Oh my daze!

Thought I better leave you with something to keep you going for the next few days. Mrs Darce and I will be packing our cabin bags tomorrow night in readiness for a long weekend trip to Prague with a couple of friends. Yes, it’s city break time again.

Today’s (not so) little gem is another reminder that you should ALWAYs turn the record over and play the B side. Furthermore, you should ALWAYS play it all the way through.

A couple of years ago (actually, three and a half!) I wrote about a box of records that a work colleague let me borrow to listen to. Recently we agreed that I would sell them for him on ebay, and that is what I am sort of in the middle of doing now. My commission for all the donkey work will be in the form of a few of the records in the box.

Much as I like the A side of this 45 – “What Can I Do” - I had initially decided that this would be one to be sold. Then I turned it over and played the B side. Now it’s a definite keeper!

You can read a whole lot about Clarence Lewis (for that is his real name) over at Sir Shambling, where you can also hear the A side of this record.

Sir Shambling dates this to 1971. Track times on 45s had broken through the three minute barrier by then, but one clocking in at five minutes plus (30 seconds longer than the time quoted on the label) was still a rarity – especially on a soul record.

The first time I borrowed this box of records I’m betting this is one B side I didn’t play, or if I did I, didn’t play it through because it certainly didn’t live in the memory. It starts off with an almost cheesy feel, and there is a touch of Scott Walker about it I think. But stick with it and at about three minutes in it vamps into something quite stunning, and Clarence lets loose and becomes an altogether different and downright soulful singer. I love it.

Note Mr Quezergue's name in the credits - always a sign of quality.

C L Blast – I’m In A Daze  (1971)  

PS: I removed all links and images from a post that was the subject of a recent takedown request and republished only for it to be taken down again. Go figure! I could be skating on thin ice. 

Preoccupied

Most of my computer time this last few days has been spent on Ebay. I'm usually obsessing with my buying hat on but this time it's selling that's been taking up all my time.


I'm relatively new to the selling lark I'm selling records of course. My experience so far is that it takes up an inordinate amount of time in preparing the listings - snapping the record, agonising over the correct description of condition, and battling with the ebay editor which appears to have a mind of it's own sometimes.


Once listed I can't stop looking at my items for sale to see if there is any interest. This is particularly true at the moment as I have a handful a rare ones listed. Of course I know that there will be very little action until the last few hours and the snipers will come in at the last minute (hopefully) - but it doesn't stop me looking constantly. Stop it, I say, but I can't.


The listings end over the weekend and the suspense it now starting to get to me, I can't concentrate on anything else. Is it worth it? I ask myself. 


##########


On another topic, after more than 4 and a half years of this blog I have, in the last month, received my first (2) post takedowns. The very official and seemingly detailed emails and information given are completely useless in helping me understand why the takedowns have happened. mp3? image? link? words? So it is I have removed everything but my, surely uncontroversial, words from my recent Freda Payne post, and left an old Candi Staton post permanently in draft.    


This blog could disappear completely at a moment's notice.


Preoccupied, and paranoid!


Fortunately I have a dose of something seriously soulful to sooth my furrowed brow.


The 45 featured dropped through the letterbox a few hours ago (the postman delivered at 4pm today!).


It has no right to sound so loud and clear as it does considering the number of scratches and scuffs it has.


(The US record industry went to hell it seems, especially into the 70s - this 45 dates from around 1967 and is on a tiny label, but the mastering, and the vinyl it was recorded, on were definitely of the highest quality for this record to sound so good in the condition it's in after so many years. I would say the majority of the US 45s I have from the 70s are vastly inferior. Of course technology, in the form of CDs , digital compression and delivery et al have just continued the trend.)


Enjoy this stunning slice of Detroit soul by Don Hart & James Shorter NOW. You never know, it might be gone tomorrow.             


Don Hart & James Shorter - It's In My Mind 1967?


You can find it on this CD.                




PPS: Follow the Dust & Grooves link in my blogroll. For some reason it doesn't refresh when new posts are made. But a new post there is. Frank "Voodoo Funk" Gossner is featured. A great read and you HAVE TO listen to the Mary Afi Usuah track.  
    

And then there were three :(

Our household is feeling sad right now. We had to take one of our cats to the vet last night to be put to sleep.

Hank was a bit of a scraggy stray when she moved in on us seven or so years ago. Bigger than our other cats she was named Hank by our daughter after the baby in Jacqueline Wilson’s “Bed & Breakfast Star” – we had assumed Hank was a he initially). She became a very sweet and loving cat – a true lap cat. We love all our cats, but Hank was a real character.

The house is feeling a bit empty right now. 

RIP Hank.

Thelma Jones - Salty Tears 1976