Brian's Music Musings

It's been a fairly productive summer, and busy as usual. Lots of updates to share, most of which actually need to be updated on my site!

I had the chance to interview John Goeke, original member of the Slades. He was very informative, and truly a nice guy. The Slades actually still get together to sing and socialize, and live somewhat close to each other. The interview is available of my web site on the entry page or on the Slades page.

Jennell Hawkins had a number 50 record on the Billboard charts in 1962 called Moments. She was from Los Angeles, and had previously done a duet with Richard Berry as Ricky and Jennell on Flair records in early 1954. Though not a big seller, Each Step and This Time It's For Real was pressed.Maxwell Davis was the producer on the sides. Moments was released on the local Titanic label first, but contrary to many web site reports and publications, it was not titled "Moments To Remember. On the Titanic label and most of the Amazon label 45's, it is simply "Moments". When Amazon decided to issue an LP of Jennell Hawkins, they titled the LP "Moments To Remember, and then pressed 45's with "Moments To Remember" and made a reference to the LP. It's a great record, a great voice and her only entry into the Billboard charts. She did have other records, though.

I have launched a new page called first and second titles. Many records were initially pressed with a title that was quickly changed for a variety of reasons. One common fault was that the title was wrong! I have about a dozen records on the page, a couple that are a little scarce, a few very common examples, and possibly a couple you had never heard of. Check it out HERE!

I think I have the mystery solved for the recording by Larry Hall of Sandy. At least it was to me. The big hit of his spent 15 weeks total on the charts, rising to a peak of #15 on the Billboard pop charts in 1959. Most copies were pressed on the Strand label. I also actually own a few copies on the Hot label. I have both promo and stock copies on Hot. I had read about an Ever Green release, and actually saw a really bad picture of one on Ebay. Now that I have it, and you can see it, there is a tag that says
"Notice Not For Sale. Discontinued on Ever Green. Only available on Hot."
The sticker is on both sides of my copy. The likely scenario is that it was released on Ever Green, and perhaps it was discovered that there was another label with the same name. I do show an Evergreen label in 1958 that was issuing International records, mainly LP's. They issued it on Hot which was a label that also had been taken in 1958, issuing Freddy Cannon and the Spindrifts as #1000. Oops. Strand picked it up and though they were already established, this was their first big hit.
If my memory serves me correctly, I recall seeing a picture sleeve of sorts for the Ever Green release. I don't recall too much about it, but I saw it once, and the seller wanted a grand for it. Clearly out of my price range, but I doubt many survive today. I will be updating my page this week. Anyone seen that Ever Green sleeve?

I continue to add radio shows to this page on my web site. I include about the first 75 minutes of the show. N ext week I am pre-empted by the live broadcast of the World Music Festival.

As I have watched bay and tracked trends, at least in my mind, I have seen a lot of interesting things. Too numerous to bore you with in a blog, but interesting enough to occasionally share my opinion. There are certain records that sold really well, or perhaps a dump load of records were pressed, sold originally, or placed in the bargain bins after the fact. One of those is by the Wheels on Premium, "Heart's Desire". I see that record all the time for sale, anywhere from 3-80 bucks. I think it's worth about 10 in VG+ shape, regardless of any book prices that show substantially higher pricing. Without doubt, Ebay has shown the availability of some discs are much more plentiful than originally imagined.

Another very cool aspect of Ebay is the increase of sellers providing audio clips. It's a good chance to hear what the record sounds like and compare it to the grade that they assigned. It gives you a good chance to decide if their grade is accurate, and you can also make decisions about buying records from the seller, based on how they grade. For me, it's not all about a visual grade. That is only part of it.

Though certainly not rare, I had to buy the Marketts "Outer Limits". This is the first title of their hit "Out Of Limits". They changed it, if I have the story correct, because of complaints from the then current Outer Limits TV show. It was issued on promo and stock copies. I suspect a good amount were released before they were forced to make the title change. Some records I just have to have, no matter how common they seem to be.

The performance royalty legislation appears to be blocked in the house. NAB says they have enough members (220) which is two more than need to block scheduling a vote. Good news for Internet radio stations and others, especially small stations which include College and community radio. Every time a song is played, the composer or song writer receives a copyright royalty payment. The proposal was to have the artist receive a payment every time the song was played. Currently Sirus XM radio pays the performance fees, and I know we do at our local community radio station, for the Internet broadcast. We are also limited to 100 Internet "streams" at a time. I have always sided with NAB, and still do. One of the issues that is not often mentioned, is that the record labels are also left out of the payment scheme. I also don't have major issues with that either. But, what if........
What if the record labels decided to only debut their "records" to just XM, and organizations that paid that fee? I have seen the argument, but can't see why the labels would do that. They still need the airplay to sell the music. And they certainly have not stopped servicing the radio stations with promotional material.

Got a record set sale list from a very prominent record store near the east coast. There was not a record on the list under a hundred bucks. And there was several hundred records on the list. It got me to thinking, once again, about record prices. And then I start comparing, again, to Ebay, and to think about how Ebay has affected record prices in general. There are certainly a few well established record dealers that charge big bucks for their discs, and several of them can get that price from a small group of hard core collectors. This dealer is very respected, and I have had nothing but great experiences with him in the past, though I have not purchased super expensive vinyl.
One particular examples is the Gaytunes on red wax Timely. His price is 2,000. My last book showed 600.00 and it may be a little more right now, but he is likely double the high book. Fortunately, it's a free country and he can ask whatever he wants. Currently, the same record has the minimum on Ebay right now, which was 199.00. Condition is reportedly the same, and I will be curious to see where it ends up. The point is, that on Ebay right now, during the current economic times, prices are going even lower than they had been, in general. Some of the super collectibles are still getting the big bucks, but low to mid range records are just not selling anywhere near the prices of the record dealers. Again, not rocket science, but the trend is there. Price books have always been a guide, as are dealers lists (sort of), but selling prices are a pretty good indicator of what people will actually spend. The amount of unsold records on Ebay has never been higher. Several reasons for that. Many are boots, but the sellers don't know, it many are over-priced based on some of the previous issues stated, and some just read the guides wrong, many are priced as a mint record, but is VG, and one last reason - some sellers don't realize that hard core collectors are interested in what the label looks like! You can't sell a VG+ sounding record that has a G label. At least most of us won't purchase it as VG+. Ebay has it's issues, and grading is one of them. But Ebay also is a great indicator of record prices people are willing to pay.Super Rare collectibles by the usual suspects will probably continue to fetch amazing sums of money to the small percentage of us that can afford them. But prices for many records have gone down.

I finally managed to get the 4th record by the Travelers on Andex. Katie the Kangaroo/I'll Be Home For Christmas. A so-so record, not nearly as good as their other secular records on the label. My favorite of theirs might just be Teenage Machine Age. They did a bunch of gospel recordings as the Pilgrim Travelers, which are also quite good. That group included Lou Rawls. They also made a great LP called "Look Up", which I have.