45 RPM: 2020

September 23, 2020

pop vocal ~ 1953

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Eartha Kitt ... Jan 1927 - Dec 2008

September 13, 2020

rocksteady ~ Jamaica 1967

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The flip on this 45 is: 'Real Cool' by Tommy McCook and the Supersonics.

Treasure Isle comp LP from 1967 featuring The Jamaicans, Tommy McCook (pictured on the cover), The Techniques, and a few others.

September 12, 2020

Not to be confused with blues singer, Bobo Jenkins, or middleweight boxing champ, Carl 'Bobo' Olson, this obscure 45 tells a short story of the man known only as Bobo, a "most famous unknown..."
An accomplished musician and rumored silent music mogul, Bobo was at the top of mid 50s "bohemian cool". He mixed with the social elite as well as the working classes, and yet his true identity is still unknown today, as it was then, to the many musicians and music lovers who mingled with him at the time.

Around 1947-48, before his rise and bit out of date, purported to be one of the few early photos of Bobo as a young man.
Al 'Dr. Horse' Pittman sums up Bobo perfectly with his Fire label 45 from 1962.

September 9, 2020

hillbilly country ~ Detroit 1950

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I first heard 'The Tattooed Lady' played during 'The Dr. Demento Show' on KFAT, a radio station out of Gilroy, California. Spent years trying to find it, mostly at record shows.

Recorded in Detroit, this is Skeet's first record and recording, pressed on 78 and 45 rpm in 1950.
Skeets was originally from Arkansas, but moved to Detroit in the early 1930s.
It's amazing this record has survived this long. The flip side is, 'Mean And Evil Blues' with Johnnie White accompaniment.
A hillbilly country gem.

Somewhere in Los Angeles - Skeets in 1954.

July 3, 2020

soul / jazz vocal ~ Los Angeles 1965

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The single from Marvin's only LP on Palomar c.1965
The flip side is, 'Rainy Day In L.A.'

Jazz composer/pianist Marvin Jenkins started recording in the early 60s releasing a few of his own LPs while also playing and contributing on others' jazz recordings.
The Los Angeles Palomar record label released about fifteen other records, but only existed from 1963 to '65.
Marvin also had one another 45 on the Palomar label, 'I've Got The Blues (What Should I Do)'.

July 2, 2020

rock / folk-rock ~ Los Angeles 1996

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David Roback (1958-2020) & Hope Sandoval

One of those songs one might feel ends too soon. Perhaps a bit more of a straight forward acoustic folk sound than some of their others.
Singer/songwriter/guitarist David Roback's early Los Angeles based bands, The Rain Parade and Opal both had similar ethereal, melancholy-psych drone sounds as Mazzy Star. His writing skills, production and arrangements really crystallized with the exit of former Opal bassist and singer Kendra Smith in 1987.
The consequent addition of singer/songwriter Hope Sandoval in 1989 created Mazzy Star's distinct sound.
This song is included on their 1996 LP, 'Among My Swan'. Not sure how many 45s were pressed. 'I've Been Let Down' never charted. Released as a "jukebox only" single.

June 21, 2020

early R&B ~ Los Angeles 1952

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With Chuck Higgins and his Mellotones backing, this was Johnny 'Guitar' Watson's first vocal and first recording put on a 45. He played piano on this side with Chuck Higgins playing saxophone.
Great early R&B sound, but really in the tradition of a "Jump Blues" style one might hear in the late 1940s a few years before.
The flip side is 'Pachuko Hop' by Chuck Higgins and his Mellotones. John Watson recorded another version of 'Motor Head Baby' a year later in 1953, as the Young John Watson on the Federal label.