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Hi Sorry Staters. How are things? Mustn’t grumble right? We all could run down a shopping list of woes most weeks, but nobody wants to hear that, so we’ll just assume and pretend that the world is doing great despite the evidence to the contrary and keep calm and carry on.
This past week was both Mardi Gras and Saint Valentine’s Day. I didn’t celebrate the latter but had fun spinning some funk and soul records from New Orleans to mark Fat Tuesday on the radio show I do. Here at the store, there has been plenty to keep my mind occupied and stimulated music wise. We’ve been getting lots of cool records across a wide spectrum of genres. Personally, I listen to and enjoy all sorts of stuff and can easily switch from punk to bluegrass to funk to hip-hop to disco to jazz to prog to psych and back again. Depending on my mood of course. But variety is the spice of life as they say.
This week Daniel and I bought a bunch of 70s, 80s and 90s soul, funk, disco and pop records from a nice lady whose husband had been a DJ. We managed to find a few interesting and fun things. A lot of Prince. Some Madonna rarities. A lot of picture sleeve 12” singles and a few cool electro boogie singles from the early 80s. I have been particularly digging that latter genre recently. I’m finding more and more great tracks on singles and albums from that period that I either wasn’t aware of or had overlooked. Particularly pleasing for my point of view is that for the most part these records aren’t too expensive or out of reach. Sure, there are plenty of electro and disco records that command top dollar, and rightfully so, because they are brilliant and/or rare, but most records made during this era were pressed in the thousands, tens of thousands, millions even. Meaning that they are out there and findable. These days it seems a lot of music lovers and record collectors are putting too much concentration on the holy grails and ignoring the low hanging fruit. They could be feasting but choose to go hungry. Ha.
However, I get how the appeal of a 12” single isn’t shared by all. Just like a 7” single, especially without a picture sleeve, some folks just find them too much work to appreciate and when digging for records too daunting and overwhelming. It’s true, you do have to put more effort into playing singles and in that respect it’s why 12” singles ultimately ended as they began, as a DJ tool. It’s in that original concept of creation that you find the magic. Much better sound (usually), extended mixes, remixes, dub mixes, instrumentals, acapella versions and maybe an exclusive track. For Deejays they’re obviously perfect, but for fans and collectors just as desirable and essential in my opinion.
As I write this piece it is Sunday and minutes to deadline, so I had better get on with it. We had a great Friday and Saturday at the shop whilst I was working and honestly, I got rocked on Saturday. I counted over thirty people at once in the store a few times and it was busy almost the entire time, although with little lulls. Anyone who works retail knows what I mean. One minute the place is packed and then it’s like a bell goes off and everyone checks out at once and the place empties. Quiet for a moment and then off we go again. I love that we were able to make so many people happy with their purchases. Records aren’t just groceries or pharmacy items; they are life itself and represent the most important things in our existence. Seeing the pleasure in people’s eyes when they are getting a cool record and talking to them about it is absolutely the best feeling for me and why I do this.
There were so many stories like that this week. It’s so cool and why record stores are to be loved and cherished. To coin the title from the book on Bomp! which succinctly puts it “saving the world one record at a time”. Greg Shaw is an American hero just like Billy Miller at Norton and music lovers owe so much to them both. They’re certainly my heroes. Both backed it should be noted by amazing women partners. There might be something in that old saying. Ha! Looks like it works well for people I know and I sure as hell do not know how to look after myself, but that’s another story. Going back to the 12” singles, a lot of those did make our shoppers happy and so I feel good about that, and it backs up my feelings on the subject. If you are reading this and are local, there are still lots more goodies to be found and I still have a small batch left to process that will hit the floor next week.
As for me, I too had a record moment over the weekend. I’m literally about to be buried in records and certainly not short of anything to listen to at home or at the store, but did finally cross a long time want off the list. One of our friends brought in a small but interesting and varied collection of records to sell and both Jeff and I found something we had coveted for years amongst them. This particular dude always brings us good shit. As do many of our cool friends. We thank you all and are glad that we can provide a place where your treasures can be passed on to others to enjoy and help us keep the lights on and put a few bucks in your pocket at the same time. You may hear from Jeff or Daniel about the record that they both wanted, but the one that made my eyes light up was the soundtrack to the 1970 film Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls. Released by 20th Century Fox, directed by Russ Meyer and written by Roger Ebert.
This cult movie has been well documented over the years in articles and podcasts and deserves a deep dive if you are unfamiliar. The story behind it all is quite fascinating. I would highly recommend you watch the movie first and foremost if you haven’t already. Not to give away too may spoilers, it’s a terrific kitschy spoof follow up to the 1967 hit film Valley Of The Dolls that tells a similar tale of three young women coming to Hollywood in search of fame, this time as musicians in a groovy rock band. Given free reign by the studio, who only demanded it be made as cheaply as possible and that it pushed the R rating to an X, director Russ Meyer, he of Vixen, Mudhoney, Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! and many more cult classics, along with Chicago Sun-Times film critic turned screenplay writer Roger Ebert, put everything plus the kitchen sink into the picture. It’s got it all: sex, drugs, music, violence, satire, all in glorious 1970 color with everyone dressed mod and groovy. The violence aspect and the brutal climatic ending of the film baring clear and intentional reference to the Manson murders the previous year that had shocked Hollywood and the world. Sharon Tate was one of the three stars in the original Valley Of The Dolls, of course.
The soundtrack is cool and features songs that the fictitious band called the Carrie Nations perform in the movie. Also featured in the movie are real-life band Strawberry Alarm Clock, who play themselves and have a couple of songs on the soundtrack album. The dreamy theme to the film is performed by soft-pop group The Sandpipers. Production and song writing comes from noted composer Stu Phillips, who had scored the music to Ride The Wild Surf in 1964 and had founded Colpix Records, which had hits from everyone from Nina Simone to The Monkees. He also made a series of easy listening records during the 1960s for Capitol Records credited to the Hollywood Stings Orchestra that cover The Beatles and The Beach Boys. In the 70s, his credits would include The Six Million Dollar Man and Battlestar Galactica, so he was no slouch.
The best songs on the soundtrack are the songs that the girls sing in the band. Here is where it gets interesting. The songs were lip-synched by the actors in the movie, but were really sung by Lynn Carey and Barbara Robison. Lynn Carey from Los Angeles began her career as a model and actress and developed into a good blue-eyed soul singer who made some decent records with Canadian Neil Merryweather in the early 70s. Their first is under their own names, but the next two came out as Mama Lion. The die-cut cover to the one called Preserve Wildlife is pretty great and must have influenced Tori Amos and Belle And Sebastian in their choices of album artwork. Go Google it and you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Barbara “Sandi” Robison was born in Las Vegas and began singing on the Los Angeles folk scene and later became the singer with pop-psych group The Peanut Butter Conspiracy, who had regional hits but never really got big outside of California.
However, when it came time to releasing the soundtrack album, there were legal disputes over royalties which resulted in Lynn Carey not being able to appear on the record. Her vocal parts were then hastily re-recorded by another singer named Ami Rushes, who apparently now renounces her pop star past and is a Christian Gospel minister and singer. So, in the movie you hear Lynn Carey with Barbara Robison, but on the record it’s Barbara with Ami. There is a promo 45 that came out with two tracks from the movie and the label lists Ami Rushes as the artist. I’ve never seen a copy of this in the wild, but would love to find one. Some people have suggested that the album versions are not just the same backing tracks with new vocals, but new recordings all together. Certainly, the consensus is that the movie versions with Lynn Carey singing are the better takes, but the soundtrack versions don’t completely suck in comparison.
In the early 2000s, Harkit Records put out a version of the soundtrack that had those movie versions along with other songs and cues that were in the film but not on the soundtrack. Finally, fans were able to hear what they had heard in the film. I’m glad I picked up a copy of that release when it came out, and although I have some complaints about the sound quality, it did complete the missing elements and came with a nice poster.
On playing back the copy of the original, it seems that I might have to deal with sound quality issues with this too. It sounds great, but I did notice a couple of moments of distortion and in a couple of spots (luckily between tracks) a weird sound is heard for a split second. I assume this is a manufacturing issue and I will need to find another copy now to compare. Also, another deciding factor in me buying this copy is that the previous seller had plastered three different stickers on it stuck down with super glue. On trying to remove them I slightly damaged the artwork. Luckily, I was able to fill it in with black marker as it was over an all-black area of the jacket and at a glance you would never tell. LoL. Little tricks you can use. Regardless, I felt more than compelled to take this copy after that.
Of the tunes, the two that stand out are the rockers, Find It and Sweet Talking Candyman, along with the hippy Come With The Gentle People. These links are taken from the movie and if you watch them, they’ll tell you more about the music and the film than I ever could.
Thanks for reading and hopefully we’ve steered at least one of you to something you’ll enjoy. Cheers and see you next time -Dom