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A very Large group of over 200 rare promo 45s, again from 1970. This is a continuation of the collection of radio promo 45s that end today. Some of the highlights of this auction are another copy of Jupiters’ Children, Gracious!, Maypole, Avatar, Iota, Mike Wallace, The Flame, Broken Arrow, Rod Evans, Novelty, Freada Wallace, Loose, Danny & The Mexicans, Pastor Brothers, Jimmy Chapel, Sean McLeod, and Kiss Inc. There are also a couple more soul 45s missed last week including Chic Walker. This batch has some real rare stuff that is on the side of unknown, so as always please ask to hear some sound clips ad I will get them up.
Up for auction now is a catchy tune on Verve. This song has appeared on a couple of comps and I can dig it. Does it have value? you decide by getting it here
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The press loved Bittersweet Alley in 1983, these big-haired lads from Detroit who were a “return to rock.” They got similar press to the White Stripes today, which is kinda an odd thing to think about, both in what it says about rock criticism and rock in general. Us writers are always looking for a return to some halcyon days of yore, ain’t we?
And in 1983, they were found in these pouting divas with big hair and prominent crotch-bulges.
Their press pack is a time capsule from that time, with the girls in the BSA tees looking like those print ads from old Rolling Stones; the breathless puff pieces referring to bars long since shuttered (RIP Lili’s 21); the red 45 in a small paper sleeve…
As for the music, well, That’s a-side “Time to Move” (helpfully hosted offsite by Motorcityrock). There’s also the b-side, Society Girl, which is a bit weaker.
In my mind, they sound mostly like The Tubes making out with Duran Duran during a coke binge, and I like that. I like the power pop, I like the easy sense of rock and warmth they bring to the occassion. If I had heard this band in 1983, when I was a wee four-years-old, I’d have believed that there was something in the Detroit water to give bands like The Romantics, The Knack and Bittersweet Alley such great pop songs.
But the first two of those are now barely remembered by “kids these days” (offa my lawn), and BSA’s best google hits come from this article, a Metafilter post that I made, and an absent-minded bit of nostolgia from one of the guys in Porchsleeper.
This is fun memorabilia, maybe never worth that much to resell, but a great forgotten part of Detroit rock. If you buy it, take care of it, OK?
HBR
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Part of the rollicking Detroit area scene, The Tidal Waves were the Dave Clark 5 members of the pantheon (though, like everything from Detroit, they kicked more ass than the Dave Clark 5): Poppy, chipper and well-dressed. While they later morphed into a more proto-punk band, these Tidal Waves are the Don and Dewey types (though they wrongly credit Terry Harris, rather than songwriter Don “Sugarcane” Harris).
Which isn’t to say that they don’t rock out “Farmer John,” with a twangy 1-4-5 and the whole gang yellin’ under a fairly sharp Kingsmen-esque sax. The song was a regional hit, climbing to #1 on the Detroit charts for Hanna-Barbera Records (yeah, the cartoon folks). Short, sassy bubblegum from the ’60s, and another sign of just how great Detroit was during that time.
