various artists - Doo Wop - Under The Covers

I wasn't really paying close attention when I picked this up for a two spot. I just saw Little Anthony & the Imperials, "Earth Angel", Frankie Lymon, "Blue Velvet", The Flamingos, "For Sentimental Reasons"...and my reptile brain said "gimme".

This 1997 comp raids the vaults of Roulette Records to bring you familiar names singing familiar songs in unfamiliar ways. I'm not super familiar with the history of doo wop, but it's interesting to me to hear songs that have always existed in my mental ether. There's also the tangental involvement of Morris Levy, a record industry character/scumbag of the illest repute. I'm a sucker for anything related to the early, scuzzy days of American pop music.

Remember: there are no mistakes. Only unintended results.

Discogs

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various artists - The Beach Boys Classics

1/13/23: UPDATED WITH NEW DL LINK

It's the early hours of December 25th as I write, and, yeah, I oughta go to bed, otherwise Santa won't come. But Santa never really comes, does he? The Amazon delivery driver is probably the closest modern version, and that poor bastard works a hell of a lot more for a lot less reward than the adoration of the world's children. Besides, I ate half a share-a-bag of M&Ms and chased 'em with a half gallon of zero calorie sweet tea, all in a quest to vibrate into the 6th dimension.

I've been reading a lot of Luke O'Neil lately. Can you tell?

There's a pretty interesting series that Tokyo's P-Vine Records did approximately 30 years ago. The "Classics" series took a famous group (in this case, the Beach Boys), and pulled together a compilation of songs either covered by the group or influencing the group. This one has a great mix of girl groups, early rock 'n' roll, a bit of surf and beach music, and a lot of late 50s/early 60s pop. I think it's a pretty rad concept, the creative sort that Rhino was also really good at coming up with around the same time period.

Old time music makes staying up late a bit easier. Sorry, Saint Nick.

Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Ain't Nothing

Here's something I've been meaning to post since I kicked things off again back in April.

I have a lot less need to front on my musical knowledge these days. I know what I know, I know what I don't know, and I know where to go to learn about what I don't know. The incredible posting community at Twilight Zone has played a great role in opening up new musical worlds for me in the past two years; I can only express my gratitude by sharing the occasional post-punk record that someone's looking for. There's a person who posts these big ol' .zip files of 45s from the 60s and 70s, chock full of soul and doo wop and early rock 'n' roll and all kind of tasty treats I would have never checked out on my own. They're the one who got me coming back every day.

Shortly after I got hipped to TZ, I discovered this CD-R in a stack of dollar CDs at a local storage space liquidator. I recognized a few of the names: Curtis Knight and Wilson Pickett, the Pyramids and Little Johnny Taylor. And that cover: that is a killer cartoon. I've wasted more money on worse things. So home it came.

And a damned good thing it did, because this is a really great comp. There's very little you'd randomly stumble across in the world. Sure, you might turn up one or two or even three cuts, but nothing so well curated at such a low price. From what I've been able to research, this appears to have originated out of Rooky Ricardo's Records in San Francisco. When it was made, I couldn't say. But it's a great idea. If you're a seller of obscure records, it makes a ton of sense to put a sampler together of what you stock in the shop.

Since I snagged this, I've kept my eyes open for a lot of 50s and early 60s soul, and heard a lot of "new" artists from the early days of modern pop music. I've also been steadily downloading the East Side Story series, kindly shared by Robert over at Terminal Escape. It covers some of the same ground, while highlighting artists you might be more familiar with. They're all great to listen to, and, who knows? You might get a native nod from the old head in the car next to you in traffic.

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