Get Your Groovy Self On Home

I'm watching the Elvis Presley movie "Speedway," bit by bit everyday until I get done. This morning I had the part that includes Nancy Sinatra's song "Your Groovy Self."

This is a cool sounding song, and the kids at the Speedway Hangout seemed to enjoy her performance. I always enjoy it too. I keep thinking, That's Frank Sinatra's daughter hanging out with Elvis Presley. Cool.

She had a rich and great recording career, maybe she still does. I'd love to have all her albums. I have a couple is all, I guess. The "Boots" LP and the "Nancy and Lee" album via a download from Amazon.

Then there's this track from "Speedway." At the Hangout, the guy in charge -- an old hip comedian kind of guy, who's hip to the music of today's youth -- shines a headlight on a random member of the crowd and they have to do something. The first time we saw it happen, it landed on Elvis. He did "Let Yourself Go." Then the next time it was Nancy. So we really lucked out, because if it had been truly random, we might spend the whole movie with bad karaoke performances waiting to get to the main stars.

If you don't know the song, "Your Groovy Self," do yourself a favor. Get it, love it, and live by it. Meaning, "Get your groovy self on home ... to me."

Which Way You Goin' Billy?

I was listening to the record "Which Way You Goin' Billy?" by The Poppy Family, featuring Susan Jacks.

I heard it a couple times tonight. It's a melancholy favorite.

It always reminds me of something (someone) I wrote about before ("Wonderful Summer" link). That would be the time I, as a teenager, walked with a cute teen girl up the path in the rain. But alas, we were separated by distance and time. I'm not pining after all these years, but the thought is still there.

Anyway, at the time she said her favorite song (or one of her favorite songs) was "Which Way You Goin' Billy." So it's impossible for me to hear that song without thinking of her and that rainy day. If you remember the "Wonderful Summer" article, and of course you don't, LOL, that was the time I collected the Gerber jar full of rain water and took it home.

I'm still curious -- very curious -- if that crazy thing might not still be in my parents' basement. Someday, and this is my vow, I'm going to go down to the basement of my old family home and look for it. What if I find it? That'll be crazy. I might also find a turtle corpse, because I know we brought one back from Missouri and it was crawling around in the basement for quite a while.

Ripping 45 RPM Records -- Part 2

My American Audio TT Record failed again today, although it could be there's just something wrong with the connection that the little memory card makes in its sheath. I can't diagnose the situation really without having another one to try.

It failed like this. I had it plugged in, I recorded a record, I checked it on the computer and there was nothing there, just a couple of approximately 42K files, not the much bigger files that should've resulted.

Anyway, enough of that. So I went to the extra effort to see if I could plug it into my computer directly. I wasn't overly familiar with the microphone jack controls, and actually hadn't seen them before, so I don't know where they came from all of a sudden. The long story short, I got it all plugged in and it worked. I was recording from the record player directly into the computer. Now I could monitor the recording process ... because I could see it.

I did a handful of records successfully, but haven't had much time to get them worked around. But I know it worked.

If I were going to buy something to do this with again, I would probably try one of the Sony turntables. I haven't checked them out but I usually have pretty good luck with Sony. I don't remember them being available when I bought this system. If they were, then I just missed them.

It's Tough To "Rip" A 45 RPM Record

How easy it is to rip CDs and come up with hundreds of tracks for your iPod or to play on the computer. It's quick and relatively pain free.

But try doing a 45 rpm record. It's free music, since you've already had the record for years, but it takes real effort. Today I did maybe 13 or 14 records.

One thing that's a headache is the record player I use to record these. It's a cheap model that you used to be able to get at Amazon. It's called an American Audio TT Record. There's no way to monitor it that it's actually working. So things can go wrong. You can think you're recording something, then you get the SD card to the computer and there's nothing on it. That happened a couple times. I don't know if it's really sensitive or what the problem is.

I've definitely got in the habit of double checking, making sure the record button is on. So that's not the problem.

But let's assume it works, which it usually does. Just recording the record on the card is only the beginning. It has to be edited, popfixed, amplified, one thing or another, then all the MP3 tagging, a cover picture, etc. It's like an endless process, as opposed to CD ripping. To rip 27 or 28 songs off a CD is a matter of minutes. To record the same amount off records is hours.

Of course you have to listen to the records in real time. It'd be nice to be able to record them 48x, then slow the track down (or have the computer do it for you). What would that be like? It'd be wild.

Once you get them done, it's a good thing. But getting them done is painful!

From Elvis In Memphis

I got the CD recently out, "Elvis In Memphis."

These are songs I already have, on the '60s box set as well as on the original records. They also put the "Back In Memphis" album together with it, since they're all the recordings Elvis made at American Recordings in Memphis in 1969.

The "Back In Memphis" album was originally together with a live record of Elvis at the International Hotel in Las Vegas.

At the time when these came out, I wasn't buying that many Elvis records, although I've had them now for decades. I was definitely noticing them somehow. I must've seen them in record stores. I was actually confused by it all. "Back in Memphis," "In Memphis," "From Vegas to Memphis," "From Memphis to Vegas," etc. I don't know if there were any other variations.

I couldn't really see the difference it made as to where he was and why they were making such a big deal about it. Just so they don't lose him. Since I never personally ran into him, whether he was in Memphis, Vegas, or Nashville didn't make any difference.

I can see the point now, that he was in a rut, then went back to his hometown to this legendary studio (at the time very successful) and put down some great tracks. Even so, I wasn't tuned in, so I didn't really realize how great the tracks were till a few years ago when I got the '60s box set. Now I love the songs.

And I'm very happy that Elvis had this high point -- some stuff to be really proud of.

This set is nice. The songs are in the order they were released on the LPs, plus there's bonus tracks, to give at least one take of each of the songs he recorded. It seems, though, that something's missing. Like the stereo versions of some of the songs, like "Suspicious Minds," "Kentucky Rain," etc. These are represented only by the mono versions. I'm no expert in these things, but I believe the versions on the '60s box set would be stereo. And I'm also thinking the versions on the "Elvis #1 Singles" box set are also the stereo versions. Don't hold me to that.

The pictures are nice in the "Memphis" CD set (2 CDs), the booklet has some good notes, there's a nice plastic slip case to put the cardboard set in. I like it. It was $13.88 at Walmart.

Los Lonely Boys -- 1969

I got this EP at Amazon, MP3 downloads. It was only 99 cents today, which sounds cheap enough, eh?

Of course it only has five songs on it, but it's a good one. I'm old. I like the songs, especially "Polk Salad Annie."

I've never had anything by "Los Lonely Boys" before. In part, just because that's the way it is. And in part, because they played a song by them at a funeral for a friend of mine one time. So it's hard (impossible) for me to hear their name and not think of this guy's funeral. There's a lesson in that. Don't ever play a song at a funeral that you ever want to hear again!

Songs are: Evil Ways, Well Alright, She Came In Through the Bathroom Window, Polk Salad Annie, and Roadhouse Blues.

I'm Your New Commander, You Now Are My Prisoner

The other day I got the soundtrack of "Rocky Horror" from the Roxy Theater. 1974, I believe.

I like hearing it. Since I've heard the movie soundtrack so many times that there's nothing left to hear (and I still love it.)

The Roxy one is of course different. And I haven't heard it enough to know all the differences. It's all nice as far as I'm concerned. I don't care for the Brad song in the middle, which I don't even remember the title to, the one that didn't make the movie. So I keep skipping it -- whether it's the movie soundtrack album or this one.

An interesting snippet I heard tonight while at the exercise place -- well, I heard the whole "Rose Tints My World" song. The interesting snippet of this is where Riff Raff says, "Frank N. Furter, it's all over, your mission is a failure," etc. He almost sounds like Little Richard on one part. It's very boisterous and soulful, as compared to the movie's more metallic, driving version.

My Doctor Zhivago Update

I must be about finished with Doctor Zhivago, watching it. I'm on the second tape and it seems like it's getting close to the end.

I also got the soundtrack record today at a thrift store. Honestly, I suppose I have the record already in the basement, but I was at the thrift store, there was a very nice copy for 50 cents, so I got it.

I've never heard the soundtrack record before today ... even though I've known I had it over the years. The front cover never appealed to me, but that was all before I ever saw the movie and really zeroed in on it. I would always glance at the picture of Geraldine Chaplin on the left side and it never appealed to me. Looks like a guy about to kiss a baby seal.

It's funny, I never really looked at the cover at all .... really looked at it. The thing is I'm never interested in soundtrack albums of movies I haven't seen. So I can look at them a million times in thrift stores and recognize them without ever really zeroing in on them. The same thing was true of the "Music Man" soundtracks -- Broadway and film. Now that I've seen the movie, I look at them carefully.

As to the movie, I like it OK. But I don't think anyone could trudge across that frozen tundra and not freeze to death, but hey, I got severely chilled tonight just taking my dog out. And it's not below freezing.

Records I Heard Today

I got a box of 45s at a garage sale last Saturday. For the most part, they didn't have sleeves. Yet they weren't in uniformly terrible condition (some were). Some buffed up pretty nice.

The best record in the box, in my opinion, was a Buddy Holly and the Crickets one (Brunswick, "Oh Boy"). But there were other good ones, some country ones (for the most part), and a few rock ones that were good.

I got a Slim Whitman Imperial 45 ("Indian Love Call"), and that record is very noisy. Not that it's beat, but it seems to be a pressing issue. Like they did a really poor job making it.

I wanted to just mention the ones I heard today, which I also made MP3s of.

Bobby Bare - Detroit City; Ernest Tubb - Another Story; Jim Reeves - This Is It; Jody Reynolds - Endless Sleep. I had never heard this record, even though it made it to #5 in the '50s. I see he has lots of songs at Amazon, so it's kind of weird that I'm not familiar with him. I believe I've seen the name a time or two over the years. But that's it. It's a cool song, and the flip, "Tight Carpis" is cool too. In the box there were two copies of this record, the U.S. Demon Records issue as well as an English pressing on London Records. I recorded the London one. The "Endless Sleep" has an interesting story, with the guy's girlfriend in the sea, apparently dead, and he seems to get the call to come join her in her endless sleep. But then he finds her and things turn out OK.

Some miscellaneous country 45s, including artists, Johnny and Jack, Johnny and Jonie Mosby, Kitty Wells; a cool Nat Stuckey record "Sweet Thang/Paralyze My Mind." I really like "Paralyze My Mind"; a Red Sovine 45 "I Didn't Jump the Fence" (this one is slightly off center so I never could get a perfect recording of it.); Stonewall Jackson "B.J. the D.J." (in bad shape, a fairly crappy song. I heard it just once, but the story seems to be a kid who goes to be a disk jockey, he never gets enough sleep, and he ends up in a fatal accident. Ha ha.)

Tab Hunter "Young Love/Red Sails in the Sunset." The word "turgid" comes to mind. What a horrible record. Lifeless; Tammy Wynette "Soakin' Wet,"(this is the B side, which I like better than the A side. Her tears are always dry, but her heart is soakin' wet. What a wild idea!); "Back In School Again" by Timmie "Oh Yeah" Rogers (this one is badly warped but playable. Again, I like the flip side better, "I've Got a Dog Who Loves Me." That's a wild one. His dog loves him but his woman don't. He thinks about feeding her dog food instead of steak.)

Minnie Pearl "Giddyup Go-Answer." This is an "answer" song to another record I got in the box, Red Sovine's "Giddyup Go." I believe it was written by the same guy, at least half the writing team, Tom T. Hall. "Giddyup Go" is a ridiculous song (to me), about an idiot who's so devoted to truck driving that he's on the road for six years at a time (LOL). He has a wife and kid at home. The kid named dad's truck "Giddyup Go." The man shows up after six years and his wife and kid are gone. The next time he sees his kid, it's a surprise, because he's all grown up with a truck of his own, called "Giddyup Go."

Minnie Pearl's answer song tells the story from the other angle. The Mom was sick, that's why she left their home, to go to a drier climate. She didn't leave a trace, for whatever reason, then settled in Phoenix. Years passed. Then the son was to be a truck driver, so he left town. The narrator is there "just now" as the glad reunion of father and son from "Giddyup Go" is described from her perspective.

My Red Sovine Autographed Record

Hey, I got part of my Red Sovine wish. One day we were heading into a thrift store and I honestly said I wished I could find some Red Sovine records. But I didn't find any.

Then just the other day, Saturday, I was at a garage sale and bought a box of 45s, approximately 10 inches worth, just records in a box without sleeves (mostly). I made a mad dash through them later and stuck paper towels between them to minimize any damage. I picked a few out and just left the others in the box to examine later.

Today I was picking out a few and this was one of them. Red Sovine - "Giddyup Go" and "Kiss and the Keys," Starday 737.

The strangest thing to realize was that it was actually signed by Red Sovine. So I checked on the internet for a couple examples of Red Sovine autographs and they more or less matched this one. Real close. Which was a cool thing.

I've only listened to it once, each side. "Giddyup Go" is the strange story of a truck driver, whose kid names his dad's truck "Giddyup Go." But one time the dad comes home and the mom and kid aren't there anymore. He must not be too curious about what happened to them, because he's back on the road. Then years later he sees another truck that says "Giddyup Go" on the back of it. And it turns out to be his son as a truck driver. (I think that's what happens. I heard it once.)

If I'm the kid I might say, "Dad, all this time between the time I was a kid and a truck driver, couldn't you have been at least curious enough to look for me?" Twerp.

The other side, "Kiss and the Keys," is peppy and singing. ("Giddyup" is kind of a narration thing, like Red Sovine did with "Teddy Bear.") I can't remember much about "Kiss" except it ends up with a woman jailer falling for a prisoner, who seeks a "Kiss and the Keys."

I'm happy to have this record.

Wonderful Summer

There's an old song (1963) that I love, "Wonderful Summer" by Robin Ward.

"I want to thank you for giving me the most wonderful summer of my life. It was so heavenly, you meant the world to me. And anyone could see that I was so in love."

Beautiful song. But it's not one that you can buy an MP3 for, it appears. I remember Dic Youngs on KIOA (Des Moines) saying he used to be neighbors with Robin Ward, lived across the street from him wherever he lived at the time. So he'd play it and it made it extra sentimental.

I'm a big romantic at heart, all that teenage weirdness about falling in love and being sentimental about it. Little keepsakes. A broken heart when we have to part.

One time my family went down by Branson and stayed at a resort and there was a girl about my age. She and I walked up the path, up a hill, and I believe we sat there for a while. I have one isolated souvenir of this event, which is a tiny article I wrote about her in a newspaper in 1971. I just looked it up because I didn't remember her name.

Incredibly the little article tells the name of the resort that her parents ran, her first and last name, and her brother's name. But it doesn't tell about us walking up the path on that rainy day. I believe I took home a baby food jar full of the rain water. (I believe I did? -- I know I did, LOL, but it's long gone, unless it's in my parents' basement somewhere after all these years. What would a 40 year old jar of water be like?)

The year was 1968 or '69 when this happened. Then the newspaper article in '71. Then after high school I hitchhiked down to the area, not to see her, but I was just passing through with a hitchhiking friend. But I couldn't resist, and I don't remember what happened exactly. It seems like I saw her at a restaurant with an open front, but I really don't remember. Maybe she was with some guy on a motorcycle. It doesn't seem like she knew me or cared to know me. My imagination's failing me at this point.

Anyway, I've always loved that song, "Wonderful Summer," not because of this girl.

But thinking about it -- and maybe Robin Ward knew this -- the lesson about such things is this: Never go back! Ever!

Mike Deasy

Here's a guy I never heard of before, that I know of, but he played guitar on a lot of famous records. I came across his page at Facebook. His name is Mike Deasy.

Here's a page of some of the records he's on.

These include: Nancy Sinatra "Boots"; The Beach Boys "Pet Sounds"; The Monkees (multiple albums); Elvis "Double Trouble" and the '68 TV special; Richard Harris, the one with MacArthur Park; Tiny Tim "God Bless Tiny Tim;" Paul Revere & The Raiders "Spirit of '67", and Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart "It's All Happening On The Inside," where, on my copy of that, it looks like he's thanked as "Mike Dacey," unless there was another guy named Mike Dacey.

And there's bunches more!

I think it's safe to say a couple things about Mr. Deasy. 1) He must have been (and probably still is) a fantastic guitar player. I assume you have to be pretty good to be a session guy. 2) He must have been well known that all these recording artists were ringing him up. Or do session guys hang out on a street corner waiting for a group to drive by to hire him for a session? I doubt it.

I wish I knew how to play guitar reasonably well. I should've practiced, but I didn't. And when I did I didn't really improve.

As for these albums, I don't have the Elvis "Double Trouble" soundtrack. It seems hard (or expensive) to get. But I have the DVD and it's OK. (Any fault with the songs as songs wouldn't be Mike's fault.) I like the Elvis movies where Elvis is part of a band or is a club singer, which of course is most of them.

I just got the "Spirit of '67" on CD the other day for the first time. I've had the LP for quite a while but it's beat. So Mike's on there. But they didn't credit who was really playing on a lot of these records. Same thing with the Monkees, although on the CDs Rhino has the musicians listed where they're known.

As for "Pet Sounds" I wonder if Mike has any stories about Brian Wilson. And the same for Tiny Tim.

Barry Manilow Live On Broadway

I got a double LP today of Barry Manilow live on Broadway. That's the title but it was recorded in Chicago, so I guess they have a Broadway there too.

There's a Barry fan in the family. I like him OK, have seen him in concert, I wish him well ... he's just never been my favorite. He knows his stuff about music though, no one can deny that.

Anyway, I have this double LP and I'm trying to make MP3s out of it. It looks to be in perfect condition, but I'm getting this with LPs these days. That there's an occasional skip or serious pop. And I'm going way out of my way to get the things cleaned up. I'm even feeling them like a blind person reading braille trying to find this stuff before I start recording.

Already I've had to go in and do some pop fixing, automatically and manually, to clean up a couple spots. A mint record isn't necessarily so! There's too many places for vinyl gremlins to hide. It seems like it's an epidemic. I don't remember this problem 40 years ago, so I don't know what's changed. Maybe the dirt is just more deeply ingrained.

I made one big boo boo. I was recording side 2, I thought, but then when I got to the end it appeared that I didn't hit the record button. This has happened a few times, so I don't know ... I need to make sure it's going. That meant going through side 2 a whole second time, which I left to itself and took the dog to the park. There were no skips the first time through so I figured it could make it OK the second time.

The last side is a medley of Barry's hits, and it's the longest side. A huge medley, like the biggest medley you've ever heard.

Herman's Hermits - 2

No comments on particular tracks tonight.

I've been listening to some just as background noise, albeit in my headphones, which puts it right there. But I can also do other things and essentially space it out ... except of course it's sinking in and the more familiar I get with the various tracks the more I'm likely to like them.

I've been thinking about rearranging the tracks by U.S. albums and was looking at some discography information toward that end. But then in looking at the fine print of where the songs were when originally put out on record, any albums are the U.K. albums, I believe in order. But over they they did a lot more with E.P.s and singles, so there's stretches where it's an EP or the single A & B, and I guess if it was an album track, the album order prevails. I haven't got it entirely figured out. Plus the print is pretty small!

I definitely do prefer albums in their entirety to compilation albums, for some artists anyway. Some I prefer the Greatest Hits ... like Garth Brooks, let's say, but not for most.

But like I said, I was listening to the tracks without paying a lot of attention to them -- like I like this or I don't like this -- and doing that everything sounds very pleasant. I love Peter Noone's voice, but I guess it might start to wear on a guy if you listened to all 121 songs in a row.

Socko The Smallest Snowball

If you go to bellsisters.com they have a recording they, The Bell Sisters, did with Spike Jones, "Socko the Smallest Snowball." The flip side of the single is "Barnyard Christmas."

I was going through some records today and found my copy of this (RCA Victor Y-461) and couldn't locate another picture of the sleeve online.

So I thought I'd upload it so it'll be represented! This was just taken with my camera so it doesn't look perfectly square.

It's the size of a 10" 78 rpm record.

Some Vinyl Oldies

I got a new record player, and it's called an American Audio TT Record.

It plays records like normal but it's also got a USB plug in and copies a record (LP or 45) directly to an MP3 file. Then you plug the memory stick into your computer and you can do what you want with the files.

I got it yesterday and have done a number of tracks, including a five-LP set of oldies from the '60s (for the most part). Fairly short albums since it was 52 tracks all together. They sounded pretty good since the records were in very nice condition.

Today I did several 45s, getting some B sides off of some of them, since for a lot of A sides I have a CD track. However, many of the oldies off the five-LP set were ones I have on CD, but I had different thoughts about it yesterday. At this point I'm seeing it as time consuming when they're clearly the same songs. Another however: There's kind of a charm in hearing even a tiny bit of surface noise back there.

For a lot of these I was running them through another program to cut them into tracks with quiet beginnings and endings. Then all the tagging. This stuff becomes time consuming. So for the one I did today, for the most part, I just recorded them directly and skipped worrying about the beginnings and endings. That cut down some time. Also if you forget taking pops and clicks out, unless they're extremely egregious, that saves time.

The record player has limited controls. One button stops the turntable spinning, instantly. That's nice. One button is the record button and you push it again to stop recording. I can't give a full review, but I've been thinking about it. I think it'd sure be nice to have a remote for this, so I'm not always pushing buttons right on the thing. Because some little bit of sound is picked up when you touch it.

It doesn't have any controls for changing the kbps. I saw it was 192-256 in the place I bought it, Amazon. But when I started using it I was wondering how I was supposed to get 256. It turns out you need to go to their website and download a 256 update, which you install by plugging it in the USB port. They have instructions. The player comes with a USB memory stick, which for some unknown reason would not work to do the update. It just sat there stuck in some kind of flashing light loop. But I tried a different memory source, a flash card for my camera, and it updated in about five seconds. This whole process, taking a half hour, caused me some anxiety, but I was glad when it was accomplished.

I have another source of anxiety, which is the skipping record. The first album I tried skipped like a schoolgirl. And I thought, Oh no. But everything else has been pretty good. Some skips, of course, but I believe it's the record's fault. Because some of my records skipped in the same places on my old record player. But on this one it makes it through most of the bad places.

Still, if you're not monitoring it fairly faithfully, one can slip by. And you'll discover it on your iPod somewhere down the line.

I was ambitious and wanted to record my vinyl copy of Hendrix's "Electric Ladyland." I have one that looks beat, the cover, like it's had water damage and I don't know what all. It looks like it's been through several gang fights. But the records are somehow in pretty clean, very clean condition. I listened to it a couple times late last year or around January on my old record player and it didn't skip, which I expected it to.

So today I started it, recording whole sides rather than sitting there trying to parse it out into tracks. (It does make some small noise when you're trying to do that.) I did Side A, then Side D, then Side B, and it skipped right at the beginning of Side B. I picked it up and examined it and didn't see anything, kind of rubbed the spot lightly. Then tried it again with the recording function off, and it made it through. So I recorded it, without further incident. (I still might be surprised down the road, because I left the room a few times, once for close to four or five minutes, so I have no way of knowing yet if the whole thing made it.)

When listening to this LP earlier on, though, it sounded better than the CD, like grainier in a nice way. So I now have it on my iPod, not spaced in tracks, but as four LP sides. I listened to Side C, my favorite, and it sounded great. Rich, with a few charming bits of surface noise, including a few tiny crackles toward the end. No skips though.

I'm happy with the record player so far.

A New Record Player

I have a new record player coming, to be delivered sometime this week.

This is a different kind of record player. I don't know if you can hook it up to an amplifier and simply listen to it, but I'm assuming you can. I took one look at it online and knew I wanted one (needed one?)

It has a USB slot where you plug in a memory thing -- are they called a memory stick? -- and you put the needle on the record, push a button, and it records the track or album directly there. No need for a computer, and apparently no need to adjust the volume, etc.

My current record player is getting old. I haven't changed the needle (cartridge, whatever it's called, stylus) since I got it used over 10 years ago. But I haven't been playing it non stop either. But I think it needs changed, only I'm no good about knowing precisely what to replace it with.

My current record layer seems to have a terrible problem with skipping. I've been playing records most of my life and I don't remember records skipping so darned often, so I think it might be something wrong with it and not the records.

I've recently been experimenting, and actually doing some recording of tracks on to an MP3 recorder. But there's no good way of adjusting the volume. So it's been hit or miss. Then with the record player skipping about every fourth track, it's disappointing to get 90% of the way through a song and have it go directly to the end without passing Go and without collecting $200. I'm tearing out the last sprigs of hair I've got.

When I get this new one, I'll be curious if these same records will skip. And I have one or two in mind, to see how they do. I'm thinking they'll be OK.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to it getting here. I plan to post how well I like it. And I'll put the name of the system at that time, because I really don't remember what it's called, and don't want to take the time right now to look it up.

Paisleys - Cosmic Mind At Play

This LP, "Cosmic Mind At Play" by The Paisleys, I used to have. I got it one time at Goodwill in the early '80s, the original rare one, not a reissue. I made a cassette tape of it and sold the LP. I didn't know at the time that there'd be any demand for it, since I'd never heard of them, but I had several people who wanted it, and as I recall it sold for a fairly good price. Not as good as it could've sold for, since I didn't know anything about it or how much they'd want it.

I still have the cassette and have heard it a few times over the years. When I recorded it I accidentally recorded side 2 first, so that's the order I know the album by.

I've been messing around with an MP3 recorder that I've had since September of last year. But it suddenly occurred to me that I could plug it into a cassette player and record some of these cassettes off. Actual rare things, like family recordings, etc., and have a more secure copy on the hard drive or DVD and be able to make copies of things like that.

But then I was thinking, What about that old Paisleys' LP? So I did that tonight. And there it is on my computer, with all the terrible cracks and pops that go with some LPs, like this one was obviously in the VG condition range.

Then in checking around to get the titles and things, I noticed you can get this on CD for a little bit of nothing. (I saw that a few years ago but didn't do anything about it.) So I ordered it right away ... tonight. And look forward to it getting here. I could listen to this poppy LP recording, but the CD comes with some bonus tracks and it'll be nice to hear the album without a lot of noise.

Frank Sinatra

There's an interesting article on Frank Sinatra today online. I gotta say, I forget that Frank Sinatra has actual fans who are eager to hear whatever else there is left of his recorded output. It just doesn't occur to me in an ongoing way that they're out there. But God bless 'em, there they are.

So the article is a reminder, because I've heard it before but just space it off. It's definitely not my world to dwell in but theirs. To them he's The Voice, the greatest of the century, etc. The writer of this particular column even calls out Elvis, like Elvis might pretend to be the greatest of the century in the face of Frank. To me, personally, Elvis was a lot better than Frank, but I'm aware that I'm perpetually biased in Elvis' direction because of listening to him from my childhood.

As far as Frank was concerned, he was a guy that adults liked but seemed like an old guy by the time I paid any attention to him. And he had all those apparent unsavory connections that cemented it in my mind that he was someone I wouldn't want to be associated with. This is '60s and '70s stuff. I remember reading my grandmother's movie magazines about Frank and Mia Farrow, all that, and so he just didn't appeal to me.

But since then I've acquired a few Frank Sinatra CDs and have given him numerous shots. I've enjoyed them too, I must say. But really after a certain point it's just cranking out the same and more of the same, generic whatever with his own particular phrasing. Crystal clear, yes, but antiseptic and detached. There's not enough psychology in it. Reminds me of Bing Crosby who recorded songs on the golf course, then when he had that unpleasant task over with, got back to what he really wanted to do, which was play golf.

It's an interesting reminder, that there are all these songs out there, and that Frank's people are releasing them at a rate of one a year with another "Greatest Hits" collection that all his diehard fans already have. I like the column's point that in 12 to 13 years they might have an entire album of new material. Funny. It makes you wonder how someone could even become a Frank Sinatra completist now. You'd be scouring the earth forever to get all these tracks that are probably put out as limited editions, etc.

There's certain artists who have certain fans who don't give up their records easily. Which is why you hardly ever see a Frank Zappa record or CD in Goodwill. (They are there once in a while, but rarely.) Then you have all those ones that adults loved in the '50s and '60s but no one has loved since, and they're a dime a dozen, like Billy Vaughn, Englebert, Herb Alpert, and countless local, generic religious groups.

I'm rambling, but let me offer this point. You cannot be a self-respecting Goodwill store without at least five Herb Alpert records in stock at all times! And as for these countless local, generic religious groups of the past, you could collect them literally forever and still only have a tiny portion of the total output. The Happy Johnsons, The Server Sisters, The Lundstroms, the list is endless.

Let me conclude with one other point about Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley. Whichever one is "best," one thing is true of each. Their estates and companies wish they had worked these guys like dogs when they were alive. They should have shown up every morning with a stack of demos and said you guys aren't leaving this room till you've recorded at least 12 songs a day.

Always A Sad Sight

This is always a sad sight for a record collector or Elvis Presley fan, to have the rare sight of an Elvis 78 at a garage sale, then to have it be broken.

I've seen it before and it's one of my biggest disappointments. Once I went to a sale and there was two or three and only one of them was broken, which is still a drag.

The other day I went to a garage sale and there was just this one -- Hound Dog/Don't Be Cruel -- and wouldn't you know it? A piece missing. There were several other 78s that weren't broken at all ... but this one had to be!

It's a bad picture but you can tell it doesn't look like that great of condition anyway, and it wasn't. But if it was entirely there I would have bought it anyway, assuming it wasn't $50 or something.