Tell me baby, what wrong have I done?

I grew up listening to the Maytals and own an awful lot of their records. Something like five or six Jamaican and English albums never released in the U.S. [at least initially], every album issued in the U.S. from "Reggae Got Soul" up to "Toots in Memphis", several comps on CD.....

And then there are the Jamaican pressed singles, some of which are different versions than what appeared on albums. Even well known songs often show up with a different mix on 45 [sometimes with an instrumental version as well].

Anyway, even after all that exposure to the Maytals I still occasionally find stuff on 45 that I've never heard before. But not in this case. Actually, I thought it was a "personal unknown" when I picked it out of a box of unsleeved 45s, but jeeze was I ever surprised when I gave it a listen. The record is mislabeled, it's actually a copy of "Treating Me Bad", one of the groups early great ones. Not a bad score for less than a buck.

Just so happens there's even footage from 1962 of the Maytals singing this song, which makes the post even sweeter. Check the clip below.

In case ya'll are wondering about the scratchy records I've been posting lately, I'm not really doing it on purpose. I'm just having fun digging through a pile of interesting 45s that don't normally get spins....often because they're too beat up for polite company.

I'll get back to the cleaner 45s soon enough. Truth is, this rip doesn't sound all that much worse than the copy I have from a legitimately issued comp.

Hope ya'll enjoy.....

Dance...

Just case ya'll don't know, compared to what I usually do, the easiest thing in the world is post a bunch of you tube clips....

Trashed is as trashed does...

Mark this one as "for reference only". It's possibly the most trashed record I've ever posted.

There are some boring Big Bo and The Arrows records out there. This isn't one of them.

My hope is that ya'll will appreciate what you're hearing despite the obvious flaws.

Please God, wontcha send me a better copy real soon...

Let me drive.....

The flip-side of yet another 45 I've already posted. It's not quite as good as the other cut but I figure ya'll might like to hear it just 'cause it's obscure. As far as I know it's never been comped, in fact I can't see that it's ever been offered anywhere else before.

One of three records issued on the Invicta label....

Hope ya'll enjoy....

Or go back home and be shamed shamed shamed...

Either I'm very unlucky or this 45 is a tough find. This is the only original copy I've ever run into.

Just so happens both sides were recently re-released on a comp called "Face The Music". Can't say I like the cover [absolutely as cheesy as they come] but it's an interesting release, partially because some of the songs are re-cut. Now, normally I'd say that's a bad thing, but in this case it undoubtedly means Willie West is getting a few bucks out of the deal....and that's a good thing.

Anyway, there are def better copies of these songs around....my 45 is rough.

Hope ya'll enjoy....in my opinion, these are two of the more interesting arrangements Allen Toussaint ever created.

Face The Music

Baby Baby I Love You

Everybody's doin' it.....

I don't know about ya'll, but I'm def enjoying the long weekend. I've hardly had a moment to myself for more than a month.

I posted the flip-side of this record a long while back and always wanted to post this side as well, but the stupid record skipped. After some minor surgery, the patient has recovered nicely and now plays all the way through. I'm amazed at how well a little trick of mine works. Send in $5 and I'll cough up the secret.

Anyway, I think this record must have been a regional hit as R.L. Griffin is occasionally referred to as "Mr. Ting-A-Ling". I believe he's still active today, possibly still owns the Blues Palace in Dallas? He's originally from East Texas where he played with a band called the Corvettes until Big Bo Thomas tempted him into heading to the big city.

Now, Bo Thomas was a major regional player. He had the hottest band in Dallas, owned several very profitable clubs, and booked big name acts throughout the region. All of which brought in buckets of money. Thomas once estimated that he made $250,000 to $400,000 a year during the early 60's. Even if those figures represent a bad case of the brags, it's clear he made plenty.......enough that Big Bo and the Arrows were rarely tempted out of Dallas....enough that Thomas was able to retire in the early 70s.

The Gay-Shel label was started in 1960 and is named after Thomas' two children, Gayle and Sheldon. As far as I know there were only something like 10 releases on the label, all of them Big Bo and The Arrows related.

Hope ya'll enjoy....

This clip is super low quality, but ya'll get the idea, right? I seriously need the stripey dress on the second girl to be featured.

[Addendum: I'm shocked to see that someone actually took my joke about sending in $5 seriously. I realize that my sense of humor is very dry, but jeeze.....

Anyway, If anyone really wants to know how I get skips out of records, check the comments of this post on Derek's Daily 45.]

Drop out...

As far as I know, this is Mildred Scott's only 45. Just in case you're tempted to poke around for info, this is not the same woman as Mildred Vaney, aka Mildred Scott, out of Detroit. It's someone else.

I've nothing factual on Scott [don't know that anyone does], but I will say this: to my ears she sounds a good bit like the Marilyn Scott who recorded with Johnny Otis in the early 50's. I'd be as surprised as anyone if there's a connection, but I do wonder.

Big Bee was apparently associated with the elusive Booker/Invicta labels. If there's another release on the imprint, I'm not aware of it. [Correction: Bob of the blogs Dead Wax and That's All Rite Mama has pointed out two other releases on Big Bee.]

Hope ya'll enjoy....

I refuse to be a loser.....

Speaking of obsessions...

Here's another pre-Stax Ruby Johnson recording on the D.C. based Nebs label.

Hope ya'll enjoy the tune...it's killer.

A brand new peace of mind.....

Blame my obsession with Lee Rogers on Derek See. He's the one who turned me on to the man. So far, I haven't found a tune I don't love.

The discography I have says this 45 is from 1966, but that's gotta be wrong. Simply can't be true. My nose tells me it's from 1968 at the earliest.

Just to make my point about it all being good, I'm throwing in the flip-side for lagniappe.

Hope ya'll enjoy. Fyi, the beginning of "Togetherness" is slightly odd. The record plays as it's supposed to, that's not a skip.

Togetherness

Sex Appeal

Feel it....

Speaking of hot weather. We're in San Antonio for a few days and it's like a 105 degrees out there, no shit.

I've had this record set to go for some time. Unfortunately, I can't find my notes on the band at the moment, but as I recall these guys were originally out of Arizona and somehow ended up in Colorado. They put out several nice singles and an album, but for my money there's really only one other single worth hunting up, "Biscuits and Buttermilk" on the Mo Soul label [I really really need to find that one].

Anyway....arguably one of the toughest funk tracks ever waxed. Not especially "deep", just hard as a rock.

Hope ya'll enjoy...

Throw that left leg with pride....

"This is a excellent blog and you do a great job posting good music. That's why the stats are up!"

Thanks for making me smile, Rekkid, but unfortunately it's not true. The recent surge in traffic looks to be the product of a Blogger glitch.

On the up-side, it also looks like the low numbers I was getting the week before the surge were incorrect. As of today, traffic seems reassuringly normal. Referrals from Twilightzone! are showing once again. Even thumbnails of my label scans have reappeared on linked sites after having mysteriously disappeared awhile back.

All in all, I'm pleased. I happen to like my normal traffic numbers. Not too big, not too small....just right.

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Is this a pseudonymous Eddie Bo record? Well, Martin Lawrie over at the Soul Generation site says no, that Sonny Jones and Eddie Bo simply sound quite a bit alike. Me? I'm not so sure about that. My ears tell me it's Eddie Bo if for no other reason than the phrasing of the vocals. And to be much more direct about it, I have to say that Sonny Jones sounds very very different. Listen to the records.

Anyway, it's definitely an Eddie Bo produced jam of a high order. One of his best.

Another 45 that plays well in hot weather...

[Oh crap. Dan Phillips posted a marvelous piece on "The Sissy" several hours before I offered up this post. It includes his rip of the same Sonny Jones 45. Ya'll should def check out what Dan has to say, here, 'cause he's totally the man.]

Sissy Walk Part 1.

Sissy Walk Part 2.

Some people...

Something odd is going on.

The month of June was looking to be this blog's worst month, stat-wise, in over nine months. But then, BAM!, literally overnight I'm getting many times my normal amount of traffic for absolutely no reason at all.

Every single day since Wednesday before last, this blog has had far more visitors than my previous best day ever. A couple of days ago, there were 100 page views in one hour. By comparison, I've had plenty of days with 100 page views, but never anything close to that kind of hourly traffic before.

Now comes the really strange part. Twilightzone! has long been a major source of traffic for this blog. Today I check the stats and I've got no referrals from Twilightzone! None. Nada, Zip. This has never ever happened before. In fact, it's an impossibility.

Anyone know what's up?

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I've been meaning to post this one for a long time but never seem to get around to it. Shame on me for contributing to the general neglect shown Bobby Powell. The record itself almost always sells for around five bucks, but truthfully, I don't run into lots of copies. I was rather glad to find the one I have.

Some years ago, a nice comp of Powell's Jewel and Whit sides was released called "My Own Thing". I don't often play it these days as I now own all the 45s included, but it's an excellent collection, if you can find a copy.

A killer slow groove, perfect for a warm evening.....

Hope ya'll enjoy....

You shake shake here, you shake shake there.....

You knew this was coming....didn't you?

This goes out to my beloved Nana [RIP] for letting me scratch up her records from the time I was barely out of diapers. There was copy of the album "Hate To See You Go" in her house that's now in my collection.

To my mind, this is a totally obvious record to play. I figure if you don't already own a collection of Little Walter then there must be something seriously wrong with you. On the other hand, going for the obvious in this context isn't necessarily a bad thing. After all, when was the last time you heard a worn out copy of the 45?

The song gives me chills every time I hear it. That's after literally hundreds of plays. Mostly it's the harp solo, truly one of the most amazing few seconds ever recorded.

Hope ya'll enjoy....

I can't go on this way.....

With Jimmie Lee Robinson, the question is: Who didn't he play with? I won't bother going into it 'cause the info is easily found online, but the fact that he can be heard on a number of Little Walter recordings should be quite enough. As far as I'm concerned, that alone makes him a god.

Bandera, along with sister labels Laredo and Jericho Road, were run by Violet Musyznski and her son out of their house in Chicago. Ace has issued a couple of associated comps. I believe they're called something like "Bandera: Blues and Gospel" and "Bandera: Rockabilly and Country". I haven't heard either but assume they're worth hunting up. Certainly I like everything I've heard on vinyl.

Mainly known for his guitar playing, it's Robinson's voice that gets me on this one. The song is "All My Life".

Haunting.....

You got me rockin' and reelin'....

Another of Eddie Bo's less often played tunes. Great song, with some absolutely killer guitar work [probably supplied by Edgar Blanchard] and a beautiful sax solo [by Red Tyler ?].

I forget exactly, but I think it's from 1957.

Hope ya'll enjoy....

You'll never get a ring in my nose...

I don't do memorials anymore. As the subheading on the blog says: our mother kills us, our father eats us, we are not in our casket, we are not in the cemetery.

Just in case the quote's not entirely obvious, I meant it as a metaphor for the situation of many lesser known artists. In short, the offended "bones" continue to sing even after death [literal and figurative]...don't they?

Anyway, this tune goes out to Benny Spellman. By all accounts, a good man.

[That's Mr. Spellman doing his well-known basso-profondo bit on this cut]

Respect is due....

Once I had somebody...

If Joe Tex had only been given the chance to record one song, I would hope it was this one. Genuinely one of those tunes that's almost too good to be true.

Tonight, in this house, it hits like an unexpected thunderclap before a dangerous storm. Heavy rain starting to fall right as it ends.

Hope ya'll enjoy...

Dancing little fool....

Careful, this one is dangerous. [Arguably one of the ten most ferocious funk jams never recorded by James Brown]

Hope ya'll enjoy....

You don't need no ticket....

It's been a good long while since I offered up any Stacy Lane. I have no solid info on the man, but everything points to him being a Memphis based artist.

Hard to say if this record is scarcer than his "African Twist/I'm Out To Win You Over", but for my part I could've picked up five copies of that 45 while hunting up a single copy of this one.

Nice slow groove, a crawling piano line....and a truly whacked out guitar solo that gets my attention every time. Suits me so well I'm tempted to use it as the theme song for a radio show I've been offered. Only problem is the mention of "soulsville" in the lyrics.

Hope ya'll enjoy....

I guess I'll live all by myself...

Gas Head [or Gashead] was the pseudonym used by Bobby Boseman on his first two singles for the Houston based Paradise label. Sir Shambling has more info, here, along with several other great Boseman sides you can listen to.

While I agree with Shambling that this 45 represents a lesser effort by a truly great deep soul singer, I still think it's got a couple of very cool tunes on it. In fact, if Boseman had only ever made recordings of this caliber he'd still have my attention.

Yep, the b-side's good too. But something's wrong here. Either I misunderstand the Boseman discography on the Shambling site, or a mistake's been made in the list, or I own a record that's not supposed to exist. The b-side of my copy is "Slow Down Young Lovers", which if I understand correctly, was supposedly never released until it showed up on the P-Vine collection of the same name.

Anyway, I'm confused. My copy sure looks like a regular release, but then again, maybe it's a bootleg?

Hope ya'll enjoy....