It would have been nice to have found some records in thrifts and antique malls (truly in the wild) but I wasn't going out of my way to seek these out as digging was very much a secondary motive for our holiday and, besides, it wouldn't have been fair on Mrs Darce. The fact is we came across very few thrifts or antique malls. I did get a bit twitchy driving from Natchez to New Orleans when, on the outskirts of Baton Rouge, we passed what looked like a very large car boot sale (or whatever they are called in the States). But I couldn't inflict a browse around that on Mrs Darce, and I was also conscious we needed to return the hire car to New Orleans airport by a certain time. The French Quarter was our planned base in New Orleans and we had decided to rely on our legs and public transport for getting around in the city. As we were in The French Quarter and its immediate surroundings we did not see a single thrift as far as I recall.
The rest of the records I'm going to feature here all came from the same record shop in New Orleans - Euclid. One that had been on my radar for some years and was definitely on the NOLA itinerary.
Here is an early one from The O'Jays. The label maybe difficult to read as it so worn, but this 45 is over sixty years old now. The group started out as The Mascots in 1958 but changed their name to the O'Jays in 1961 in tribute to a Cleveland DJ Eddie O'Jay who played their third single Miracles a lot on the radio and also gave the group advice. This fact I have just learned from their Discogs summary page.
This one dates to 1963 when Soul as a distinct genre was starting to form out of the primordial soup of Rhythm & Blues, Doo Wop, Gospel and Pop. The A side has a distinct Pop feel but I particularly like the B side (as did someone who marked the label with an X), it has elements of Doo Wop and Pop, but the Soul is coming through strong in the vocals.
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