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I am thinking tonight in basketball terms. Because tomorrow I may have a snow day and I’m going to risk it by staying up a little later, drinking a few Sam Adams Winter Lagers, and watching some NBA basketball. The Pistons are hosting the Lakers, and TNT is playing the Boson-Dallas game, which also should be sweet.
And also, of course, I’m going to think some music, listen to some good music. Not just music, but records. You know, records take more time, they take more thought. They take a little bit of concentration. XM is great - don’t get me wrong. I taped the Bob Dylan show yesterday - so good. I listen to about an hours worth of XM every night and also on the daily commute.
But records, records take a little time. You gotta set some time for records. Because first, you gotta pick one out. You gotta decide what you want to listen to. You gotta think about what you’re feeling at the time, what you feel like listening to. You gotta pick the genre, outline the top five in your mind, then scan for one of those five. I’m a record store owner. I have a sweet collection. Mine are seperated by genres. My genres are these:
-Folk/Americana/Country/Bluegrass/Bluegrass Gospel
-Soul Gospel
-Blues plus a little bit of Zydeco
-Reggae
-Old School Rap
-Motown/Soul
-Funk
-50s Rhythm and Blues
-Jazz
-Misc.
-World
-Rock
-Local
So what I was thinking about tonight, first, was what was my ONE prize out of my whole collection? What would be the one I would pull out if I wanted to show off my crown gem? The thing is, there’s too many characteristics that make up how sweet a record is. They are:
-Rarity (IF I had a Charlie Patton 78, for example)
-Sweetness (many different factors that make sweet! perhaps Magic Sam, West Side Soul?)
-Obscurity (perhaps my Lee Osler, “Back To Ypsilanti”?)
-Cool Artist First Record Factor (example being my Johnny Cash, “Hot Blue Guitar” on Sun)
-Condition (my same Johnny Cash record)
-Overall combination of all factors (example being my Memphis Slim, “No Strain” on Prestige)
-Just My Favorite (SO many…maybe my Marvin Holmes and The Uptights, “Ooh Ooh the Dragon and Other Monsters”, or even Desmond Dekker, “Black and Dekker”)
-Local Ties (maybe The Stooges or MC5 self-titled, or something like The Sun Messengers)
So with all these factors in mind, what I was going to do was compile a list of my “Starting Five” in each genre, because this is sort of how my mind works when I’m playing records or even just thinking about records. Of course, this could be broken into sub-genres, like instead of just Blues, I could do my Starting Five “70s West Side Chicago Blues”…and off the top of my head, Magic Sam - West Side Soul, Fenton Robinson - Somebody Loan Me A Dime, Luther Allison - Love Me Mama, Robert Jr. Lockwood - (can’t think of title - too lazy to get up), and uhhh….the last spot I would have to think about, how about JB Hutto and His Hawks - Hawk Squat. The 1 through 5 are interchangeable, they just all work as a team to be as sweet as possible. Maybe you could think of it as taking these five off the shelf and putting them by the record player in the to-be-played-next stack.
So there you go - there’s a starting five. I would even be willing to battle someone else’s starting five if someone could make a greater claim. There’s tons of possibilities too - any sort of genre or subgenre - as long as you back it up. I’m interested in seeing what some of you have out there - I know that some record collectors really get into certain subgenres or niches - like obscure 60s Michigan garage 45s or hotel resort calypso bands.
This is one of those records that we can check off our list of cool records we’ve had. Unfortunatly, most of them we have to sell.
Click here to view ebay auction.
When I was just starting to get into record collecting, I lived down the street from PJs Records in Ann Arbor. (What a great old recore store with great owners - you should really check them out the next time you’re in Ann Arbor or just finished up at Encore.) I was browsing through the stacks on an early Saturday afternoon in the winter time, Jess was out doing something so I knew I could come home to our apartment we had then near downtown, up in the attic of that crazy old house, pour myself a beverage while I kicked up my feet on my homemade ottoman and listen to some records.
So I took my time and browsed carefully and finally decided on three records: Otis Redding’s Sittin’ On the Dock Of The Bay, a blues record (that I can’t remember which one), and a Ray Charles titled The Early Ray Charles. Ol’ jolly PJ happily rang me up and put them in a brown bag and smiled at me, and I honesty remember what he said for some reason: ”You go home and enjoy this batch.” (I liked that he called it a batch, and that he remembered me) (Hear that Encore?) And I listened carefully to all three, and while the Otis Redding was fantastic, the Early Ray Charles was really one of those records that catapulted my love affair with vinyl.
I went on to really get into Ray Charles (and this was before the movie and the Kanye remix!) …and I started looking for all his records he put out on Atlantic - which I think I have almost all of them. These early compilations are all from his records he cut in the late 40s and early 50s on Swingtime. There seems to be a ton of ghetto labels who have put out different records of these cuts in various order, so any one of them will do fine. We’ve come across probably all of them through CV, I even have a French pressing that has a mystery blues artist on the b side. I just checked, and sure enough, here’s one in our store.
These records by Ray Charles are different from his Atlantic records, which were in turn different from his ABC-Paramount records and then his ABC records and then his own Tangerine label recordings. There’s a sweetness to these early songs that I love - Ray says or people told Ray he was imitating Charles Brown and Nat King Cole, but that’s all fine, I love them. I pulled out this album again tonight for the first time in a long time and played it, I think it will go upstairs to the cabinet player and get a steady rotation up there.
This song stands out as one of my favorites, and one that you can find on most of the comps. It’s “If I Give You My Love”, by the late great Early Ray Charles.
listen:
The Cousins drafted some records out of the old school rap batch we just listed. We took home about 20 each. I’ll probably tell you about some others, but I thought it would be good to let you hear a couple old school Detroit tracks I got, like the one below by Playskule.
I remember hearing this back in the day when I was in high school. They would play it on the radio on WJLB late at night on the weekends. These guys are still around, with a slightly different sound. Check them out here. This track, Slap Dat Ass, is a fine example of 90s Detroit electro booty rap.
listen:
This track by Papa J. Smoove on Hittin Home Records takes it back a little ways to 1990. I’m going to need some help on this one because I was in middle school when this record was hitting the clubs. This is that good old early boasting rap, with that distinct Detroit club sound.
listen:
As I read my morning paper I noticed an Obituary for Ron Murphey. Reading his obit made me think of the unsung heroes in the creation of any new musical form. His masters at NSC (National Sound Corporation) helped define the sounds of Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Jeff Mills. He was a student of how Motown and Fortune mastered their records. He was a pioneer that helped other pioneers and he should not be forgotten.
Cousin Justin
Today’s challenge:
Name all the bands who are named after a physical location, like a city, state, country, continent, ect.
Example: Boston, Asia.
Justin just listed a small but very solid rock batch. Some of the highlights are a Rolling Stones Satanic Majesties 3D cover, Bob Seger System’s Mongrel, an early mono Chuck Berry on Chess, SRC’s 1st album, SRC’s 2nd album, a very nice mono T 2047 Meet The Beatles, a mono Beatles Revolver, an original The Crickets first album (which I wish I could keep), and a bunch of other stuff including some dance/funk in front that ends sooner.
Also, let me mention this again, in case you missed it, an interesting exchange and occurance that happened here at Cousins Vinyl dot com recently. Max wrote about Thunderclap Newman last week, which made me interested in learning more about a then 15 year old guitarist that recorded with them named Jimmy McCulloch who died at 26 of a heroin overdose. Max then looked into him more and wrote a follow-up post and mentioned this other guy who posted video footage of him on Youtube - which I replied and said it would be cool if this guy commented on our site and sure enough he did. Paul is his name, and although he’s only 20, he’s in the early stages of writing a biography about McCulloch’s life, which would be a fascinating contribution to music history. I believe he and Max exchanged emails, so look for more entries in the future about this subject. Really cool stuff! Good job Paul, keep going, man.
Today is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. day, a national holiday in the United States. Please join us in taking a little bit of time today and thinking about his message. Because of him, we’ve come a long way, although there’s still work to be done.
Dr. King put his life on the line, his wife and children, everything, to better his country and the people who lived here as he fought for equal rights and opportunity for all. Dr. King not only strived to end segregation and racial injustices, spoke out against the war, against poverty, and he teamed with union presidents to fight for workers rights.
Is Dr. King’s dream fullfilled?
I have posted below Pete Seeger doing an excellent live version of “We Shall Overcome”. I remember a teacher I had in middle school who taught African American history arguing that the lyrics should be changed to, “We Shall Overcome Today.” Sort of like John Mayer’s song, “Waiting For The World To Change”. We wait and wait - maybe we need to act, even if it’s just our mindset. It takes thinking about reality, not ignoring it. It takes creating solutions and actually doing it. It means taking risks, like Dr. King did. We need to understand our differences, and instead of judging, embrace.
Today is the day! How is Dr. King relevant today? These aren’t just old tales of the past, this is recent history that is still taking place. What area can you fight for? What role can you take? The song, “We Shall Overcome” was the hope that Dr. King gave the people then that a change could take place. Now that we have the means to do this, let’s do something about it.
By Max Conroy:
This kind of blew me away. For all you music geeks/bitches that haven’t utilized YouTube, you’re missing out. This is a brilliant case where the seemingly obscure character turns out to have a community of people who have taken the time to upload what they have. I thought for sure there’d be very little information about Jimmy McCulloch out there; the only hope is that he played with some big names. There’s no information on Allmusic.com about him other than several brief mentions in the Stone the Crows and Thunderclap Newman bios. I looked him up on YouTube and a number of interesting hits popped up. There’s a retrospective that includes about every picture of him that could possibly have existed and some live footage playing Heartbreaker(ironic since he died of a heart attack as a result of a heroin OD), the last song he ever recorded with the band The Dukes. There’s also an interview he did in Chicago during a Wings tour in 1976. The interviewer mentions an injury to Jimmy’s hand. He apparently broke it during rehearsals for the tour, wrestling with David Cassidy, which delayed the tour for several weeks.
On YouTube, it’s interesting to look at the comments for the videos. For one of the promotional videos for Something in the Air, a YouTube member reminisces drinking with Speedy Keen at a local wine bar, presumably in the UK. The user who published the interview and some other McCulloch stuff’s handle is WinoJunko76, ironically a Wings song on Wings at the Speed of Sound about substance abuse. This guy’s obviously a fan and the person you need to send a message to for any info or video on the subject of Jimmy McCulloch. One time I saw an Awesome Color video, a band whose members are from Ann Arbor that now reside in Brooklyn, and emailed the person who posted it, he emailed back, I sent him $10 and he sent me a DVD of the entire performance. That’s an awesome tool, man.
Back to Jimmy. There’s also footage of him performing another anti-drug song with Wings called Medicine Jar. There’s also a video of him getting nailed in the face with a cake immediately after walking backstage after a Wings show on his birthday; Ringo eventually stumbles in and acts the fool. One of my favorites so far is his doom, damned blues-rocker Too Many Miles with White Line. There’s even apparently the only live recording of Thunderclap Newman on here (according to the poster); it’s only the song, which is great, no video. There are also tons of videos of him playing with Wings (if you’re into that) and Stone the Crows.
So I guess there is a lot of info out there about this guy. I’m pretty sure that videos are commonly taken off YouTube, so sorry if some of these links don’t work anymore, but you guys really need to check out YouTube if you’re trying to research something that you think wouldn’t be out there.
by Max Conroy:
I have a copy of Dave Marsh’s The Heart of Rock and Soul, which lists his top 1001 singles, in my bathroom. It’s great. It was written in 1989 and includes a lot of doo wop, soul and early rock greats like Nathaniel Mayer and Nolan Strong that don’t get a whole lot of mention outside of fanatical circles. I’ve always been a fan of the first Cramps EP, particularly the song The Way I Walk and never knew who did it originally. Low and behold, there it is on page 530, Jack Scott. Flush.
The other day I was divining through the book much like Romans would do with Virgil’s Aenead and came to Something in the Air by Thunderclap Newman. You know the song. Tom Petty covered it on his greatest hits album, it was in Almost Famous and a shit-ton of other movies and TV shows (check Wikipedia for a more comprehensive list). I’ve heard the name Thunderclap Newman before and have heard the song probably once a year that I’ve noticed since I got Petty’s Greatest Hits album in junior high but never put the two together. The story of the band it turns out is an interesting paragraph.
The band was formed allegedly by Pete Townshend to help out former crony/roadie John “Speedy” Keen, who had written the leadoff track on the Who Sell Out, to record some of his songs. Townshend recruited a postal worker/jazz pianist Andy “Thunderclap” Newman and a fifteen year-old Scottish guitarist Jimmy McCulloch. The single Something in the Air went to number one in England and to twenty-five in the US. The subsequently recorded album Hollywood Dream, which was produced by Townshend and contained the brilliant single, received absolutely no support (the band played live five times) and peaked at 163 on Billboard. The band members really didn’t have that much in common and ceased recording together, leaving a top notch album for posterity. Speedy Keen went on to record a few solo albums and to produce Johnny Thunders’ Heartbreakers LAMF and had a heart attack in his mid fifties and died, Thunderclap recorded one in ‘71 and McCulloch went on to play with numerous bands, including Wings, and eventually died of a heroin overdose at twenty-six.
The album is one that I’d probably glance over if I saw it in a stack and didn’t know anything about it. It is truly great and I highly recommend picking it up. You probably won’t have any luck at Encore though.
Here’s the hit
Here’s another jam for some flavor, Look Around
I first discovered my hometown of Ypsilanti’s Pathway label with the previously posted The Smith Family LP, Sing Your Gospel Favorites. Another find, The Pathway Quartet, with one of the Cousins’ favorite all-time songs, Jesus is a Soul Man, may or may not be related to this label, as the musical style is very similar, and the label on the LP appears to be from a private pressing.
The latest record we came across on the Pathway label is actually really good. It’s Carl and Evert with a 45 featuring the song, “I Have Found The Way.” Not a whole lot of info is out there about this label, other than it was founded around 1964 by Red Ellis, a Starday recording artist who also sang in a group called Red Ellis and the Crossmen, of whch one of the members was Evert Sanders. The Smith Family also gives a shout-out to The Crossmen, so I am guessing that they were sort of the Pathway house band. I’m not sure who Carl is or what his last name even is. The same site that I found the info about Evert Sanders also listed this bio from the cover of their album they recorded on Pathway called “That Beautiful Land”:
EVERT SANDERS was one of 8 children. He was born in Ranger, West Virginia May 9, 1934. His Father was a coal miner and Evert distinctly remembers the coal camps. When only 16 Months old, the family moved to Kentucky. When he was 16 years old, the family decided to move back to West Virginia. In 1952 Evert came to Michigan. He presently lives in Ypsilanti, Michigan with wife Dorothy and 3 children Mark, Billy and Lorinda. Evert was converted in 1956 and has been serving the Lord ever since. He sings tenor & some lead also plays bass in this album.
The Pathway label’s address is listed at 508 Maus Street in Ypsilanti, Michigan. I have been meaing to drive by that address and take a picture of the house or building - when I do I will post it again here. I have a few other records of The Smith Family, and there are at least two other addresses of Pathway - one is 9901 Stoneycreek Road in Milan, Michigan, which is just south of Ypsilanti.
I think the Pathway label is as important to Ypsilanti’s history as is the well documented song on this site, Back To Ypsilanti by Lee Osler on the Mustache record label. ”I Have Found The Way” represents the effect the migration of southern factory workers to Ypsilanti had on the musical landscape. The Ford Plant and the Bomber Plant were nearby, drawing many bluegrass picking musicians to the area, many of whom are still around today. I’ve met many bluegrass and gospel enthusiasts while chatting with neighbors or out at the local yard sales, and I think this kind of music is an important part of our history. I live on East Cross Street in a neighborhood that was built in the late 50s and early 60s in a time where small ranch houses were built to accomodate all the new workers and their families. There are old tiny churches EVERYWHERE around the area I live - at least 10 within a mile of my house.
Carl and Evert mix the sacred with the rockin’, and this goes well with their message of finding the way. This may be the crown jewel on The Pathway label.
listen:
Justin is getting ready to release an absolute monster batch of old school rap LPs and 12″s. Look for them to go up today or Monday. Some really rare stuff will be in there.
****JUST LISTED****
CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We’ve never had a batch of old school hip hop like this, EVER. Included is some extremely rare Detroit old school, private pressings, test pressings, rare versions, funky, booty, soul, an absolute DJ’s treasure. Some of these I know we’ll never come across again.
And all this came as I’ve really been into XM’s Channel 65 The Rhyme, which is classic and old school hip hop. I was pretty much drooling over the collection, as was Justin, but we did our best to restrain ourselves as we’ve dumped a little bit of cash to aquire this. The whole collection came from an old Detroit DJ and producer, who brought it in little by little over the past week. Justin has been listing like crazy - I think there are close to 500 listings.
Over the summer, immersed in the depths of Cousins Vinyl, I (Cousin Geoff) grew a beard. I also religiously watched the Tigers on the flat screen. At the end of the summer, I shaved, leaving this Todd Jones style stache - which I sported for about an hour before shaving the rest.
By the way, I’m starting to get excited about the Tigers already. How about that trade? How will Leland even chose the batting order? Will this be the best offense ever?
Listen to Go Get ‘em Tigers:
Listen to Ain’t No Stoppin Us Now/Tigers:
Elvis lives! Happy 73rd birthday! January 8th, 1935 the King was born. He now lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he enjoys frequenting the local Burger King in disguise. Right now he is happily eating a banana sandwich and reading this post.
Here’s to you big guy! Your latest record batch you ordered from us is on it’s way. We’ll see you in Ypsilanti next summer for Elvis fest.
Some classic Detroit/Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Rock ’n Roll LPs are among the 175+ rock LPs just listed.
The MC5, High Time
The Stooges, Self Titled 1st LP
