Sunday, September 28, 2008
Big Bad Train,Big John Little, Incense and Peppermints
I answered my own question from my September 7th blog. The instrumental called "Big Bad Train" was recorded by Lee Castle and the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra. It's on the Epic label, #9324. The only place I have heard it is on the air checks of the Mad Daddy show.
I had a great conversation with Big John Little yesterday. He was on the record "Rockin Crickets" and many others. He was fun to talk to and had some great information from his long and great career. He is still actively performing and has CD's available at http://www.weatherbysound.com/JohnLittle.htm He is really now known as T-Bone, which he explains in my interview. I hope to have that on my website next month. The Rockin Rebels page is a monster, but his contribution is important, and I think he is another artist that deserves a lot more credit than he has received.
A new first and second pressing will go up this week. It is definitely out of the normal time frame that I have, but is without doubt one of my absolute favorites from 1967. The group featured Ed King, who would also play with Lynryd Skynyrd. The group was from the west coast, and hit several records that got to the Billboard charts. The first issue was on the All American label, and then it switched over to Uni. I always loved the record - maybe it was the harmony, the fact it was different, or maybe the name of the group. In any case, I am adding it to my first and second pressings page. The group has a web site that is under construction at http://www.strawberryalarmclock.com/
I had a great conversation with Big John Little yesterday. He was on the record "Rockin Crickets" and many others. He was fun to talk to and had some great information from his long and great career. He is still actively performing and has CD's available at http://www.weatherbysound.com/JohnLittle.htm He is really now known as T-Bone, which he explains in my interview. I hope to have that on my website next month. The Rockin Rebels page is a monster, but his contribution is important, and I think he is another artist that deserves a lot more credit than he has received.
A new first and second pressing will go up this week. It is definitely out of the normal time frame that I have, but is without doubt one of my absolute favorites from 1967. The group featured Ed King, who would also play with Lynryd Skynyrd. The group was from the west coast, and hit several records that got to the Billboard charts. The first issue was on the All American label, and then it switched over to Uni. I always loved the record - maybe it was the harmony, the fact it was different, or maybe the name of the group. In any case, I am adding it to my first and second pressings page. The group has a web site that is under construction at http://www.strawberryalarmclock.com/
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Aquatones,Rusty Bryant,Rockit Radio
One of just three - now two - releases needed for my Aquatones page has now been added. This record was the follow-up to their biggest hit called "You". "Say You'll Be Mine" is not a difficult record to find in it's standard light blue aqua Fargo 45. However, pressings on the dark blue label are a bit more scarce. They seemed to have a good run of dark blue "you"'s, but with this release shown on the right, there were significantly less. The other issue with this color variation is that the paper was very cheap and it tended to flake, tear and rub off. This particular copy does not have those issues, but the few I have seen in the past have been rough. I don't believe any other Aquatones 45 came in this color except these two mentioned. Had it just been "You" I would have thought that they might have run out of paper, a la the penguins with "Earth Angel". All the dark blue copies of "You" I have seen show the ABC distribution on them, so the record was not an early issue. Since they used the paper with their follow-up, I have to think that it was just filler for some apparent reason. I am still missing two Fargo label Aquatones promos. 1015, "There's A Long Long Trail". It may be an orange promo, but I'm not certain. 1022, another issue of "Say You'll Be Mine" with a different flip, would likely be a white label.
I've mentioned Rusty Bryant in a previous blog. I still find myself looking for his records. "All Nite Long", Pink Champagne", "Back Street", "Moonlight Garden Stomp", and the list goes on. Those are titles I have bought, along with his early LP. I will stop my collection in the 1950's and before he started playing jazz. I always have to set boundaries. It's just sometimes ...OK often, I don't stick to them.
Looking for vintage airchecks of some of the great DJ's? Rockit Radio has a boatload of them in their store. Alan Freed, Mad Daddy, Jocko,Bill Balance, etc. They are all on CD, and very enjoyable. Check em' out! I don't have any current shows going, as the production studio I have been using at KVMR is undergoing reconstruction and the addition of a top notch engineering board.Maybe I can get more shows for October.
I've mentioned Rusty Bryant in a previous blog. I still find myself looking for his records. "All Nite Long", Pink Champagne", "Back Street", "Moonlight Garden Stomp", and the list goes on. Those are titles I have bought, along with his early LP. I will stop my collection in the 1950's and before he started playing jazz. I always have to set boundaries. It's just sometimes ...OK often, I don't stick to them.
Looking for vintage airchecks of some of the great DJ's? Rockit Radio has a boatload of them in their store. Alan Freed, Mad Daddy, Jocko,Bill Balance, etc. They are all on CD, and very enjoyable. Check em' out! I don't have any current shows going, as the production studio I have been using at KVMR is undergoing reconstruction and the addition of a top notch engineering board.Maybe I can get more shows for October.
Labels: Aquatones, Rockit Radio, Rusty Bryant
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Frogmen, Mad Daddy, My Home Town
Not exactly doo wop or a vocal group, the Frogmen made just a few records in their short instrumental career. The biggest hit by far was called Underwater. It was a smoking instrumental picking up on the surf scene in southern California, and peaked at number 44 in 1961. You could easily find it a lot higher on west coast local radio station charts,but I could understand why the Midwestern states might have trouble visualizing it. The first issue was on Scott, though it appears it was the Frogmen's second release for the label. Reportedly, the group was a four piece band from Culver City, California, and Rockin Records list the FIVE members as: Jim Young,Dennis Fowley, Mike Anderson, Raymond Sulivan and Larry Bartone. Adding the "guiro". a Spanish percussion instrument, gave it that croaking hook. Scott records was a short lived small independent label from the Los Angeles area, not to be confused with several other labels of the same name, mostly on the east coast. The record was quickly moved to Candix records, and proved to be one of the biggest hits on the label. It should be noted that the Beach Boys certainly had a strong hit on Candix with "Surfin".So I have been re-visiting some airchecks of mine lately. An aircheck in my collection is defined as an original radio broadcast of a vintage rock and roll music show from the 1950's or early 1960's. Last night I plugged in Mad Daddy. He was an amazing DJ with unbelievable creativity. He could rhyme everything - in fact he did. One of the things he didn't so quite as well as many DJ's was announce his songs. Thus my question for you. One of the great instrumentals he played on more than one show, was clled "Big Bad Train". I don't have a clue who it was by. He had a habit of playing some obscure and very local records to his place of employment at the time, WHK in Cleveland, Ohio. His story has a sad ending. He was on top of the world in Cleveland, went to New York and was not accepted by the listeners. He went from number one to generally not listened to. He committed suicide in 1968. Here is a link where you can hear 30 seconds of Big Bad Train. If you know who the artist is, email me. brian@colorradio.com
I am always a sucker for radio station related records. Whether it's a LP with the radio call letters and their then current pick hits, or a 45 related to that radio station's on air talent, I love them. My latest was called WISM (Wisconsin) "Madison Madison, That's My Home Town". Sung by the WISM Hit Paraders and featuring Miss WISM. Who was she, anyway? Also, I may be mistaken but I think there was a series of My Home Town records for different cities in the USA.
Labels: big bad train, frogmen, mad daddy
