So, ragweed pollen has arrived, and so I feel like I'm blogging in my sleep. In fact, I might be asleep--can't be sure. But, trusting that I am in fact awake, here are 22 memorable mono tracks, starting with some 78-rpm thrift finds of the past two weeks: The Dell-Vikings on Fee Bee (with the ballad side sounding terrible, but the hit side--Come Go With Me--sounding terrific), The Heartbeats with Oh Baby Don't, and LaVerne Baker on Atlantic with the rocking Jim Dandy. Note the distortion and tape-glitch in How Can I Find True Love--flaws which also appeared in the 45 rpm release, if not as blatantly.
Then, back to 45 rpm singles, with a terrific, more-or-less-r-&-r ballad by Fred Weismantel, sung beautifully by the Four Voices: Darling, Thanks to You. This 1955 performance, much like the same songwriter and group's Lovely One (also in this playlist), is the perfect marriage of 50s-quartet pop and doo-wop--the Four Lads meet the Dell-Vikings, sort of.
Then, the incomparable June Valli with 1957's Street of Memories, probably my favorite of this bunch (and with enough reverb for two sides). Next, Magic Star--Tel-Star with lyrics--beautifully arranged by Bill Justis for Margie Singleton on Mercury. And we have ? and the Mysterians with the two-chord romp, Got To, a 1967 effort which--as the B-side of Girl (You Captivate Me)--charted, though just barely. Meanwhile, Carl Perkins' Hollywood City (1962, Columbia), cowritten by Otis Blackwell, completely failed to chart, though it probably should have.
Very tight musicianship distinguishes Boyd Bennett's Right Around the Corner, while tight doo-wop harmonizing graces the Turbans' Sister Sookey of the same year (1956).
Then, Clyde Battin and Gary Paxton's (Skip and Flip) 1959 Lunch Hour, which is not to be confused with June Valli's 1958 single of the same name (farther down in this list). Jerry Lee Lewis' 1961 Money, not surprisingly, went nowhere (Lewis having committed bigamy in 1957 with a 13-year-old bride--not the kind of thing that helps a pop career), whereas Ray Conniff's Strollin' and Boppin' hit the Top 20 as one of the numbers on the LP Dance the Bop! And Conniff was, at the time and by contrast, legally married to his second wife.
Conniff leads the orchestra on the Four Voices' Top 20 hit, Lovely One, an unusually elegant doo-wop effort, and he provides a reasonably rocking background for Guy Mitchell's Take Me Back Baby, penned by Claude Demetrius (cited as "Demetuis" on the label), and a minor hit for Guy. This is followed by Dealer of Dreams, a Buck Ram number which failed to chart for the Penguins. Then, the frenetic, solo-filled, honking-sax classic, The Goof (1952).
Which brings us to our playlist's most out of place track, the 1968 Where Did You Come From by the Buckinghams. Afterwards, a subdued June Valli demonstrates that teen rock was no challenge for her (Lunch Hour, 1958), Sunny Gale provides a country-fied Come Go With Me, and the Mint Juleps give us a highly effective12-bar-blues rocker, Vip-a-Dip (another non-charter).
DOWNLOAD: Memorable Mono Media, Pt. 3.zip
How Can I Find True Love--The Dell-Vikings, 1957 (Fee Bee 205, 78 rpm)
Come Go With Me--Same
Oh Baby Don't--The Heartbeats, 1956 (Hull Records 720, 78 rpm)
Jim Dandy--LaVerne Baker and the Gliders w. Orch., 1956 (Atlantic 116, 78 rpm)
Darling, Thanks to You (Weismantel)--The Four Voices, 1955
Street of Memories--June Valli w. Joe Reisman's Orch. and Chorus, 1957
Magic Star (Tel-Star)--Margie Singleton, Merry Melody Singers, Arr. Bill Justis, 1963
Got To--? (Question Mark) and the Mysterians, 1967
Hollywood City (O. Blackwell-W. Scott)--Carl Perkins, 1962
Right Around the Corner--Boyd Bennett and His Rockets, 1956
Sister Sookey--Tubans, 1956
Lunch Hour--Skip and Flip (Clyde Battin--Gary Paxton), 1959
Money--Jerry Lee Lewis and His Pumping Piano, 1961 (Sun 371)
Strollin' and Boppin' (Conniff)--Jimmy Richards (Ray Conniff), 1958
Lovely One (Weismantel)--The Four Voices, 1956
Take Me Baby Baby (Claude Demetrius)--Guy Mitchell w. Ray Conniff, 1956
Dealer of Dreams (Buck Ram)--The Penguins, 1956
The Goof--Big Jay McNeely and His Orch., 1952
Where Did You Come From--The Buckinghams, 1968
Lunch Hour--June Valli, 1958
Come Go With Me--Sunny Gale, Orch. and Chorus Dir. by Sid Bass, 1957
Vip-a-Dip--Mint Juleps, 1956
Lee
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