10 more obscurities chosen at random from my favorites lists
Today......from 1961
HE CARNATIONS – LONG TALL GIRL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMn0u08P8mA
In 1959 Carl Hatton (lead) Matthew Moales (lead) Harvey Arrington,Edward Kennedy,Tommy Blackwell (bass) as “The Teardrops” hailing From
Bridgeport Connecticut made their first mark in the music biz by backing
Bo Diddley on “I’m Sorry”,”Crackin’ Up” and “Don’t Let It Go” all of
which featured on the “Go Bo Diddley” album that year.
The group continued rehearsing and trying to interest record companies
in them until Joe Rene of Beltone Records in NYC heard them and signed
them up in early 1961. A session took place in March that year at which
“Long Tall Girl” and “Is There Such A World” were recorded but it was October before a single was released---and then it appeared on Beltone’s Lescay subsidiary as by “The Carnations”. Backing was provided by the
Joe Rene Orchestra. Shortly afterwards the group broke up so no followup
was forthcoming and the world heard no more of The Carnations.
Hugely popular with collectors “Long Tall Girl” was later reissued three times---on Lost Nite,Relic and Collectables
Note : The Carnations group above are not related to groups of that name
on Derby,Savoy,Fraternity,Enrica and Jodi (phew!)
DANNY BOY – KOKOMO ME BABY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWY4oiBGEY0
Nice sub-Jimmy Reed styled blues and a long time favorite of mine that
graced Bruce’s Obscurities contest back in October 2021 thanks to Carl
who nominated it (I haven’t seen Carl on here in a while I hope all is
OK)
Recorded for the small Tifco label in February 1961 I show Danny Thomas (vcl/gtr) Buster Johnson (hca) Jerry Reed (gtr) Buddy Livingston (bs)
Jim Newton (dms)
BETTY JAMES – I’M A LITTLE MIXED UP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpoq5YwFW4I
Baltimore blues thrush Betty James recorded “I’m A Little Mixed Up” for the small Cee-Jay (no,that’s NOT Vee Jay spelled wrong) label located in
NYC (and not Chicago!!) in mid-1961
The record got a little airplay and came to the attention of the good
folk at Chess Records (who WERE in Chicago!) who promptly made an offer
to take over distribution of the record nationally. The offer was
accepted and Betty became a Chess artist for a couple more releases
before vanishing from the scene
MARIE KNIGHT – COME TOMORROW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edq7afci-B8
Nee Marie Roach born in 1920,hailing from either Georgia or Florida
(take your pick) but definitely growing up in Newark,NJ was a long time
staple of the gospel circuit cutting many records in the idiom mostly on
the Decca label.
Switching to Mercury in 1956 she dipped her toes in the r&b pool with
her memorable original of the secular “Tell Me Why” (the same song that Elvis recorded in 1957 and released as a single much later).
Another secular experiment came in 1959 when she paired with Rex Garvin
for the catchy r&b duet “I Can’t Sit Down” on Carlton that made the
lower reaches of the Billboard Hot 100.
1961 saw her on the Okeh label with the record under consideration
here---her striking original of “Come Tomorrow” (later a hit for Manfred Mann on both sides of the pond and also redone in a memorable reggae
version by Ken Boothe). Marie’s version has long been a favorite of mine
and no mention of her is complete with also referencing her nice version
of Julie London’s “Cry Me A River” in 1965
THE MANDELLS – DARLING I’M HOME
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy49_exznr8
The Mandells from Albuquerque,New Mexico were a group of Air Force
veterans who got together in free moments as a rather decent singing
group.
They comprised Charles “Chuck” Young (1st tenor lead),Eranious McNeil Murray (bass/baritone piano),Jimmy Smith (2nd tenor),Russell “Peesburgh” (2nd tenor). Charles Clemons (baritone bass)
They cut their first record “Darling I’m Home” in a Phoenix,Arizona studio for the small Smart label based in downstate Sierra Vista
released in May 1961 After getting some local airplay Chess Records
entered the fray getting national distribution rights to the record and re-releasing it as Chess 1794 the following month
One more record by The Mandells (on Smart) followed before the curtain
fell on the group
N.B. The Mandells here are NOT to be confused with the later 1960’s soul group of that name
THE QUOTATIONS - IMAGINATION
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RwRR05nPYQ
Not to everyone’s taste I know---but here’s one I’ve been a fan of since Day One---from the first time I ever heard this on UK radio (yes it got
some plays here in 1961) its been added to the select list of titles by
The Diamonds,Dion & The Belmonts, The Skyliners and a few other white
vocal groups that I really like.
And of course me being a long time fan of catchy gibberish does
absolutely no harm here either
Hailing from Brooklyn,New York City (where else??) the group comprised
Larry Kassman (lead) Ritchie Schwartz (1st tenor) Lew Arno (2nd tenor)
Harvey Hershkowitz (baritone). Tho the record was on HMV here I was
amazed to see on the label that the US company it was licenced from was
Verve.
I mean…..Verve??? Seriously??? VERVE???
Wasn’t that the famous jazz label? Norman Granz and all that? The
spiritual home of Queen Ella (who by the way had the second ever
recorded version of this “Imagination” song on record back in 1940)??
Then I remembered where Ricky Nelson had started out………………
CHARLES SHEFFIELD – IT’S YOUR VOODOO WORKING
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZRBCq8vLjg
Hailing from Lake Charles,La. unsurprisingly Sheffield made his
recording debut in 1957 on Eddie Shuler’s Goldband label in that fair
town (billed as “Mad Dog Sheffield” and backed by Clarence “Bon Ton” Garlow & His Band) on the predictable bluesy and very good “Mad Dog”
After short stays at Rocko and Jin he arrived at Ernie Young’s Excello company in Nashville who released the excellent double sider “It’s Your Voodoo Working”/”Rock ‘N’ Roll Train” recorded at Jay Miller’s studio in
Crowley,La. (BTW value on this single is in the three figure region
nowadays if you’re looking to buy an original copy)
SMOKEY SMOTHERS – HONEY I AIN’T TEASIN’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlowpkq7mWA
From Lexington Mississippi came forth bluesman Otis Smothers better
known as “Smokey” Smothers.
After relocating to Chicago Smokey played rhythm guitar on several
Howlin’ Wolf tracks on Chess. In 1960 he was invited to record for the Federal label in Cincinnati where he proceeded to cut a swath of decent
blues records,my favorite of which is the super blues track here (with
Freddy King providing some of the backing).
This track was also included on his 1962 LP “Smokey Smothers Sings The Backporch Blues” on King---which was my first introduction to the guy
when I saw multiple copies of the album in Transat Records in
London,the little hole in the wall store that sold tons of imported
American records and was the “blueprint” for our own store on the other side of London much later on .
Try finding a brand new original mint copy of that LP today!!
WAYNE WORLEY - RED HEADED WOMAN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uwTp6Ya7s0
Amazingly this really cool piano based version of the original Sonny
Burgess rocker (already previously revived in 1959 by Lynn Pratt on
Hornet) was released as the flip side of the more sedate “Just To Be
Alone”
Born near Dyersburg,Tennessee in 1941 Wayne’s family moved to Chicago
when he was just 18. “Red Headed Woman” was initially released on the
small Elbridge label of Western Springs,Ill where Wayne had already had
a couple of releases (including his version of “Don’t Leave Me Now” originally by Elvis of course from his “Loving You” pic)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7ZIBH9B0ug
After getting some local airplay “Red Headed Woman” was leased for
national distribution to Bobby Shad who re-released it on his Brent
label
As with so many of these records,“Red Headed Woman” was booted (on Elbridge) to pretty good sales in the 70’s (right Henry?)
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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