Greetings music lovers!!!
I hope you're all well out there. Here I am, at home, with a case of the shingles. I can probably think of more severe ways mother nature can torture someone, and I shouldn't be whining too much because I will get over this, eventually, but it really has been messing me up for several days, and now that I feel that I'm kind of "over the hump", I started spinning and ripping 45's and getting another blog post going, being that I'm home sick from work and I'm starting to get really bored. I've watched as much as I possibly can about that Titan submersible tragedy on YouTube, binge watched two seasons of Rocky And Bullwinkle, and at least one season of Barney Miller. I really needed to get down to the basement and play some records. This is pretty good therapy because it takes my mind off the constant pain and it's also somewhat constructive as well. So here we are with #148. As usual, I've grabbed a fist -full of records and just let it rip. Most of these are major label things and it's kind of an eclectic mix, there's the usual garage classics, some early 60's teen stuff, some late 60's/70's heavy rock, and a dose of psych/pop. All in all,28 tracks which will provide you all with some good fun.
Please enjoy.
Skip Arne & The Dukes - Sunshine And Rain / Angel (1964)
I'm not exactly sure who Skip Arne was. I know that this 45 was originally released on "Little Fort" records out Waukegan, MI, and "Angel" is a cover of an Elvis song. I think this was a regional hit, but I'm including this one because A, "Sunshine And Rain" is pretty good, even for early 60's teen garbage, and B, it was in my stack.
Newbeats - Run, Baby Run / Mean Woolie Willie (1965)
OK, I 'll admit it. The Newbeats are one of my guilty pleasures. One of those bands you don't really want to admit that you like, but or some reason, I dig almost all of their records. This one from 1965 is particularly good, and one of my favorites.
Bats - Listen To My Heart / You Look Good Together (1965)
The Bats were from South Africa, and outside of getting names of band members and discographies, I don't know much about them. It appears they were very popular in their homeland as they released a bunch of 45s down there as well as in Rhodesia. They did manage to get this one released in the U.S. which has songs from two different 45s released in the U.K. Confused??? "Listen To My Heart" was supposedly a big hit for them, the flip not so much, but the interesting fact is that the flip side was not released in South Africa, but only in the U.S. and The Philippines. Weird, but the songs are really good Beatle / British Invasion style stuff produced by Tony Clarke who was responsible for most of The Moody Blues' greatest era.
Laurie Allen and Bobby Bright - Mojo Queen / Judy Green (1965)
Laurie Allen and Bobby Bright were popular singers from Australia and have some very cool 45's in their catalogue. I don't have very many Australian 45's, but this one is a real winner.
Emergency Exit - Why Girl / Maybe Too Late (1966)
A relatively unknown garage band from Seattle, WA that released three 45's, this one a re-release of their first 45 which came out on the local "Ru-Ro" label, and another one on Dunhill which is also very good. This is somewhat of a classic as it was on one of the Boulders comps.
Soul Survivors - Shakin' With Linda / Devil With The Blue Dress (1967)
Not related to the "Expressway To Your Heart" Soul Survivors, this bunch was reportedly from Pittsburgh, PA and released this one swingin' 45 for Decca which was featured on one of the original Pebbles comps. The flip is a slow, loopy version of "Devil With A Blue Dress".
Sparrow - Green Bottle Lover / Down Goes Your Love Life (1966)
The second of two 45's released by The Sparrow on Columbia after Jack London left the band and John Kay stepped in. A year or so later they would become Steppenwolf and have a score of hits including the rock anthem, "Born To Be Wild".
Lemon Pipers - Monaural 78 / Quiet Please (1967)
Oddly enough, this is the only 45 in this post that's not on a major label, or one that had national distribution. Apparently, after the Lemon Pipers achieved fame with" Green Tambourine", someone got a hold of some masters they had recorded before hitting the big time, to cash in on their success. I understand that The Lemon Pipers were kinda pissed off about that so this 45 languished in obscurity. Both sides are actually pretty good and better than their bubblegummy output (which I understand they hated too). I particularly like "Quiet Please", a rip-off of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues".
Trade Winds - Mind Excursion / Little Sally's Dreamin' (1966)
You'd think with a title like "mind Excursion", this'd be a wild psychedelic trip of a song. On the contrary, this is very sweet psych/pop, not bad, but the title is sure misleading. It's OK for what it is, it's just not what you'd expect. I rather like the flip side "Little Sally's Dreamin', which is very nice psych-pop with some twinges of folk/rock. I guess this went up to #51 on the Billboard charts in '66, but it's one of these "hit" songs that kind of escaped me. Until now.
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly - Son Of A Houndog Man / Gypsy Lover (1969)
These guys were previously known as The Next Exit and were from Beaumont, TX. This is a nice blues/rock 45 which was produced by Huey Meaux famous for producing The Sir Douglas Quintet.
Pure Jade Green - Bootleg / Purple Grass Growing (1969)
So I go to a record show last November, the first I had been to since 2019, hoping to score some 45's, but was sorely disappointed when I discovered the pickins' were real slim. The usual vendors that I'd buy from hadn't brought anything in the way of 45's, I guess L.P.s are where the real money is at these days.
People must have some real deep pockets, I mean, I own a nice modest home smack dab in the middle of suburbia on a quiet street, my wife and I make a decent living, but I'm constantly struggling to find extra cash to buy vinyl. Who the hell lays out $175 on a copy of The Velvet Underground's first album? I had two of those that I'm pretty sure I paid 99 cents apiece for back when it was considered an oddity that no right minded person would ever really listen to. (Except myself of course.) I did manage to buy about two dozen albums at $1 a pop, and most of them were pretty good classic rock, you know, The Doors' 1st album, Dark Side Of The Moon, a copy of "Electric Comic Book" by The Blues Magoos, "Incense And Peppermints" by The Strawberry Alarm Clock, and a copy of The Alan Bown's self titled L.P. which is pretty scarce. Just trying to fill holes in my L.P. collection, ya know?
Anyway, I come up on this one guy who has a box of junk and he asked me if I'd take the whole lot for $20. I have friends who go to auctions and buy mass quantities of 45's. They pick through all of them keeping the good stuff, and show up at my house with three gigantic shopping bags full of records that they don't want. Not your typical grocery bags, but the ones you get at Macy's or some other department store, you know the ones with the ropes for handles? Anyway, I kindly declined the vendors offer explaining that I already had too much junk to sift through. I think he was a little insulted but I couldn't tell for sure behind the N95 he was wearing, but I was a nice guy and bought a couple of dollars worth of 45's, and this was one of them.
I was pleasantly surprised when I plopped the needle on this. "Bootleg" is a Creedence song that I wasn't too familiar with, at least it's not one of the ones that they play incessantly on classic rock radio, and is actually really good, because Creedence kind of annoys the hell out of me. Maybe it's because they play the same songs incessantly on classic rock radio. Too bad, I really used to like them. The flip is even better, with some very cool fuzz guitar. It kind of reminds me of The Bubble Puppy who were from Austin, TX a ways down the road from Houston where these guys were from.(Someone out there please correct me if my info is wrong)
Okay, had to get a rant in here, sorry to bore all of you. On to the next record....
Stoneground - Queen Sweet Dreams / Total Destruction (1970)
A group from San Francisco that included ex Beau Brummel Sal Valentino on vocals. This has some pretty decent guitar work on it and was a pleasant surprise.
Yellow Payges - Slow Down / Frisco Annie (1969)
I have at least 7 or 8 Yellow Payges 45's and they run the gamut from garage/punk to psych/pop. This one's on the psych/pop side.
Illusion - Together / Don't Push It (1970)
Let's end this with a band from Long Island that had a bunch of 45's on Steed records. "Together" is kind of a "Hey Jude" type thing with a repeating chorus towards the last 1/3 of the song, and it's accompanied by some pretty wild fuzz guitar. The 'B' side ends this post with a typical "rock drum solo", something that you don't usually hear on a 45. Both sides worth listening to.
