits in the mid 90s. Stevenson would continue to record, moving on to Warner Brothers and MCA with limited success.
15. Wizard Man-Procol Harum (Warner Bros CHR 2115) 1977
An oddity. At this point in time, Procol Harum was under contract to Chrysalis Records but this effort was issued on Warner Brothers. And the question remains why. My guess was at that time Chrysalis was through Warner Brothers before they broke away and became an stand alone major label in 1978. Wizard Man was the plug side but in the disco rock era, both this and B side Something Magic sounded out of place. Something Magic was closer to the Procol Harum prog rock sound, Wizard Man sounds more bluesy in like Whiskey Train. Some people like the Whiter Shale Of Pale type of songs. I can relate to Wizard Man better. As for the Warner Brothers curio label, WB wrote them off as a tax loss. Procol Harum would break up afterward (but then Gary Brooker would reform them and continues to lead that band).
16. Steppin In A Slide Zone-The Moody Blues (London 5N-270) #39 1978
Five years after Seventh Sojorn, The Moodies returned with the disappointing Octave and this was one of two singles issued via London Records. A three and half minute edit of Steppin appeared and it stumbled into the top forty but classic rock radio never played, nor the followup Driftwood, one of the more lovelier songs Justin Hayward ever penned. B side to Stepping, is Grame Edge's I'll Be Level With You, probably the hardest rocking number off Octave, tho not as good as After You Came. The Moodies would take another three years to return, minus Mike Pinder and Tony Clarke for Long Distance Voyager. And a new lease in life.
17. Jamaica-BTO (Mercury 74062) 1979
The second and final single from Bachman Turner Overdrive, to which by then Randy Bachman was gone and Jim Clench replaced him. This album is famous for the up and coming Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance coming to write songs for this band after the hits dried up. Vallance wrote Jamaica and I never knew this came out on a single since nobody in town sold the record. BTO did have one charting single, Fred Turner's Heartaches which crawled up to number 60 in late winter 1979. The followup bombed. B side End Of The Line was definitely the last B side and written by Jim Clench. Not one of their better efforts. Randy Bachman did return to the band (with Gary Peterson replacing Robby Bachman on drums) and issued an 1984 album on Compleat (later reissued through Sun Records (???) on Cd in the 1990s) to which he rewrote the lyrics to Takin Care Of Business called Service With A Smile. To which the public ignored.
18. Shotgun Rider-Delbert McClinton (Capitol/MSS 4984) #70 1981
The followup to Giving It Up For Your Loving, I actually liked this song better. Del has always done well with the Muscle Shoals Band (salute to Barry Beckett) and this was a quality single. B side was Baby Ruth but this was a DJ Promo copy.
So this completes the Madison singles on the rock side.
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Singles Going Steady 58-The Madison Singles Pop Side
As described in the earlier blog, Madison had some interesting finds on 45. Certainly the most polarizing we go through into one extreme to another. So we'll split this up into two side. One, the pop sides and the next the rock side. But as we know my musical tastes go over the map be it LP 45 or compact disc. Nobody should be this eccentric (or erratic).
1. Fever-Earl Grant (Decca 9-30475) 1957
I've known Grant better as a light jazz artist (Beyond The Reef) but Grant made a career being on Decca is a jazz/pop piano player but on this cover of the Little Willie John song, Grant goes for a jazzy pop sound, including organ to counter the piano playing, and a bit of sax too. Hardly anybody remembers this and at this point in time, I doubt nobody will, not the smart phone generation. The B side Malaguena is a cha cha number, the product of the times, till Grant speeds it up and adds extreme organ at the end. Ole!
2. Danger! Heartbreak Ahead-Jaye P. Morgan (RCA 47-6016) #12 1955
I admired her duets with Eddy Arnold enough to take a chance on a couple of her solo 45's but come to find she was in the line of Doris Day in 50's pop. She can be brash and sassy, certainly a more stronger voice but the material presented on this record is more muzak pop to my liking and perhaps Hugo Winterhaller is to be blamed for such banal arranging. Softly Softly, the other side, I could tolerate about a half minute before moving on to something else. Think I'll stick with the Eddy Arnold duets thank you.
3. Do You Mind?-Andy Williams (Cadence 1381) #70 1960
One of the kings of the muzak pop scene was Andy Williams but during his Cadence years he would actually ventured into a bit more sunny pop than blah pop, the latter you would get plenty of it when he switched to Columbia and a long 35 year career on that label before Andy went to Atco for a 1986 standards album. A bit more uptempo than you would think on Do You Mind, this song probably did better on the easy listening chart. The B side Dreamsville comes from the Mr. Lucky album and written by Henry Mancini, which reminds me.....
4. Mr. Lucky-Henry Mancini (RCA 47-7705) #21 1960
The first top twenty five single from Mr. Mancini, who could write some decent soundtrack music (Peter Gunn anybody?). This song is considered one of those "space age bathelor pad" jazz music that did find its way to such compilations when Esquvel was discovered in the late 90s and had a few of his albums reissued on CD. But I think people have outgrown that music once again. Mancini could write some mysterious and dark music (The Blues) before going full movie muzak with Days Of Wine And Roses (which has the Peter Gunn Theme on the B side). B side Floating Pad is a more darker comp and preferable to these ears.
5. I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire-Frankie Laine (ABC 45-11057) 1968
I found the infamous ABC/Tangerine label of this song. Tangerine was Ray Charles' label when he was recording for ABC Paramount and Frankie was part of ABC Records, not Tangerine. It's a curio to find this single, to which collectors have on their list of 45s to get. Frankie had a long career with Columbia and then Mercury. The ABC years are considered to be one of Laine's high points. Bob Thiele produced most of those ABC sessions, tho' getting schlockmaster Peter D'Angelos (famous for Frankie Avalon and Fabian's sides for Chancellor Records) didn't help much. Ray Barr arranged the b side I Found You, but it's Laine's vocals that make this song. Now if I can find a decent copy of Dammit Isn't God's Last Name....
6. Paths Of Paradise-Johnnie Ray (Columbia 4-40435) 1955
One of forgotten voices of the 1950's Johnnie Ray is considered to be one of the forefathers of rock and roll, he certainly was the most passionate of vocalists out there. This song did managed to make it on a retrospective CD and it's a fairly good number but the B side Parade Of Broken Hearts rocked a bit more but hardly anybody knows of it, unless you have the 45. Some people say his sexuality may have robbed him of being remembered better more but Sony Music indifference of Ray has pretty much kept him out of the spotlight, save for 2 best ofs that are out there. Side Note; The Paths Of Paradise that's on the High Drama album is a 1951 outtake with the Four Lads backing him up on vocals. This Joe Reisman arranged song is a bit more pop contemporary. But you'll never hear it on the radio.
7. Pledge Of Love-Mitchell Torok (Decca 9-30230) #25 1957
The only charting single for Decca Records for Torok who recorded for them for five years. He had better charting luck with Guyden Records with Caribbean, which was actually done for Abbott Records. B side What's Behind The Strange Door is interesting for it was written by Don Reid, later of the Statler Brothers fame. In future bargain hunts I'll be on the lookout for Mitchell's Decca sides, which are quite hard to find since this single was the first Decca single from him I found. This record is in mint condition. No scratchy sounds or pops or clicks. Pretty nifty for a sixty year old 45.
8. Left Right Out Of Your Heart-Patti Page (Mercury 71331) #9 1958
She eventually would go country later in the 60s but she's still into the pop side of things on this song, based on a drum pattern or the call and respond of the background singers. Mort Garson, schlockmaster to the stars (Guy Mitchell comes to mind) co wrote this number. B side Longing To Hold You Again has Patti overdubbing her vocals a few times, one of the earliest numbers ever to employ this technique. It also reveals Page going to a slightly more country sound, tho it still is in early rock mode. I think.
9. Dancing In The Dark-Tommy Dorsey (Decca 9-27429) 1951
Part of a four 7 inch box set album, this was found at the Grab and Go St. Vincent De Paul. and I'm surprised how well this 45 sounds, it had the record sleeve and perhaps it was put out on the racks. Basically when you have many folks going through these records at junk shops you figure they would be trashed. Warren Covington would take over Dorsey's big band after Dorsey passed away in 1956. Both sides are smooth playing from the smoothest trombone player ever. That would be Tommy.
10. Coming On Strong-Brenda Lee (Decca 32018) #11 1966
11. Broken Trust-Brenda Lee/Oak Ridge Boys (MCA 41322) 1980
A tale of two singles from the same artist. I think Coming On Strong is Brenda trying for the Petula Clark sound (it might have been recorded in England) but then again further research revealed that the song recorded in England was Is It True?, to which Jimmy Page played guitar on that song. Coming On Strong does sound like Brenda going for that Pet Clark sound. I like the song. Side Note: The record I found has the title and artist upside down. Usually the Decca logo is on the left side of the label. This copy has the Decca imprint on the right side.
Broken Trust was the meeting of Brenda and the Oak Ridge Boys. The Boys were riding high and Brenda was barely getting by on MCA so Ron Chancey thought pairing them up would be a good idea. Too bad Ron didn't give her a decent song to do it. B side Right Behind The Rain is a failed attempt to go dance pop.
12. You'll Never Know-Jim Reeves (RCA PB-10418) #71 Country 1975
From beyond the grave Jim Reeves did had success on the charts, this lush ballad stalled at number 71 but it sounds more at home on a muzak station rather than country. B side There's That Smile Again is just as lush but this time Anita Kerr Singers adds their trademark vocals. A perfect example of the Nashville Sound that RCA was famous for. For better or worse.
13. All Of Me-Gogi Grant (Era 45-1053) 1957
14. It's A Wonderful Thing To Be Loved-Gogi Grant (RCA 47-6996) 1957
15. Bonjour Tristesse-Gogi Grant (RCA 47-7146) 1958
16. My Secret Prayer-Gogi Grant (RCA 47-7215) 1958
These four 45s didn't chart at all. In fact, while looking up the discography in 45cat, I couldn't even find My Secret Prayer. The difference between the Era and RCA singles is that the RCA singles are more polished. All Of Me was penned in 1931 in various versions (best known version is Willie Nelson of course). It's A Wonderful Thing shows Gogi going the Musical theater route which is better suited for Julie Andrews, B side That's The Life For Me turns into a pop country number, which is better. My Secret Prayer has Gogi hooking up with Hugo Winterhaller (remember him?) and turns in a passionate performance of My Secret Prayer. B side How Do We Know We Are In Love is more lush pop. If nothing else, Grant remains one of the better torch singers of the 1950s and perhaps if Sony Music had any balls, they would issue The Essential Gogi Grant. However, the better known sides were recorded for ERA, The Wayward Wind returned to the top 50 in 1961. Final thought, Bonjour Tristesse is dark but sweet melancholy ballad. Chinese Nightingale, the B side, another lush torch ballad. The three RCA singles were found at St Vincent De Paul Williamson store, all in like new shape except My Secret Prayer which didn't have a record sleeve.
They all played great. But nobody cares about Gogi Grant any more.
17. Round Every Corner-Petula Clark (Warner Bros 5661) #21 1965
Just when I thought that I played every single that I got from Madison I overlooked this Pet Clark number. This is during the Tony Hatch era, she has been around for a few years before hooking up with Tony to have the number 1 hit Downtown which Pet Clark will be forever known. The lesser known songs such as Round Every Corner will be put way back in the forgotten singles of the 60s but it does hold up very well. B side Two Rivers is a Pet Clark written song, more of a torch song, but it doesn't hold my interest much. Petula continues to record into the 2000's making a couple of very good albums for Sony Music/The End label. Hard to find unless you're sleep walking through the dollar bins.
So that's the pop side of Madison finds. Next time we meet up, the rock sides. More surprises in store.
1. Fever-Earl Grant (Decca 9-30475) 1957
I've known Grant better as a light jazz artist (Beyond The Reef) but Grant made a career being on Decca is a jazz/pop piano player but on this cover of the Little Willie John song, Grant goes for a jazzy pop sound, including organ to counter the piano playing, and a bit of sax too. Hardly anybody remembers this and at this point in time, I doubt nobody will, not the smart phone generation. The B side Malaguena is a cha cha number, the product of the times, till Grant speeds it up and adds extreme organ at the end. Ole!
2. Danger! Heartbreak Ahead-Jaye P. Morgan (RCA 47-6016) #12 1955
I admired her duets with Eddy Arnold enough to take a chance on a couple of her solo 45's but come to find she was in the line of Doris Day in 50's pop. She can be brash and sassy, certainly a more stronger voice but the material presented on this record is more muzak pop to my liking and perhaps Hugo Winterhaller is to be blamed for such banal arranging. Softly Softly, the other side, I could tolerate about a half minute before moving on to something else. Think I'll stick with the Eddy Arnold duets thank you.
3. Do You Mind?-Andy Williams (Cadence 1381) #70 1960
One of the kings of the muzak pop scene was Andy Williams but during his Cadence years he would actually ventured into a bit more sunny pop than blah pop, the latter you would get plenty of it when he switched to Columbia and a long 35 year career on that label before Andy went to Atco for a 1986 standards album. A bit more uptempo than you would think on Do You Mind, this song probably did better on the easy listening chart. The B side Dreamsville comes from the Mr. Lucky album and written by Henry Mancini, which reminds me.....
4. Mr. Lucky-Henry Mancini (RCA 47-7705) #21 1960
The first top twenty five single from Mr. Mancini, who could write some decent soundtrack music (Peter Gunn anybody?). This song is considered one of those "space age bathelor pad" jazz music that did find its way to such compilations when Esquvel was discovered in the late 90s and had a few of his albums reissued on CD. But I think people have outgrown that music once again. Mancini could write some mysterious and dark music (The Blues) before going full movie muzak with Days Of Wine And Roses (which has the Peter Gunn Theme on the B side). B side Floating Pad is a more darker comp and preferable to these ears.
5. I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire-Frankie Laine (ABC 45-11057) 1968
I found the infamous ABC/Tangerine label of this song. Tangerine was Ray Charles' label when he was recording for ABC Paramount and Frankie was part of ABC Records, not Tangerine. It's a curio to find this single, to which collectors have on their list of 45s to get. Frankie had a long career with Columbia and then Mercury. The ABC years are considered to be one of Laine's high points. Bob Thiele produced most of those ABC sessions, tho' getting schlockmaster Peter D'Angelos (famous for Frankie Avalon and Fabian's sides for Chancellor Records) didn't help much. Ray Barr arranged the b side I Found You, but it's Laine's vocals that make this song. Now if I can find a decent copy of Dammit Isn't God's Last Name....
6. Paths Of Paradise-Johnnie Ray (Columbia 4-40435) 1955
One of forgotten voices of the 1950's Johnnie Ray is considered to be one of the forefathers of rock and roll, he certainly was the most passionate of vocalists out there. This song did managed to make it on a retrospective CD and it's a fairly good number but the B side Parade Of Broken Hearts rocked a bit more but hardly anybody knows of it, unless you have the 45. Some people say his sexuality may have robbed him of being remembered better more but Sony Music indifference of Ray has pretty much kept him out of the spotlight, save for 2 best ofs that are out there. Side Note; The Paths Of Paradise that's on the High Drama album is a 1951 outtake with the Four Lads backing him up on vocals. This Joe Reisman arranged song is a bit more pop contemporary. But you'll never hear it on the radio.
7. Pledge Of Love-Mitchell Torok (Decca 9-30230) #25 1957
The only charting single for Decca Records for Torok who recorded for them for five years. He had better charting luck with Guyden Records with Caribbean, which was actually done for Abbott Records. B side What's Behind The Strange Door is interesting for it was written by Don Reid, later of the Statler Brothers fame. In future bargain hunts I'll be on the lookout for Mitchell's Decca sides, which are quite hard to find since this single was the first Decca single from him I found. This record is in mint condition. No scratchy sounds or pops or clicks. Pretty nifty for a sixty year old 45.
8. Left Right Out Of Your Heart-Patti Page (Mercury 71331) #9 1958
She eventually would go country later in the 60s but she's still into the pop side of things on this song, based on a drum pattern or the call and respond of the background singers. Mort Garson, schlockmaster to the stars (Guy Mitchell comes to mind) co wrote this number. B side Longing To Hold You Again has Patti overdubbing her vocals a few times, one of the earliest numbers ever to employ this technique. It also reveals Page going to a slightly more country sound, tho it still is in early rock mode. I think.
9. Dancing In The Dark-Tommy Dorsey (Decca 9-27429) 1951
Part of a four 7 inch box set album, this was found at the Grab and Go St. Vincent De Paul. and I'm surprised how well this 45 sounds, it had the record sleeve and perhaps it was put out on the racks. Basically when you have many folks going through these records at junk shops you figure they would be trashed. Warren Covington would take over Dorsey's big band after Dorsey passed away in 1956. Both sides are smooth playing from the smoothest trombone player ever. That would be Tommy.
10. Coming On Strong-Brenda Lee (Decca 32018) #11 1966
11. Broken Trust-Brenda Lee/Oak Ridge Boys (MCA 41322) 1980
A tale of two singles from the same artist. I think Coming On Strong is Brenda trying for the Petula Clark sound (it might have been recorded in England) but then again further research revealed that the song recorded in England was Is It True?, to which Jimmy Page played guitar on that song. Coming On Strong does sound like Brenda going for that Pet Clark sound. I like the song. Side Note: The record I found has the title and artist upside down. Usually the Decca logo is on the left side of the label. This copy has the Decca imprint on the right side.
Broken Trust was the meeting of Brenda and the Oak Ridge Boys. The Boys were riding high and Brenda was barely getting by on MCA so Ron Chancey thought pairing them up would be a good idea. Too bad Ron didn't give her a decent song to do it. B side Right Behind The Rain is a failed attempt to go dance pop.
12. You'll Never Know-Jim Reeves (RCA PB-10418) #71 Country 1975
From beyond the grave Jim Reeves did had success on the charts, this lush ballad stalled at number 71 but it sounds more at home on a muzak station rather than country. B side There's That Smile Again is just as lush but this time Anita Kerr Singers adds their trademark vocals. A perfect example of the Nashville Sound that RCA was famous for. For better or worse.
13. All Of Me-Gogi Grant (Era 45-1053) 1957
14. It's A Wonderful Thing To Be Loved-Gogi Grant (RCA 47-6996) 1957
15. Bonjour Tristesse-Gogi Grant (RCA 47-7146) 1958
16. My Secret Prayer-Gogi Grant (RCA 47-7215) 1958
These four 45s didn't chart at all. In fact, while looking up the discography in 45cat, I couldn't even find My Secret Prayer. The difference between the Era and RCA singles is that the RCA singles are more polished. All Of Me was penned in 1931 in various versions (best known version is Willie Nelson of course). It's A Wonderful Thing shows Gogi going the Musical theater route which is better suited for Julie Andrews, B side That's The Life For Me turns into a pop country number, which is better. My Secret Prayer has Gogi hooking up with Hugo Winterhaller (remember him?) and turns in a passionate performance of My Secret Prayer. B side How Do We Know We Are In Love is more lush pop. If nothing else, Grant remains one of the better torch singers of the 1950s and perhaps if Sony Music had any balls, they would issue The Essential Gogi Grant. However, the better known sides were recorded for ERA, The Wayward Wind returned to the top 50 in 1961. Final thought, Bonjour Tristesse is dark but sweet melancholy ballad. Chinese Nightingale, the B side, another lush torch ballad. The three RCA singles were found at St Vincent De Paul Williamson store, all in like new shape except My Secret Prayer which didn't have a record sleeve.
They all played great. But nobody cares about Gogi Grant any more.
17. Round Every Corner-Petula Clark (Warner Bros 5661) #21 1965
Just when I thought that I played every single that I got from Madison I overlooked this Pet Clark number. This is during the Tony Hatch era, she has been around for a few years before hooking up with Tony to have the number 1 hit Downtown which Pet Clark will be forever known. The lesser known songs such as Round Every Corner will be put way back in the forgotten singles of the 60s but it does hold up very well. B side Two Rivers is a Pet Clark written song, more of a torch song, but it doesn't hold my interest much. Petula continues to record into the 2000's making a couple of very good albums for Sony Music/The End label. Hard to find unless you're sleep walking through the dollar bins.
So that's the pop side of Madison finds. Next time we meet up, the rock sides. More surprises in store.
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
The Final Bargain Hunt: Madison
It's been over a year since I have gone to Madison in search of music and records. Last time I took part in the third and final World Naked Bike Ride Day I would do. It would be 15 months before I came back.
Being stuck with a sinus issue all summer was part of the reason why I didn't go, but with fall processing coming up and winter too, I decided if I didn't go this week, then I wouldn't go at all. Still dealing with hacking and coughing issues, I packed my suitcase and took off. And that was the start of the Madison Bargain Hunts.
Road construction? Of course, mostly inside Wisconsin past Mineral Point and there was two lane between there and Ridgeway. And the big mess on Verona Road leading into Madison. A short cut took me right into that mess, no thanks to a five minute long red light and congesting traffic. Somehow I found the right road that took me to the west side Goodwill. The west side Goodwill seems to have a better selection of CDs more than the North Goodwill, a couple places down from the hotel and the third Goodwill, next to Wal Mart on Roundabout Hell Rd was ignored. Frugal Muse and both Pre Played stores were bypassed, The Muse is moving to a new place and Pre Played still has a good selection but they have bullish on inflating the price of CDs and 45s. Sugar Shack's inventory is more into records and the last time I was there, the 45s department had way too many scratched up ones than good. Perhaps I should have visited them since I haven't been there in over 4 years. It was easier to go to Mad City Music X and I spent four hours in two days turning their 45 selection upside down. They were the most reasonably priced and they did have plenty of quarter 45s for me to take home. I also found five 45s that my mom had when she was younger that I picked up and a couple of 2 dollar stuff as well. Strictly Discs had plenty of 45s but they were a bit more expensive but I did buy a 45 storage box so they didn't feel left out. I bought CDs there instead, including A Can Of Bees from the Soft Boys and a couple of 4.99 specials. St. Vincent De paul on Williamson street had plenty of 45s as well. The big winner was Gogi Grant as I found 3 RCA 45s and one from ERA from her. The St Vincent De Paul on Osana Rd wasn't visited, they don't have 45s in my time of going there but the Park St, Grab and Go had three pop standards singles and a Urban Cowboy CD I got for 1.50 total. The Grab and Go St Vincent De Paul had 45s, mostly scratched up beyond belief but the ABC Tangerine mistake Frankie Laine 45, I basically picked up. Frankie never recorded for Ray Charles' Tangerine label.
Weatherwise, it was beautiful but State Street continues to go down in quality. What used to be a nice hangout for shops and music stores have become a place where homeless folks roam and beg for money. Mostly black guys that came up to me to ask for change (10 of them) but a white woman also was begging to, perhaps she was the most needy. The trick was to keep walking and don't even look at them. And this was in the afternoon, God forbid if I should be down there at night where the drunkards get into fights and the change chasers get aggressive. Still a lot of nice looking co ed's down in the college district, tho me being 30 years older than any of them didn't help the things. I certainly wasn't getting lucky any time soon. Unlike Cedar Rapids, you can still rent a bike with a credit card at the kiosks that have the bikes, but they upgraded them to electric bikes. I suppose in the future I should invest in a smart phone but in reality I still don't need one, unless ordering a pizza.
A lot of empty buildings are all around, thanks to Shopko closing their doors, Copps leaving Whitney Way and Menards vacating the location next the East Towne Mall. 10 years ago, Pawn America replaced Circuit City and was one of the main destinations for me for cheap Cds and sometimes cymbals. On this trip, they're moving somewhere else and while they have 75 percent off, I didn't find anything. They quit selling CDs about four years ago. Hard to believe I found 36 of them in one trip. And also Big Lots got replaced by an Over 21 on the other side of town.
The Half Price Bookstore on the west side was the hang out place for me. They seem to have better CDs than the east side. And it has been that way for the last three visits. Certainly both places didn't have much in the 3 dollar bins. Best place remains the Marion Half Price Bookstore.
I stuck to the usual food places tho the Pho King Good Noodle place (where Wau Kee used to be) I'd love to visit the next time I'm in Madison. But everything I ate came back to haunt me a half hour later. Rocky Rocco, Pizza Hut, Hardee's were the place and I couldn't find a Italian place till it was too late. I stayed at The Microtel Monday Night and got rewarded with a total of two hours of sleep. Which made going home interesting since I couldn't find a Speedway or 7-11 that had sweet tea. I finally stopped at a truck stop and picked up a bottle of Nestea. And thankfully I made it home before the storm hit a hour later.
If this is the final bargain hunt (as I have threatened the past decade) I think it was a good haul. I think I'm more comfortable going to Dubuque and hang at Moondog Music, since they're closer. However, the folks at Mad City Music X and Strictly Disc will be sending things via email to let me know if somebody drops off more 45s from estate sales and people running out of room at their place. It's a shame that my body just have issues that prevent me to do this more often.
It was 25 years ago in 1994, that I discovered Madison on a whim and it took me a good ten more years to figure out how to get around town. In this time, I've seen the good and the bad and the ugly but in the end I always managed to find records and CDs. I spent more time in that town than I ever did going to Des Moines but Madison is closer and easy to get around town. Des Moines is not. Perhaps in due time, I'll chance going to our capitol. But at this moment, it's not high on my list of places to go to.
Being stuck with a sinus issue all summer was part of the reason why I didn't go, but with fall processing coming up and winter too, I decided if I didn't go this week, then I wouldn't go at all. Still dealing with hacking and coughing issues, I packed my suitcase and took off. And that was the start of the Madison Bargain Hunts.
Road construction? Of course, mostly inside Wisconsin past Mineral Point and there was two lane between there and Ridgeway. And the big mess on Verona Road leading into Madison. A short cut took me right into that mess, no thanks to a five minute long red light and congesting traffic. Somehow I found the right road that took me to the west side Goodwill. The west side Goodwill seems to have a better selection of CDs more than the North Goodwill, a couple places down from the hotel and the third Goodwill, next to Wal Mart on Roundabout Hell Rd was ignored. Frugal Muse and both Pre Played stores were bypassed, The Muse is moving to a new place and Pre Played still has a good selection but they have bullish on inflating the price of CDs and 45s. Sugar Shack's inventory is more into records and the last time I was there, the 45s department had way too many scratched up ones than good. Perhaps I should have visited them since I haven't been there in over 4 years. It was easier to go to Mad City Music X and I spent four hours in two days turning their 45 selection upside down. They were the most reasonably priced and they did have plenty of quarter 45s for me to take home. I also found five 45s that my mom had when she was younger that I picked up and a couple of 2 dollar stuff as well. Strictly Discs had plenty of 45s but they were a bit more expensive but I did buy a 45 storage box so they didn't feel left out. I bought CDs there instead, including A Can Of Bees from the Soft Boys and a couple of 4.99 specials. St. Vincent De paul on Williamson street had plenty of 45s as well. The big winner was Gogi Grant as I found 3 RCA 45s and one from ERA from her. The St Vincent De Paul on Osana Rd wasn't visited, they don't have 45s in my time of going there but the Park St, Grab and Go had three pop standards singles and a Urban Cowboy CD I got for 1.50 total. The Grab and Go St Vincent De Paul had 45s, mostly scratched up beyond belief but the ABC Tangerine mistake Frankie Laine 45, I basically picked up. Frankie never recorded for Ray Charles' Tangerine label.
Weatherwise, it was beautiful but State Street continues to go down in quality. What used to be a nice hangout for shops and music stores have become a place where homeless folks roam and beg for money. Mostly black guys that came up to me to ask for change (10 of them) but a white woman also was begging to, perhaps she was the most needy. The trick was to keep walking and don't even look at them. And this was in the afternoon, God forbid if I should be down there at night where the drunkards get into fights and the change chasers get aggressive. Still a lot of nice looking co ed's down in the college district, tho me being 30 years older than any of them didn't help the things. I certainly wasn't getting lucky any time soon. Unlike Cedar Rapids, you can still rent a bike with a credit card at the kiosks that have the bikes, but they upgraded them to electric bikes. I suppose in the future I should invest in a smart phone but in reality I still don't need one, unless ordering a pizza.
A lot of empty buildings are all around, thanks to Shopko closing their doors, Copps leaving Whitney Way and Menards vacating the location next the East Towne Mall. 10 years ago, Pawn America replaced Circuit City and was one of the main destinations for me for cheap Cds and sometimes cymbals. On this trip, they're moving somewhere else and while they have 75 percent off, I didn't find anything. They quit selling CDs about four years ago. Hard to believe I found 36 of them in one trip. And also Big Lots got replaced by an Over 21 on the other side of town.
The Half Price Bookstore on the west side was the hang out place for me. They seem to have better CDs than the east side. And it has been that way for the last three visits. Certainly both places didn't have much in the 3 dollar bins. Best place remains the Marion Half Price Bookstore.
I stuck to the usual food places tho the Pho King Good Noodle place (where Wau Kee used to be) I'd love to visit the next time I'm in Madison. But everything I ate came back to haunt me a half hour later. Rocky Rocco, Pizza Hut, Hardee's were the place and I couldn't find a Italian place till it was too late. I stayed at The Microtel Monday Night and got rewarded with a total of two hours of sleep. Which made going home interesting since I couldn't find a Speedway or 7-11 that had sweet tea. I finally stopped at a truck stop and picked up a bottle of Nestea. And thankfully I made it home before the storm hit a hour later.
If this is the final bargain hunt (as I have threatened the past decade) I think it was a good haul. I think I'm more comfortable going to Dubuque and hang at Moondog Music, since they're closer. However, the folks at Mad City Music X and Strictly Disc will be sending things via email to let me know if somebody drops off more 45s from estate sales and people running out of room at their place. It's a shame that my body just have issues that prevent me to do this more often.
It was 25 years ago in 1994, that I discovered Madison on a whim and it took me a good ten more years to figure out how to get around town. In this time, I've seen the good and the bad and the ugly but in the end I always managed to find records and CDs. I spent more time in that town than I ever did going to Des Moines but Madison is closer and easy to get around town. Des Moines is not. Perhaps in due time, I'll chance going to our capitol. But at this moment, it's not high on my list of places to go to.
Thursday, August 22, 2019
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
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.
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.
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Singles Going Steady 55-St Vincent De Paul Waterloo Finds
I haven't been to Waterloo in over a year. It's not a go to place for records and usually what is found is crap or cracked or scratched. There's a new record store called Electric Underground and they're mostly into vinyl, tho they did have new CDs for sale at 7.99 and I thought it would be a good time to check out Slayer's Reign In Blood. Stuff Etc in Waterloo isn't selling CDs anymore and basically when I did go to check out what they had, they had shit. Goodwill is hit and miss but I did find the long lost Cactus World News on CD and a couple others. The Waterloo Salvation Army is no more, they closed in June. Which meant the St Vincent De Paul Store remains the number one destination.
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.
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.
Friday, July 26, 2019
Singles Going Steady 54-Hats Off To Larry
I haven't kept score on how many editions of Singles Going Steady that I have out there but the logical guess is 54, give or take one or two or ten. In the era of the vinyl revival the finds have been not as plentiful as it was say about five years ago but if I stopped in at Goodwill or The Salvation Army every day I might have better luck getting tabs on who donates forty fives. But after a while I would get bored with it. After all, one can only tolerate so much trying to find juke box 45s that don't sound like shit or having their grooves wore off. But last week, somebody donated a bunch of 45s and I picked and choose the ones that still looked fairly decent. To be truthful, only one 45 didn't make the cut after cleaning and trying to buff out the scratches. I documented them and begin to plan my next Madison bargain hunt trip for next week, but for some reason I decided to go into town to get a bite to eat and perhaps return to our beloved Salvation Army for more surprises. And dammed if I didn't find a few more of them. 14 to be exact.
There was a Tokens' Laurie single that I was going to see if it was still there but the 45 selection looked much bigger than last week. Somebody thought highly enough to bag some of the mini vinyl but what caught my eye was a Motown 45 of Henry Lumpkin, that I didn't see before in the new batch of 45s. Old Motown records of the early 60s are highly sought after collectors items. If you look hard enough on the internet, there are websites dedicated in the preserving of Motown music, even the lesser known get some attention. In this decade of record finding, Motown 45s remain hard to find and even if you do find any of them, they're scratched up to oblivion. There were other Motown sides from The Supremes, Four Tops and Martha and the Vandellas that were beyond repair and even a good cleaning would not help. Plus a couple were cracked. But the Henry Lumpkin single looked fairly new despite not having a record jacket. Further research showed that this record was a promo. It was easier for somebody to take a magic marker and write PR on the label. So the guess remains where did this record come from. It had to come from a radio station. Certainly not from a casual music consumer, it looks too good for that. So the guess may be it came from KRNL the college radio station from Mount Vernon. How they managed to hang on to this for 55 years remains a mystery of its own. Nevertheless, old Motown singles are special that they give the address of Hitsville USA as well as the telephone number back in 1961, something that nobody would ever do nowadays, certainly not Universal who owns Motown and hopefully somebody kept most of the masters away from the great fire of 2008 that destroyed many many recordings of the past.
I look at record collecting at like digging for gold or looking for something in the pile of music people would overlook. I don't think people would get excited like me if I came across a Fairport Convention 45 or Henry Lumpkin. I keep a close eye on Atlantic Records of the 50s and 60s, next to Motown or Chess the one label that connects me with my past. Or ABC Paramount, tho that label might have a few too many pop acts I could do without. Then again, I tend to be more liberal minded than the rest of the collectors out there. This collection of 45s found came from somebody named Larry, who had great taste in music but played the hell out of his mini vinyl. There were some Dave Clark 5 that seen better days. His copy of Surfin Bird looks fairly beaten up, probably perfect for Peter Griffin of the Family Guy to annoy his family with. But this looks like somebody might have put it in the microwave and set it to full cook for five seconds.
Five years ago, the finds at the Salvation Army became the reason why I go dumping for old vinyl. At times, it's a hit and miss but this batch of finds might rate right up there with that wonderful day in Davenport. To which I gleefully document the selections and move on to the next bargain hunt. When ever that might be.
I also included the 45s found at Analog Vault that I found last Saturday.
1) Live-The Merry Go Round (A&M 834) 1967 #63
The beloved Emmett Rhodes led this band to one of the more power pop songs of the late 60s. Of course The Bangles covered this. I have Emmett's albums over the years and a best of that still gathers dust in my collection. I wouldn't consider this bubble gum, this feels more at home on the Rhino 1988 collection More Nuggets (followup single You're A Very Lovely Woman is also on that comp). Judy Schoonover, must love this song, she played a lot and it sounds like it. B side Time Will Show The Wiser was later covered by Fairport Convention and their version is better. More about them later on in the blog.
2) Something's Burning-Kenny Rogers & The First Edition (Reprise 888) 1970 #11
A singles band if there was any, The First Edition made some great singles but their albums were quite boring. And if Kenny didn't sing the songs, nobody gave them a second thought be it Terry Williams or Mike Settle. Written by Mac Davis, it's slightly corny but the buildup to the chorus is classic gold. And Mikey Jones was a damn good drummer. B Side Momma's Waiting is more country than you can imagine.
3) Can't Stop Loving You-The Last Word (Atco 45-6498) 1967 #8
Despite it's high chart position, I can't remember hearing this song on the radio. Somewhat in the style of the Buckinghams. B side Don't Fight It, is a so so cover of the Wilson Pickett number, however this arrangement reminds me of Elvin Bishop's version, done later on.
4) Days Gone Down-Gerry Rafferty (United Artists 1298) 1979 #17
One of the mysteries of life is why EMI didn't bother to include this song on the best of that they put out in the early 80s. Of course Gerry was the driver behind Stealer's Wheel and then went on to a solo career that he wouldn't tour behind the songs, or so it seems. He was one of the first people to use videos to promote his music, I wasn't a big fan of this song but it has grown on me over the years and yes it should have been on a best of. You can still get it...via import that is. This record I have must have came out of a juke box. It's sounds quite scratchy.
5) There Won't Be Anymore-Charlie Rich (RCA APB0-0195) 1974 #18
Recorded in 1965 (originally RCA 47-8536) RCA took a chance of reissuing this song to capitalize on the success of Behind Closed Doors or number 1 followup The Most Beautiful Girl. Of course the 1965 release is harder to find, it didn't chart high on the country chart. Out of all the Sun Record Artists, Charlie Rich is the most frustrating, he was too hard core R&B for country but not R&B enough for pop rock radio. The polished Nashville production of Chet Atkins may have complicated things as is or perhaps Anita Kerr Singers made him too MOR. The newer mix has the singers a bit further in the background but you can notice them. This would be Rich's final RCA single before moving on to Smash for a year and then to Hi Records which should have broken him bigger but didn't. Strange twist of irony: This song would hit number 1 on the country charts in 1974. B side It's All Over Now would be reissued as a single of its own in 1975, peaking at number 23. This may have been another jukebox copy, it plays very rough.
The Salvation Army Finds (thanks to Larry and others)
6) What Is A Man (without a woman)-Henry Lumpkin (Motown M-1013) 1961
Ah, good ole Motown, when it down and dirty? While Harry was somewhat like Shorty Long, he had a more grittier vocal more like Wilson Pickett. You can feel the drum beat of Benny Benjamin and the piano of Earl Van Dyke. It's a bit more rougher than the better known Motown stuff but you can't fault Barry Gordy for trying. I dig it. B side Don't Leave Me got raked over the coals from a Motown review site. They can't decide to go doo wop or early R and B so it sounds more like a demo. A search for a sound that doesn't quite materialize. The record plays quite good for 58 year old record without a record sleeve.
7) You Are The One-Sugar Bears (Big Tree BT-122) 1972 #51
A manufactured pop band based from a commercial (I used to eat Sugar Bears Cereal), but you can get this record from a box, back then the novel idea of putting record grooves on a back of a cereal box, good ideal but the sound always sucked. A combination of the drum groove of Shelia with a melody of Be My Baby. A bubblegum song that nobody remembers much anymore, tho it did make a K Tel Comp. Written by Baker Knight, and probably a step ahead of the Archies or The Osmonds. B side Someone Like You was written by Mike Settle (The First Edition). More sunny bubblegum for those who like sunny bubblegum. Think I'll take a pass.
8) Another Smile -The Hot Dogs (Ardent ADA-2905) 1973
Produced by Terry Manning, The Hot Dogs are on the Ardent label, home to Big Star. Greg Reding and Bill Rennie figured into the lineup, but perhaps this record is best known for the Ardent sound and Terry Manning figured greatly into the sound and music. Another Smile, the single, is country rock tho I hear elements of Wishbone Ash, kinda sleepy tho' . Way to Get To You the b side, is more country rock, gets the nod for better song.
9) Surfin Bird-The Trashmen (Garrett 4002) 1963 #4
This is where punk rock begins, even more than Louie Louie. Unfortunate that this record is too warped to play. Dammit Larry, take better care of your fucking records.
10) I'll Always Love You-The Tokens (Laurie L-3810) 1963
Their sole Laurie release, which is straight Doo Wop aka Dion And The Belmonts. This was the record I picked up today after forgetting about it yesterday, Even in 1963 this was five years behind the times B side Please Write made it to #108 on the charts. This might have been the inspiration to Cheap Thrills by Ruben And The Jets. Record was kind of dirty, so I cleaned it up a bit. A slight improvement tho' it might another bath to make it play better, but then again I'll might file it away, or donate it back to Salvation Army.
11) Don't Go Home-The Playmates (Roulette R-4072) 1958 #32
I've noticed that I have been getting more Playmates records into this collection. They remind me of the Four Preps, tho they get a bit more arrangement from Hugo Leigi. I'm not exactly impressed with this song. B side, Can't You Get It Through Your Head sounds creepy. Record didn't clean up either, still fairly scratchy overall.
12) Loddy Lo-Chubby Checker (Parkway P-890) 1963 #12
I was more familiar with Leroy Jones' cover on Hit Records. But we did have a Chubby Checker record in the house (The Twist) and Popeye The Hitch hiker. More of a sing a long rather than Limbo Rock or The Twist, tho this song is more to the former. Larry took better care of this record than of the Trashmen's Surfin Bird. B side Hooka Tooka My Soda Kracker is too silly for my liking.
13) Java-Al Hirt (RCA Gold Standard 447-0712) 1964 #4
Al takes on Chet Atkins and the Nashville sound for this sax classic. Record is a bit too scratchy, sad to say.
14) Adios Adios-The Blue Chips (RCA 47-7935) 1961
Their first single I had gotten for an inflated price and got donated back due to it sounding like crap, this is The Blue Chips second and final RCA Offering with Hugo & Luigi producing and another Chuck Sagle arrangement. Uh huh, I can tell you their inspiration was The Hi Los. Let It Ride, is white guy jive, something you probably seen on Dean Martin or Ted Mack's Amateur Hour A perverse charm to it, but not as creepy as Don't Go Home. Adios Adios indeed. UGH
15) The Things You Do To Me-Wynona Carr (Specialty 628) 1958
I don't see much of Specialty Records out and about, they're usually Little Richard 45's all scratched up but this one is rare sight to see Carr is a pure soul singer, in the style of Lavern Baker. She recorded a few sides for Art Rupe before moving on to Reprise and then into obscurity. Sonny Bono wrote this and the B side. Touch And Go and probably produced the sessions as well. Touch And Go is more uptempo and more fun. Record was kind of dirty but it cleaned up great. Sounds like a new record.
16) The Lone Twister-The Lone Twister (Atlantic 2130) 1961
I love finding odd ball sides from Atlantic Records. A few of them got away but this one stood out in the crowd. So who was the Lone Twister? Some say it was Murray the K (Murray Kaufman, legendary DJ) but it was Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman wrote this song. Yeah, it's a novelty song and if you like that song, you might tolerate Twisting Up A Storm. But if you haven't heard it, you're not missing much.
17) Buchanan And Ancell Meet The Creature (Flying Saucer 501) 1958 #85
This record seen better days, but I thought if I cleaned it up it might play. It's a novelty record to which Buchanan would play certain songs to the story line. Bill Buchanan did work with Dickie Goodman and had a better story line (Flying Saucer From Outer Space) in that time frame but this was a one off with Bob Ancell and to sum it all up, the last song is from Wake Up Little Susie by the Everly Brothers (The movie wasn't so hot, it didn't have much of a plot) Which basically sums up The Creature. Record looks rough, plays VG-.
18) It Ain't Me Babe-Johnny Cash (Columbia 4-43145) 1964 #58
There were two sun copies of There You Go but both were chewed up so I took this one over Orange Blossom Special which had seen better days. June Carter adds vocals too but it's Johnny's single. Usually Columbia singles of the 60s always sound rough and it's a judgement call to even purchase them. B side Time And Time Again, is a Johnny and June song, rarely heard. Larry didn't play it much, plays like a VG Plus record.
19) Dottie-Danny And The Juniors (ABC Paramount 9926) 1958 #38
Their last chart showing for ABC Paramount tho they would continue with four more releases that only stayed under number 100. They were very good at the uptempo doo wop numbers, not so much with the slower number such as In The Meantime. It's passable.
20) Hippy Hippy Shake-The Swinging Blue Jeans (Imperial 66021) 1964 #21
The last offering from Larry comes this Beatles like rock and roller and does a better version than the original by Chan Romero. And then The Georgia Satellites come out of nowhere and blows both versions out of the water. B side Now I Must Go, pays tribute to Freddy And The Dreamers better than the Fab Four, or Gerry And The Pacemakers (ha ha ha)
21) The Journeyman's Grace-Fairport Convention (A&M 1333) 1972
By then Richard Thompson had left them and they moved on with Dave Swarbrick and Simon Nicol taking over the vocals and songs. By then they were getting more into folk songs and adding arrangements to them to varying degree. This song was written by Richard and that's him guest starring on guitar. Dave Mattacks on drums too. This was Fairport's wilderness year before Sandy Denny would return with new members tho the results weren't not that exciting. B side The World Has Surely Lost Its Head is mellower but didn't attract much interest to include on the 2 CD Best of, that A&M issued in the 1990's Meet On The Ledge. Further research showed that The World was the A side but FM stations preferred The Journeyman's Grace instead. A&M would try again with John Lee for the next single but that too bombed. The copy that I found is fairly rough even after cleaning it up. I know my record player is going to rebel if I continue to find rough scratchy forty fives that have seen better days, but I remain convinced that this record is a keeper. I doubt if I'll find another copy in this lifetime.
22) Sun Arise-Rolf Harris (Epic 5-9567) #61 1963
Like Gary Glitter, Rolf's life has been turned upside down for the worst, disgraced by sexual assaults. So basically Rolf's music has been blacklisted from oldies playlists. I had Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport a while ago but that song has gotten too damn silly for me to revisit it. This song, I didn't put two and two together till I heard The Godfathers doing a cover version of this song from Hit By Hit. While this record wasted away for about three weeks after this posting, it actually plays fairly good with the usual surface scratches and a speck of dirt on a couple grooves. Do we really want to hear the B side Somebody Pinched My Whiskers? Not really.
There was a Tokens' Laurie single that I was going to see if it was still there but the 45 selection looked much bigger than last week. Somebody thought highly enough to bag some of the mini vinyl but what caught my eye was a Motown 45 of Henry Lumpkin, that I didn't see before in the new batch of 45s. Old Motown records of the early 60s are highly sought after collectors items. If you look hard enough on the internet, there are websites dedicated in the preserving of Motown music, even the lesser known get some attention. In this decade of record finding, Motown 45s remain hard to find and even if you do find any of them, they're scratched up to oblivion. There were other Motown sides from The Supremes, Four Tops and Martha and the Vandellas that were beyond repair and even a good cleaning would not help. Plus a couple were cracked. But the Henry Lumpkin single looked fairly new despite not having a record jacket. Further research showed that this record was a promo. It was easier for somebody to take a magic marker and write PR on the label. So the guess remains where did this record come from. It had to come from a radio station. Certainly not from a casual music consumer, it looks too good for that. So the guess may be it came from KRNL the college radio station from Mount Vernon. How they managed to hang on to this for 55 years remains a mystery of its own. Nevertheless, old Motown singles are special that they give the address of Hitsville USA as well as the telephone number back in 1961, something that nobody would ever do nowadays, certainly not Universal who owns Motown and hopefully somebody kept most of the masters away from the great fire of 2008 that destroyed many many recordings of the past.
I look at record collecting at like digging for gold or looking for something in the pile of music people would overlook. I don't think people would get excited like me if I came across a Fairport Convention 45 or Henry Lumpkin. I keep a close eye on Atlantic Records of the 50s and 60s, next to Motown or Chess the one label that connects me with my past. Or ABC Paramount, tho that label might have a few too many pop acts I could do without. Then again, I tend to be more liberal minded than the rest of the collectors out there. This collection of 45s found came from somebody named Larry, who had great taste in music but played the hell out of his mini vinyl. There were some Dave Clark 5 that seen better days. His copy of Surfin Bird looks fairly beaten up, probably perfect for Peter Griffin of the Family Guy to annoy his family with. But this looks like somebody might have put it in the microwave and set it to full cook for five seconds.
Five years ago, the finds at the Salvation Army became the reason why I go dumping for old vinyl. At times, it's a hit and miss but this batch of finds might rate right up there with that wonderful day in Davenport. To which I gleefully document the selections and move on to the next bargain hunt. When ever that might be.
I also included the 45s found at Analog Vault that I found last Saturday.
1) Live-The Merry Go Round (A&M 834) 1967 #63
The beloved Emmett Rhodes led this band to one of the more power pop songs of the late 60s. Of course The Bangles covered this. I have Emmett's albums over the years and a best of that still gathers dust in my collection. I wouldn't consider this bubble gum, this feels more at home on the Rhino 1988 collection More Nuggets (followup single You're A Very Lovely Woman is also on that comp). Judy Schoonover, must love this song, she played a lot and it sounds like it. B side Time Will Show The Wiser was later covered by Fairport Convention and their version is better. More about them later on in the blog.
2) Something's Burning-Kenny Rogers & The First Edition (Reprise 888) 1970 #11
A singles band if there was any, The First Edition made some great singles but their albums were quite boring. And if Kenny didn't sing the songs, nobody gave them a second thought be it Terry Williams or Mike Settle. Written by Mac Davis, it's slightly corny but the buildup to the chorus is classic gold. And Mikey Jones was a damn good drummer. B Side Momma's Waiting is more country than you can imagine.
3) Can't Stop Loving You-The Last Word (Atco 45-6498) 1967 #8
Despite it's high chart position, I can't remember hearing this song on the radio. Somewhat in the style of the Buckinghams. B side Don't Fight It, is a so so cover of the Wilson Pickett number, however this arrangement reminds me of Elvin Bishop's version, done later on.
4) Days Gone Down-Gerry Rafferty (United Artists 1298) 1979 #17
One of the mysteries of life is why EMI didn't bother to include this song on the best of that they put out in the early 80s. Of course Gerry was the driver behind Stealer's Wheel and then went on to a solo career that he wouldn't tour behind the songs, or so it seems. He was one of the first people to use videos to promote his music, I wasn't a big fan of this song but it has grown on me over the years and yes it should have been on a best of. You can still get it...via import that is. This record I have must have came out of a juke box. It's sounds quite scratchy.
5) There Won't Be Anymore-Charlie Rich (RCA APB0-0195) 1974 #18
Recorded in 1965 (originally RCA 47-8536) RCA took a chance of reissuing this song to capitalize on the success of Behind Closed Doors or number 1 followup The Most Beautiful Girl. Of course the 1965 release is harder to find, it didn't chart high on the country chart. Out of all the Sun Record Artists, Charlie Rich is the most frustrating, he was too hard core R&B for country but not R&B enough for pop rock radio. The polished Nashville production of Chet Atkins may have complicated things as is or perhaps Anita Kerr Singers made him too MOR. The newer mix has the singers a bit further in the background but you can notice them. This would be Rich's final RCA single before moving on to Smash for a year and then to Hi Records which should have broken him bigger but didn't. Strange twist of irony: This song would hit number 1 on the country charts in 1974. B side It's All Over Now would be reissued as a single of its own in 1975, peaking at number 23. This may have been another jukebox copy, it plays very rough.
The Salvation Army Finds (thanks to Larry and others)
6) What Is A Man (without a woman)-Henry Lumpkin (Motown M-1013) 1961
Ah, good ole Motown, when it down and dirty? While Harry was somewhat like Shorty Long, he had a more grittier vocal more like Wilson Pickett. You can feel the drum beat of Benny Benjamin and the piano of Earl Van Dyke. It's a bit more rougher than the better known Motown stuff but you can't fault Barry Gordy for trying. I dig it. B side Don't Leave Me got raked over the coals from a Motown review site. They can't decide to go doo wop or early R and B so it sounds more like a demo. A search for a sound that doesn't quite materialize. The record plays quite good for 58 year old record without a record sleeve.
7) You Are The One-Sugar Bears (Big Tree BT-122) 1972 #51
A manufactured pop band based from a commercial (I used to eat Sugar Bears Cereal), but you can get this record from a box, back then the novel idea of putting record grooves on a back of a cereal box, good ideal but the sound always sucked. A combination of the drum groove of Shelia with a melody of Be My Baby. A bubblegum song that nobody remembers much anymore, tho it did make a K Tel Comp. Written by Baker Knight, and probably a step ahead of the Archies or The Osmonds. B side Someone Like You was written by Mike Settle (The First Edition). More sunny bubblegum for those who like sunny bubblegum. Think I'll take a pass.
8) Another Smile -The Hot Dogs (Ardent ADA-2905) 1973
Produced by Terry Manning, The Hot Dogs are on the Ardent label, home to Big Star. Greg Reding and Bill Rennie figured into the lineup, but perhaps this record is best known for the Ardent sound and Terry Manning figured greatly into the sound and music. Another Smile, the single, is country rock tho I hear elements of Wishbone Ash, kinda sleepy tho' . Way to Get To You the b side, is more country rock, gets the nod for better song.
9) Surfin Bird-The Trashmen (Garrett 4002) 1963 #4
This is where punk rock begins, even more than Louie Louie. Unfortunate that this record is too warped to play. Dammit Larry, take better care of your fucking records.
10) I'll Always Love You-The Tokens (Laurie L-3810) 1963
Their sole Laurie release, which is straight Doo Wop aka Dion And The Belmonts. This was the record I picked up today after forgetting about it yesterday, Even in 1963 this was five years behind the times B side Please Write made it to #108 on the charts. This might have been the inspiration to Cheap Thrills by Ruben And The Jets. Record was kind of dirty, so I cleaned it up a bit. A slight improvement tho' it might another bath to make it play better, but then again I'll might file it away, or donate it back to Salvation Army.
11) Don't Go Home-The Playmates (Roulette R-4072) 1958 #32
I've noticed that I have been getting more Playmates records into this collection. They remind me of the Four Preps, tho they get a bit more arrangement from Hugo Leigi. I'm not exactly impressed with this song. B side, Can't You Get It Through Your Head sounds creepy. Record didn't clean up either, still fairly scratchy overall.
12) Loddy Lo-Chubby Checker (Parkway P-890) 1963 #12
I was more familiar with Leroy Jones' cover on Hit Records. But we did have a Chubby Checker record in the house (The Twist) and Popeye The Hitch hiker. More of a sing a long rather than Limbo Rock or The Twist, tho this song is more to the former. Larry took better care of this record than of the Trashmen's Surfin Bird. B side Hooka Tooka My Soda Kracker is too silly for my liking.
13) Java-Al Hirt (RCA Gold Standard 447-0712) 1964 #4
Al takes on Chet Atkins and the Nashville sound for this sax classic. Record is a bit too scratchy, sad to say.
14) Adios Adios-The Blue Chips (RCA 47-7935) 1961
Their first single I had gotten for an inflated price and got donated back due to it sounding like crap, this is The Blue Chips second and final RCA Offering with Hugo & Luigi producing and another Chuck Sagle arrangement. Uh huh, I can tell you their inspiration was The Hi Los. Let It Ride, is white guy jive, something you probably seen on Dean Martin or Ted Mack's Amateur Hour A perverse charm to it, but not as creepy as Don't Go Home. Adios Adios indeed. UGH
15) The Things You Do To Me-Wynona Carr (Specialty 628) 1958
I don't see much of Specialty Records out and about, they're usually Little Richard 45's all scratched up but this one is rare sight to see Carr is a pure soul singer, in the style of Lavern Baker. She recorded a few sides for Art Rupe before moving on to Reprise and then into obscurity. Sonny Bono wrote this and the B side. Touch And Go and probably produced the sessions as well. Touch And Go is more uptempo and more fun. Record was kind of dirty but it cleaned up great. Sounds like a new record.
16) The Lone Twister-The Lone Twister (Atlantic 2130) 1961
I love finding odd ball sides from Atlantic Records. A few of them got away but this one stood out in the crowd. So who was the Lone Twister? Some say it was Murray the K (Murray Kaufman, legendary DJ) but it was Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman wrote this song. Yeah, it's a novelty song and if you like that song, you might tolerate Twisting Up A Storm. But if you haven't heard it, you're not missing much.
17) Buchanan And Ancell Meet The Creature (Flying Saucer 501) 1958 #85
This record seen better days, but I thought if I cleaned it up it might play. It's a novelty record to which Buchanan would play certain songs to the story line. Bill Buchanan did work with Dickie Goodman and had a better story line (Flying Saucer From Outer Space) in that time frame but this was a one off with Bob Ancell and to sum it all up, the last song is from Wake Up Little Susie by the Everly Brothers (The movie wasn't so hot, it didn't have much of a plot) Which basically sums up The Creature. Record looks rough, plays VG-.
18) It Ain't Me Babe-Johnny Cash (Columbia 4-43145) 1964 #58
There were two sun copies of There You Go but both were chewed up so I took this one over Orange Blossom Special which had seen better days. June Carter adds vocals too but it's Johnny's single. Usually Columbia singles of the 60s always sound rough and it's a judgement call to even purchase them. B side Time And Time Again, is a Johnny and June song, rarely heard. Larry didn't play it much, plays like a VG Plus record.
19) Dottie-Danny And The Juniors (ABC Paramount 9926) 1958 #38
Their last chart showing for ABC Paramount tho they would continue with four more releases that only stayed under number 100. They were very good at the uptempo doo wop numbers, not so much with the slower number such as In The Meantime. It's passable.
20) Hippy Hippy Shake-The Swinging Blue Jeans (Imperial 66021) 1964 #21
The last offering from Larry comes this Beatles like rock and roller and does a better version than the original by Chan Romero. And then The Georgia Satellites come out of nowhere and blows both versions out of the water. B side Now I Must Go, pays tribute to Freddy And The Dreamers better than the Fab Four, or Gerry And The Pacemakers (ha ha ha)
21) The Journeyman's Grace-Fairport Convention (A&M 1333) 1972
By then Richard Thompson had left them and they moved on with Dave Swarbrick and Simon Nicol taking over the vocals and songs. By then they were getting more into folk songs and adding arrangements to them to varying degree. This song was written by Richard and that's him guest starring on guitar. Dave Mattacks on drums too. This was Fairport's wilderness year before Sandy Denny would return with new members tho the results weren't not that exciting. B side The World Has Surely Lost Its Head is mellower but didn't attract much interest to include on the 2 CD Best of, that A&M issued in the 1990's Meet On The Ledge. Further research showed that The World was the A side but FM stations preferred The Journeyman's Grace instead. A&M would try again with John Lee for the next single but that too bombed. The copy that I found is fairly rough even after cleaning it up. I know my record player is going to rebel if I continue to find rough scratchy forty fives that have seen better days, but I remain convinced that this record is a keeper. I doubt if I'll find another copy in this lifetime.
22) Sun Arise-Rolf Harris (Epic 5-9567) #61 1963
Like Gary Glitter, Rolf's life has been turned upside down for the worst, disgraced by sexual assaults. So basically Rolf's music has been blacklisted from oldies playlists. I had Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport a while ago but that song has gotten too damn silly for me to revisit it. This song, I didn't put two and two together till I heard The Godfathers doing a cover version of this song from Hit By Hit. While this record wasted away for about three weeks after this posting, it actually plays fairly good with the usual surface scratches and a speck of dirt on a couple grooves. Do we really want to hear the B side Somebody Pinched My Whiskers? Not really.
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