The Digging and the Damage Done Take 2

The weather is warm, the sun is high, and the humidity is rising. So it must be time to welcome the great unwashed back to the windy city for Lollapolooza.

My antidote is to go digging.

The Digging

Luther Ingram You Were Made For Me (Koko)
Luther Ingram Aint Good For Nothing (Koko)
Ernie K-Doe Mother In Law (Minit)
Jimmy Soul Don't Release Me (SPQR)
Blackbyrds Soft and Easy (Fantasy)
Blackbyrds All I Ask (Fantasy)

And the Damage:

$2.29+ The Highest Sales Tax in the US.

Not sure of the quality here, but at these prices, it hard to complain.

This is one of the reasons to blog...

I wrote a little bit about a Tidal Waves 45 that I found at a record show about 26 months ago (!), and somebody (Anonymous) just commented to fix my wrong info.

Here is my original post:

The Tidal Waves "She Left Me All Alone" HBR 482Here is a moody downbeat number that I have heard on various comp cdrs. I came across it at The Loyola Record Swap. I believe that they later became The Unrelated Segments.The flip is actually a pretty rockin' take on "Farmer John," not one of my favorite compositions.To counter a recent conversation on garagepunk.com, the Garage Punk Forum CDs did nothing for me other than make me want the original vinyl discs even more than I did before. Reissues generally suck sound wise, esp. if they are on CD. The forum CDs have better sound as they are "mastered" from original discs.But to hear a garage punker in its glory requires the original disc in either good or scratchy shape-- hence more digging for discs!

And the new comment:

Nope! The Tidalwaves actually didnt turn into the Unrelated Segments although they were friends.They were made up of brothers Tom and Jon Wearing,Robert Slap,Mark Karpinski,and Vic Witkowski all went to school together in a Detroit suburb.Most stayed in the business and had reasonable success.

The internet does rule for information exchange. Thanks for the correction, Anonymous!

New Spot for Diggin'

Hey All,

I was very excited to find a new digging spot out in the hinterlands of northern IL, roughly the area that was hit by tornado action earlier this week due to the extremely warm and unseasonable weather here in the scenic Midwest.

For a 35 mile (one way) trip, I think I may have a new place to hit again and again. This place has tons of LPS and upon leaving, I discovered that they also have a lot of 45s that need to be sorted as well. I shall return with the Vestax portable, hopefully on Saturday.

From a quick visit, I came up with the following:

Beau Brummels Laugh Laugh Autumn
Budgie S/t MCA import
Eric Burdon and The Animals The Twain Shall Meet MGM
Chambers Bros. Greatest Hits Columbia
Bill Cosby Why Is There Air? Warners Honestly, I love Cos' 60's comedy. I am hoping to score some of his funk 45s... Hey Hey hey.
Temptations Cloud 9 Gordy

There is a ton of stuff that needs to be in me crates, there, I can feel it.

Live from cratedigger labs...

As you can see in the pic above, sound has been undergoing some testing chez cd. A while back, I hit a garage sale and picked up the 1990 Cerwin Vega 2 way speakers that you see in the foreground on the floor. They are extremely clean, but the surround foam on both cabinets was toast. From my preliminary tests, the tweets seemed perfect. They were $10.00.

I found some dudes that said they could hook me up with new foam. I called them and the conversation convinced me that they were worthy of the job.

I received the rebuilt woofers yesterday via UPS, and hooked up the 8 inch woofers in the ported cabinets. The positive side is clearly marked on the clips, and obviously the wires are color coded accordingly.

Tonight, I commenced testing.

I installed the speaker lines on the Speaker B selection on the Pioneer receiver that I have been using, leaving the ARs hooked up to Speaker A.

It should be noted that these speakers are sitting on my padded carpeting and are not my preferred 12-18 inches from the wall. Still, the bass is thumping...

I first listened to some Godfather and then moved over to Return of The DJ v. 2. So far so good, now moving over to the AIF version of The Colonels' Little Unique Mix.

Just another reason to find a bigger and better amp.

United Travel Service Gypsy Eyes

I came across this track on the recent compilation that was distroed on GaragePunk Forums called Extra Terrestrial Sojourn #2. Garagebeatnik, made a nice sounding comp. You are in his listening room, feeling the needle drop on each disc.

I know nothing about this except, this catalog number Ridon 860. An online resource dates this 45 to 68. "Gypsy Eyes" looks to be previously uncomped as well.

Please find a button below to hear or d/l a 160kbps file.

The start with the jangle punctuated by the bass drum kick is quite cool. I like story songs from this point in time, like Fortune Teller. "Those eyes... sharp as a knife."

The guitar break is brief, swirling and distorted, but keeps breaking under the vocal.

I think that you will dig it. A moody track for a rainy day in Chicago.

Lavell Hardy Don't Lose Your Groove

The mid bass and vocal proceed the great horn intro on this track. Then the mood comes down a bit. There is a solo warbley bass, with a soloed vocal over it. JBesque yelps also populate the track after this point. The tempo and the feel picks up...

Then there is a nice build into the break. The drums clatter for a few measures, then the horns come in after the mid bass. Much too short-- the song just ends. Hardy's vocal is just killing it, too. Repeat.

Women of the World, on the flip, is a song about you guessed it, women. Mr. Hardy doesn't appear to have a good track record. The vocal contains more lyrical content and the track appears to be more of a song as opposed to a band workout, like the other side of this disc. The horns are loud but a lot more buried in the mix. The bass appears to be in front of the vocs and the horns.

Jack Taylor produced and wrote both of the sides of this 45. Maybe he had bad luck with the females...

Found this record at the bottom of a pile of dusty wax. I paid a few bucks for it. I dig it, but I think I need to invest in a record cleaner. I think this disc could sound a bit better. I would like crank this one with the screen doors open.