Hi everyone, it’s another newsletter and another Dom’s Digs, where I delve into our Bargain Bins here at the store and pull out a handful of interesting records that won’t set you back more than a few dollars each. Check out the Flip Videos and the links for the full list of this week’s and previous week’s digs. Cool. Off we go then with ten records that I recommend.
1: $2 Fun Boy Three: Our Lips Are Sealed. What happens when a Special meets a Go-Go? Well this great song for one. Terry Hall and Jane Wiedlin wrote this and David Byrne produced it. This 12” also has a special remix version and an interesting Urdu version. Two bucks, c’mon.
2: $3 Fingerprintz: The Very Dab. New Wave band from Scotland and their debut LP. For fans of power pop and new wave, this has some moments.
3: $3 The Members: Uprhythm, Downbeat. Another UK New Wave group and their third from 1982. There’s no Sounds Of The Suburbs on here but they do treat us to a reggae take of Kraftwerk’s The Model which I kind of like.
4: $3 Various Artists: Sharp Cuts. Across the pond now and a nifty compilation of American New Wave. Some names you may know like The dB’s and The Alleycats are on here. A highlight for me was the song Last Supper by Peter Dayton. Worth investigating.
5: $3 Dusty Springfield: Cameo. You should already be bowing down at the altar of the great Dusty Springfield. An icon. This is a terrific early seventies album, mostly in an adult pop style but with some soul and groove also. It features the cream of the L.A. session musicians known collectively as The Wrecking Crew. Highlight for me is first cut Who Gets Your Love, a dramatic burner.
6: $3 Burt Bacharach: Reach Out. No one epitomizes the sixties as much as Burt Bacharach. The songs he wrote with Hal David ruled radio and the silver screen alike. Mostly working with other artists, this album is by the man himself and features many of his hits. Fifty years later and like the songs says What The World Needs Now Is Love.
7: $2 Lionel Hampton: Golden Vibes. I’m a Jazz head and love the sound of the vibes. This is an original pressing with a little crackle but it’s not too bad and still well worth the two bucks. Just nice mellow music.
8: $5 Mingus Quintet: Meets Cat Anderson. More Jazz, this time from 1972 and recorded live in Berlin. Two side long pieces, Celia and Perdido, the latter quite swinging. Hard Bop baby.
9: $3 Deodato: Deodato 2. Still in the seventies and in a Jazz mode but with a little more soul and groove with this one from keyboardist Eumir Deodato. He covers Nights In White Satin for the opener, a nice groover it is too. Highlights elsewhere include Skyscrapers and Super Strut where guitar duties are ably handled by John Tropea. In one of those cool CTI Records sleeves too. Funky.
10: $4 Hugo Montenegro: This Is. I’ll tell you what this is, it’s a terrific double of HM’s scores for several great movies. He worked on music for Spaghetti Westerns, you get music from A Fist Full Of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More. He did spy stuff, there’s Our Man Flint and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. He also did music for Hair and Valley Of The Dolls. It’s all here. Well worth checking out.
There you have it. Not a bad selection. Good records at great prices. Guaranteed.
Before I leave you, I wanted to also recommend a record that I have in my collection but that came in the store the other day in a buy and which Ava and I played today. It’s by Duke Edwards & The Young Ones called Is It Too Late? on Prestige Records from 1968.
On the surface, it is a soul-jazz record but it really is one of the most righteous records you will hear and sadly is just as relevant today as it was 52 years ago. Duke Edwards was a member of Sun Ra’s Arkestra and this project apparently yielded a lot of material but this one album was all that was released. You will be given a sermon on social ills and the need for love and respect for each other all backed with a subtle but grooving musical accompaniment. To quote the original liner notes “There is no possible way of putting in print what the Young Ones convey with their music. It is more than a potpourri of the classics, rhythm and blues, jazz, Afro-Cuban, calypso and pop. It’s rather an experience. To categorize the sound of the Young Ones would be too difficult. It is in no recognizable bag. Let’s just label it as indescribably beautiful”. ‘Nuff said.