Howdy there, all you music lovers! It's been a while since I posted here, and I'm sure many of you thought I was going to fade away. In fact, this thing has been ready to post for over a month, but I wanted to do some proofreading and some personal issues got in the way. Not so fast. After recovering from my shoulder surgery, I eventually returned to work, and it was a blessing. Six months off is not what it's cracked up to be. You get really soft, and just doing menial things is painful. All over. I got super fat and got into some bad eating and drinking habits, so if I had to do it again, I'd definitely mix in a long walk every day and stay away from snacks and booze. They're both killers. Since I got back into the swing of things, I've dropped 30 lbs. and feel better than ever.
I've also bought a substantial amount of records as well, many of which don't exactly merit entry into this blog, but they were just offers "I couldn't pass up". One was at a record show in nearby Batavia, NY where a vendor that I frequent quite often had one of those plastic dish racks that you put your clean dishes in, or something very similar, full of 45's. Probably at least 200, I'd say, and a lot of it was common stuff, but records I did not have in my collection. Great filler 45's. He was asking $50, and I passed as I was on a tight budget and running out of cash (I had just purchased what I felt was an overpriced copy of "Nazz Nazz" from a vendor who would not haggle), so as I was getting ready to leave, I offered him $25 for the whole lot. Not a bad deal. I've also picked up some cool 45's on eBay as well, but getting anything from there is really tough these days because I'm competing with collectors that have very deep pockets, and I just can't spend $75 and up on these things. So while I'm very frugal about what I buy, they still trickle in on a regular basis. I've also done a bit of organizing, so I know what's been posted and what hasn't, and I have it at my fingertips.
This particular post is from the first box I attacked; I literally plucked random 45's out of it, ripped them, scanned the labels, and here we are. It's definitely a mixed bag that varies wildly from garage to pop, and even some glam rock and "folk psyche" for your pleasure.
Once again, it's good to be back, and I hope I can scrape up enough time to do this more often.
Enjoy.
Arthur Alexander - You Better Move On / A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues (1961)
A real classic that I actually never heard until several years ago, while watching "Muscle Shoals," a superb film documentary about the legendary Fame Recording Studios where this was recorded. "You Better Move On" is a stirring ballad that's backed by another classic, "A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues," which was covered by the Beatles in their early days.
Birdwatchers - Turn Around Girl / You Got It (1967)
The Birdwatchers were a prolific (by 1960's standards) Garage/pop act from Miami, FL that had about 16 45's on 8 different labels, mostly on the local Marlin label, and a bunch on Mala, which was distributed by Bell Records. Their output was pretty consistent, nothing too wild, and this 45 is a great example.
Chandells - We Are The Ones / Little Girl, Pretty Girl (1966)
The Chandells were from Pueblo, CO, and released this one-off 45 in 1966. I'm pretty sure this was recorded at Norman Petty's studio in Clovis, NM. Both sides are pretty lightweight, but I prefer "We Are The Ones" out of the two songs here.
Law Firm - Love Is Bad / Girl From Liverpool (1965)
There's not a lot of info on these guys, but I'll bet they were a studio group because it's got a lot of L.A. names plastered all over the label. I'm featuring the B side here, because the A side (which I have included) is a ridiculous novelty song with banjos and a guy singing in a real fake British accent. "Love Is Bad," on the other hand, is not bad.
Destinations - Hello Girl / With You (1967)
Although The Destinations from Milwaukee, WI released this one 45, they have a very cool and interesting history. Reed Kailing, their guitarist and band leader, wrote both sides of this nice garage/pop 45, and you can read his story in great detail here. It's also worth mentioning that Dee Donaldson of The Robbs (another act from Milwaukee) produced this 45 at Chess Studios in Chicago.
Gary & The Hornets - Kind Of Hush (1967)
I gotta apologize for this one. In future posts, I feel like I'm going to be doing a lot of it because I have gobs of junk like this, that's definitely "60's", but rather embarrassing, such as the 45 we have here. I'm not sure if Gary (14 yrs. old) and his 12 and 7-year-old brothers actually played any instruments on this record, but if they did, I'll give them a lot of credit. Of course, these three brothers were somewhat of a novelty act, and they actually can be seen HERE playing on The Tonight Show, so maybe they did play on this record.
Blue Marble Faun - The Battle Is Over / Going Home (1968)
This group was from Albuquerque, NM and released two 45's on the Look label out of Nashville, TN. Both 45's were typical late sixties harmony pop, kinda like The Mamas & Papas.
Cyntriks - Something's Got A Hold Of My Soul / Shannon (1968)
Blue Eyed Soul from North Carolina with lots of Hammond B3 organ and horns. Moody 'B' side.
Hi Noon's - It's Our World / Want It To Last (1970)
It's fascinating to hear stuff like this from 1970. These guys sound like a garage band straight out of 1966. The Hi Noon's, according to their label, were billed as "Louisiana's Teenage Sensation". Both sides are really moody garage. Just the kind that I like.
Ice Cream - The Chewin' Gum Kid / Epitaph To Marie (1968)
Milan Radenkovich a/k/a "The Leather Boy", released a bunch of records in the '60's as Milan, The World Of Milan, and The Leather Boy. I'm not sure this is him vocalizing on this 45, which strangely resembles Tommy James & The Shondells' "I Think We're Alone Now", or at least the intro does anyway, but his name is plastered all over the credits. "The Chewin' Gum Kid" is obvious up-tempo Bubblegum Rock, although the flip takes a darker turn.
Street - Apollo...Amen / Why Concern Yourself (1969)
A somewhat bizarre novelty 45, I guess, at least that's my opinion, although some out there may find it cool, "Apollo...Amen" was released a few months after the Apollo 8 spaceflight in December 1968, the first lunar orbit by humans. On Christmas Eve 1968, we were all glued to the television watching this; it was really wild stuff for an 8-year-old, and during the broadcast, the three astronauts recited passages from Genesis. So I guess producer and arranger Rick Shorter thought it would be a great idea to cash in on "Apollomania" by having Street (also known as "Anya's Street") play this here song and have the actual sound clips dubbed over the band singing the gospel song "Amen". I don't know about you, but this seems real corny in my humble opinion. The 'B' side fares much better, featuring Anya Cohen singing quite well. As mentioned before, Street was also known as Anya's Street, who released a 45 on Verve Forecast records. I have a copy of that, and I'll feature it in the future. I should also mention that Anya Cohen was supposedly discovered right here in Rochester, NY, working at the Wee Spot Coffee House on South Ave. She also spent three years at the Eastman School of Music, where I would assume she took voice lessons. I don't know that for sure, just guessing.
Weird Herald - Just Yesterday / Saratoga James (1968)
An obscure folk/psyche group from the Bay Area in California, who released their lone 45 in 1968. This particular 45 gets a lot of attention from collectors and is fetching a decent buck on eBay and Discogs, if you can find it. I bought this 45 way back in 1986 at a record show in Albany, NY, where a guy had a huge box of 45's for a buck apiece, so I took a stab at it. This isn't a bad 45, but it's not exactly my cup of tea. I just scratch my head as to why it's so desirable. They eventually released an entire LP, which I guess was in the can for 50+ years. You can read more about them, including an interview with some of the members here.
