The state of this little backwater of the Internet can be summed up by this record.
I bagged it at a car boot earlier this year and was very happy to do so. It is a great double sider and is in remarkably good condition considering it was sleeveless, and, more to the point, is a year older than me (actually, a few people say I am in remarkably good condition for my age. but I couldn’t possibly comment!). The circumstances of its discovery were satisfying too. I don’t frequent boot sales nearly as much as I used to, but it became obvious that the seller was something of a recent fixture as I became surrounded by a few scavengers that were obviously regulars. I was riffling through a couple of boxes of reggae singles, promising in itself but they were mostly trashed. A couple of people at least had already been through the box and a few singles had been pulled out already. I also pulled out a couple of reggae things, and this one. I knew it wasn’t reggae and in the back of my mind I had heard of the artists and guessed (right) that it was early R&B. The asking price for the reggae singles were typically £4 and north – because it was reggae, no doubt, you don’t come across it often in the wild, and the seller was clearly a fan – but I bagged this single for a couple of quid, maybe because he knew it wasn’t reggae. I got it home, cleaned it up, put it on the turntable, dropped the arm... and punched the air in delight. I then proceeded to play it at least three times in a row. And it was miles better than the two ‘blind’ reggae singles I bought.
There was a time at this here “publication” when you would have been aware of this fact within days, if not hours, of the event. But here’s the thing – this all happened months ago.
I did, however, publicise this event fairly quickly on a, now largely tumbleweed, record forum I still frequent; and I also put the single in a box of random 45s that was taken, at the next opportunity, to a local hostelry that puts on a monthly(ish) BYO vinyl session, and got it played. But I didn’t post it here until now, which is something of a puzzle. For that, I apologise. I know, I must try harder. *
I intend to explore further (i.e. bore you) in a subsequent post why it is I am not posting here more frequently nowadays – because I certainly have no shortage of records to share – but, for now, I will leave you with both sides of this rather excellent 45.
Gene Forrest and Eunice Russ Levy hailed from Texas and between 1954 (before the dawn of the Rock ‘n’ Roll era) and 1960 enjoyed a string of charting single successes, and were very popular in the US and the Caribbean. Popular in the UK too, enough for them to have eight UK releases, of which this was the first in November 1956. The copy of the single I found has long since lost its original tri-centre (possibly removed by someone who wanted to put it in their jukebox, but more likely by a DJ who was trying to intimate it was a US release), nevertheless the grooves still maintain their magic.
Gene And Eunice –I Gotta Go Home 1956
Gene And Eunice –Have You Changed Your Mind? 1956
* I have just discovered I uploaded the mp3s of this 45 back in June! So the intention to share, at least, was there.
