2010 - the final analysis

Another year almost done.

This year I took it upon myself to list everything I bought at charity shops, car boot sales and second hand shops. (But not ebay, specialist record shops, or record fairs – where, of course, I spend all the more serious money!).   

In the final analysis I would appear to have bought 137 pieces of vinyl (plus 168 singles I bought in one hit at a boot sale). The total outlay on all these was £110.55 and I have since sold a handful for a total return of £49.38 (I have a breakdown of purchase venues and condition of records too – after alI, I am male, and lists is what I do!). So £60 is not a bad outlay for the thrill of the chase and the pile of vinyl that has been acquired.

Here at Feel It over the course of the year I have recounted some of my digging stories, and shared some of the music found. To round off the year, and feed my withdrawal symptoms now we are in the car boot sale close season, here is one more tale. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this one before, apologies if I have.

If you are a regular around here you will know that I am a fan of Judy White, a lady blessed with as soulful a voice as you could wish for. I’ve written about her before and Judy herself wrote a comment on one of my posts! Judy released a handful of singles in the late Sixties. I only have a couple of her singles (the best though, I think) but I am always on the look out for others. Previous research on Judy led me to her father, Josh White. It’s fair to say that, although Josh was better known than Judy, neither were ever anything approaching household names, especially here in the UK.The Judy White connection led to me to pick up a couple of her father’s albums along the way out of curiosity. For the most part I’ve found his work a bit too folksy for my liking, but nevertheless it seems I still end up buying a Josh White record if I see one. 

So it was one day last July at a boot fair I bought another one of Josh’s albums – an early Sixties compilation. Then about 20 minutes later, on another stall at the same fair, what did I find? A single featuring Judy! None of her singles were ever released in the UK and it’s the first time I have ever found one of her singles “in the wild”. It didn’t look in good shape and I probably would have passed on it if I hadn’t known it featured Judy White.

The Rudy of “Rudy and Judy” credited on this single is in fact Rudolph Isley, a singer I also hold in high regard. It can’t be said that either side of this single are strong songs, and as good a singer as Rudolph Isley is it’s when Judy White joins in that the tracks are lifted above the mediocre.       

So a family affair of a story, and a major coincidence that will stick in my memory.

After all that I’m not going to post the Rudy & Judy single for two reasons: 1) it’s a bit too scratchy and 2) I fear a takedown as somebody had put it on YouTube but it has since been removed.      

Instead listen to this:

Happy New Year to you.

PS: I’m off to celebrate my birthday , and passing 200,000 hits on this blog.

RIP Lady T

I’ve just caught up with some sad news - Teena Marie has died. She was only 54 years old.      

Mary (her real name) had a truly special and supremely soulful voice. It seems whatever song she was singing, happy or sad, she had the ability to move me to tears.

I had a Teena Marie evening on YouTube only last week, and now she is no longer with us. I can’t quite believe it.

RIP Lady T.

... let's pull another one

Let's pull another cracker together.


Merry Christmas to you all.


Benny Latimore - Let's Move And Groove Together  1968 ( I think) 




Buy The Early Years

Crackers

A couple of days ago I was tempted to open our box of Christmas crackers and pull them all. I needed a very small screwdriver to adjust a very small screw. The sort of screwdriver that you sometimes get in a Christmas cracker – occasionally, if you are lucky, as part of a whole set of screwdrivers enclosed in their very own little case. I knew there were at least two of these cracker screwdriver sets around the house somewhere from previous cracker pulling festivities, but of course, when I needed one, they were nowhere to be found. No doubt buried at the bottom of one those drawers full of junk (yes you have one, everyone has at least one) that you open and close again immediately thinking “one day I must really tidy that up”. So it crossed my mind about raiding this year’s crackers but in the end I resisted the temptation as my life wouldn’t have been worth living come Christmas Day around the dinner table. (In the end I was very impressed that my mother-in-law knew immediately where to lay her hands on one when I mentioned my plight – her ancient sewing machine came up trumps as it had a screwdriver of just the right size hiding in its toolkit).

That little episode got me thinking about Christmas crackers.

The Christmas cracker: entirely dependable but unpredictable at the same time. The dependability comes from the content – a paper hat, a silly joke... and a naff novelty item, which also offers the degree of unpredictability.

So here is Feel It’s version of a Christmas cracker. I dipped my hand into a box of records – a box of soul/funk records, so there’s the dependability - and pulled one at random, so there’s the unpredictability.

Nothing naff about it though, I hope you will agree, and the title fits too!

Juanita Williams – You Knew What You Were Gettin’ 1965

Juanita Williams – Some Things You Never Get Used To 1965

Available on Girls Of Golden World.

More Chicago magic

Another great Windy City record. This should have been a massive hit.

Marvin Smith signed to Brunswick with the intention of being a solo artist but went into the recording studio with The Artistics who he had already been knocking around with. An initial recording session produced “I’m Gonna Miss You” released on The Artistics, “Time Stopped” and ”Have More Time” and the record featured here, released as Marvin Smith but with The Artistics also on the tracks. You can hunt down the other tracks mentioned on YouTube and realise what a recording session that was!   

Marvin Smith – Fading Memories 1967

The Holidays have come early

Derek’s Daily 45 has just featured a single by The Holidays on the strikingly colourful Revilot label. Revilot is one of my favourite label designs, and The Holidays are a great example of the Detroit sound.

So in an attempt to fill up your blogrolls with pictures of that great Revilot label here’s another one from The Holidays. This 45 was released only about 9 months after the one featured by Derek.

This is another 45 I took as commission for selling some of a work colleague’s records recently. The label on this 45 is absolutely pristine (as is the vinyl)  and it’s difficult to believe the record is 43 years old.  

You can read much more about The Holidays here.

The Holidays – I Know She Cares (mp3) 1967

Keeping warm

Hey, we’re not used to all this snow in UK, especially in November. Haven’t got much dahn souf yet if truth be told, but it sure is cold! The cold is getting to everything it seems.The internet connection has been a bit flaky tonight (again). More worrying though is the turntable which is once again dropping a channel now and then – dodgy cartridge connections I think. I think it may have to go to the repair man soon. Oh no! Can I live without vinyl? (Well, I can always look at it, and caress it, I suppose).  

  

I dug Barrabas’ 1974 album out of my collection earlier this year (or was it last year) and copied it onto CD. It’s been getting a lot of plays in the car recently. I remember having a soft spot for it back in the 70s but it had been tucked away unplayed for years. I’ve decided it’s something of a forgotten classic, and it certainly kept me warm on the trip into work today (I wimped out and left the bike in the shed).

The front cover of this album gives The Dramatics "Dramatically Yours" a run for its money in the grotesque and disturbing stakes, so I thought I would show the back cover instead which, incidentally, shows that The Waters provided the  beautiful background vocals on this album. Barrabas' sound had some similarities with that of Santana's. But whereas Santana always had a foot firmly planted in rock territory, Barrabas had a much funkier and soulful vibe, which was further emphasised by The Waters on this album.        

Barrabas – Funky Baby 1974

Barrabas – Lady Love 1974