45 rpm

There's something special about the seven inch 45 rpm record. Back in the late seventies it was my format of choice when buying music, and I've found myself buying singles again. Sure, wading through thousands of discs is a bit daunting, but when I have the time and patience I'm rewarded.

One of my favourite recent purchases is a single by The Bob Crewe Generation: Miniskirts in Moscow b/w Theme for a Lazy Girl [Dynovoice Records]. What a great single it is with that special bachelor pad/now sound 60's optimism. Who among us could pass up a song entitled Miniskirts in Moscow? Well, no one I would want to talk to, that's a certainty.

I've written about Syrinx before , so when I happened across a copy of their moog-pop instrumental hit single Tillicum (Theme from "Here Come The Seventies) b/w Melina's Torch [True North Records] I snapped it up. My search continues for a copy of the picture sleeve. You may be interested to know that there is a MySpace page for the band where you can hear both songs on the single plus Field Hymn. So what are you waiting for, go here.

I've had a bit of an obsession with Canadian Pop/Folk/Lite Psych outfit The Poppy Family for a while now. Not a band as such, but more the project of then-husband and wife team of Susan & Terry Jacks. On the surface many of their songs are straightforward pop songs, but at the same time they have a very dark undercurrent. Track down a copy of There's No Blood in Bone and you'll see what I mean. In the meantime, you may want to read Kim Cooper's history The Partridge Family + The Manson Family = The Poppy Family for a bit of background.

I had the opportunity to add two singles to my collection. The first is Which Way You Goin' Billy? b/w Endless Sleep [London Records]. Which Way... was a big hit for them and is a fine song featuring Susan's ethereal voice. The real treat is the B side which features a great garage band guitar line and lyrics about a lost love drowned at sea. Next up is Where Evil Grows b/w Concrete Sea [Underground Records]. The A side deals with an unwise romantic choice: "Evil grows in the dark/Where the sun, it never shines/Evil grows in cracks and holes/And live in peoples' minds". Did I say dark undercurrents? I meant dark overcurrents. The flip is one of my favourite tunes by the Jacks, catchy with a nice sparse production.

One thing I've noticed about Poppy Family singles is that they are repackaged for different labels with different combinations of songs. I already had a copy of Where Evil Grows as a B side for I Was Wondering on the London Label. Last week I picked up two singles for a friend in the UK: one was Which Way You Goin' Billy b/w That's Where I Went Wrong [Underground Records] and the second was Terry Jacks' big hit Seasons in the Sun b/w The Love Game [Goldfish Records]. I was surprised to discover that The Love Game is in fact Concrete Sea (the same recording as The Poppy Family track as far as I can tell) and was even more surprised to discover that I now enjoy listening to his version of the Jacques Brel/Rod McKuen song. Admittedly, it requires a certain ironic distance.

DynoVoice and Lavalamp sounds

I bought a double cd set with the unwieldy title of Bob Crewe Presents...The DynoVoice Story...The Label That Had To Happen!!! 1965-1968 [WestSide Records WESD226]. The album looked great with 56 tracks of mid-sixties pop, soul and rock in addition to an informative 12 page booklet.

I'd been a fan of Crewe's productions for some time based on The Bob Crewe Generation's Music to Watch Girls By LP and the (of course) the Barbarella soundtrack. Granted that those two albums are cheesy fun in a space age bachelor pad way, but that certainly wasn't the sum of Crewe's skills as the DynoVoice Story demonstrates. Just open your ears to the rock 'n' soul of Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels, the R & B girl-group sounds of The Toys (8 and 10 tracks respectively) in addition to fine 45's from Dianne Renay, Norma Tanega, The Invitations, Duff Thurmond (his "If You Loved Me Baby" is a show stopper) and my personal favourites The Sky's "I'm Not A Fool" and Peter Antell's suave "Warm Smoke". I know that I sound like one of those cranky old guys, who, when not yelling at the kids to stay the hell out of my yard, will go on for ages about how pop music used to be better. But it did.

Also purchased is the Dennis Coffey compilation Big City Funk: Original old school breaks and heavy guitar soul [Vampisoul Records]. Coffey is a a funk legend for several good reasons, being a member of Motown's Funk Brothers during the late sixties and early seventies not the least of them.

This set compiles choice cuts from his seventies Sussex albums. So the lucky consumer gets 15 tracks including his most famous tune "Scorpio" as well as two covers: Schifin's "Theme from Enter the Dragon" and Led Zep's "Whole Lot of Love". The sound is very seventies which is telegraphed by the numerous tracks with zodiac-related titles, and I can tell you that the disc sounds truly great under the warm glow of the lavalamp.

Coffey collaborated with Luchi De Jesus on the score for Black Belt Jones, and here are the opening credits courtesy of YouTube.