Sunday, March 30, 2014

Howard Lemon Singers


It's Sunday, and time for some gospel music. Here is an exceedingly rare record from the Howard Lemon Singers on the Stax label. I was able to comp these tracks from various sources, but I am missing the song "There'll Come a Time." If anyone has it, please post a link in the comments. And may the cosmic muffin bless you if you do.

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Saturday, March 29, 2014

The Now Generation


More cool instros of the hits of the day, this time as performed by the Now Generation (aka the Joe Scott Orchestra) on the classy Mainstream label. This one comes in thanks to Derrick Bostrom of the Meat Puppets.

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Thursday, March 27, 2014

Tapestry


Some Canadiana, with touches of '70s-era Neil Young. I wonder where they got their name from?

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Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Pom Pom Girls


Here's a re-up, by request, for this cheesy Mike Curb soundtrack. Would anyone have Curb's "Song for a Young Love" record? If so, please put a link in the comments.

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Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Jimmie Rodgers


Not the "singing brakeman" Rodgers, here is one of this Jimmie's obscure A&M records. You can read more about this album here.

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Saturday, March 22, 2014

Buy Buy Baby


A cool instro disk from, of all people, marketing schills Young & Rubicam.

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Jim Gordon


Wonderful solo record by famed session drummer Jim Gordon. Yeah, his later life has been a tragic one, but his music lives on. To hear some of the fantastic tracks he's played on, check out these compilations from Any Major Dude with Half a Heart. The breadth and depth of his session work may surprise you (it did me).

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Thursday, March 20, 2014

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

A Different Rosie ...


In which Sesame Street gets down with its bad self.

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Roosevelt Grier


A request came in from Monkeeboy for Rosie's "Soul City" album. Unfortunately I don't have that one, but I was able to locate many of the songs (along with a batch of other tunes). Alas, I'm missing some key tracks - among them the title cut - so if anyone has a nice clean rip of this rare (and pricey) LP, please post a link in the comments.

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Monday, March 17, 2014

Al Rosa


I couldn't find anything about this guy. It looks to be his only record. I picked it up because it was on Tower, the Capitol Records subsidiary, and because, according to the sticker, it can be played on all stereo players. Enjoy.

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Sunday, March 16, 2014

The Further Adventures of Larry Kusnitt


Once again, I know this is outside the musical realm of my usual posts, but what the hey. The link below will take you to Bandcamp where you can either download the album for free or actually pay for it. By choosing the latter you will directly support Mondo Exploito (mo' money = mo' records).

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Mark Spoelstra


A vinyl rip of Mark Spoelstra's self-titled album, which was produced by James William Guercio (of Chicago fame).

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Friday, March 14, 2014

Buddahrama


Buddah was always a strangely eclectic label, and never is that more obvious than on this rare French comp, which contains "50% rapide and 50% slow" music. I mean, you got your Captain Beefheart right next to your Lemon Pipers, and there's also a bizarre track by a one-off group called Le Cirque, which was produced by Leon Russell. And then there are straight soul stompers by Henry Lumpkin and Timothy Wilson. I would imagine Buddah's motto was "Anything That Sticks."

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Wednesday, March 12, 2014

The Establishment


So I bought this record off eBay, and it's actually much better than I thought it would be. Kind of soul-ish in a WASP-y cream-puff way. Enjoy this vinyl rip!

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B.J. Thomas


A vinyl rip of a lesser-known record on ABC by the esteemed Mr. Thomas.

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Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Ron Dante


I've always dug this guy's voice. Not a major album by any stretch, but a pleasant one nonetheless.

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Sunday, March 9, 2014

Toni Wine


Once again, this is not an actual album but a compilation I made from various sources featuring songs and demos by the great Toni Wine and her group, Dusk. If anyone has additional tunes by her and would like to add them, please post a link in the comments.

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Thursday, March 6, 2014

Pat Shannon


Nice soft, sunshiny LP. Some background: In dealing with Pat Shannon and his career, it's important to remember that sometimes nepotism isn't a matter of undue favoritism — Pat Shannon's real name was Pat Glasser, and he was the brother of Warner Bros. staff producer Dick Glasser. That obviously gave him an edge in getting recorded, but he did have the talent to justify the effort. His career began in the late '50s with the single "Maybelle" b/w "Knock Knock (Who's There)" at Decca, and he cut a total of four singles for the label through the end of 1959. These records were mostly in a country-pop vein, with several sides featuring the Anita Kerr Singers and Owen Bradley producing several of them. Shannon was a charismatic singer with a gentle folk tenor that had an enticing dark edge, and he might have found success as part of the early-'60s folk revival. Instead, he emerged again — produced by his brother — on the far side of the psychedelic era with "Candy Apple, Cotton Candy," released in the final week of May 1968. The single retained the gentle trippiness appropriate to 1966-1967, and had a great beat plus some powerful bass work amid the tasteful brass and gently twanging sitar. It was also written by Ruthann Friedman, who'd composed "Windy." Listening to the song's reverb-laden voice and flutes, and its general sunshine pop elegance, one wonders whether the people playing here aren't the same session musicians who handled most of the playing on the Association's records, and whether Warner Bros. might have been trying to groom a potential sound-alike act. Alas, this record never took off, and Shannon was to release only one more single, on Uni in 1969, before giving up his career as a recording artist. "Candy Apple, Cotton Candy" was pretty much forgotten until Rhino Handmade resurrected it for 2004's Come to the Sunshine: Soft Pop Nuggets from the WEA Vaults. At last report, Shannon was living in retirement in California, and had suffered a stroke.

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