I spent the extended weekend the only way one should, digging through dusty boxes of 45s! I have this problem you see, the week leading up to our monthly night will always see some increased action in my bank account area as I rush around looking to uncover new gems and seek out long time wants. And the fact that this always happens to fall shortly after payday can only lead to long-term financial trouble! I have no idea why or even how one evening a month manages to cause so much of what I now find myself referring to as ‘Record Angst’ but hey, there you go!

So after a several hours spent trawling around my favourite record shops and also a trip to what can only be described as the biggest car boot sale I’ve ever seen in my life, I bring you today’s selections.

  First up is The Falcons & Band with ‘Swim’ on the Lu Pine Label. The copy I procured over the weekend is a nice upgrade for the alternative issue I had in my collection. This copy featured the correct B-side ‘Swim’ with the awesome ‘I Found A Love’ as the Plug side, a track I featured previously as part of my Soul Shake Mix back in January. ‘Swim’ is a fantastic chugging gospel influenced cut and really acts as a showcase to the groups talents.

The Falcons were one of the first groups that began to really push the Gospel sound into the popular mainstream, and being part of the group spring boarded the careers of its members Mack Rice, Joe Stubbs, Eddie Floyd and also Wilson Pickett, who replaced Stubbs in 1960. The band signed to Lu Pine Records in the early sixties, a label owned by Robert West, who happened to be Eddie Floyd’s uncle. Lu Pine Records was also the first label to put out material by The Supremes before they went on to sign to Berry Gordy’s Motown Label. This 45 features The Ohio Untouchables as the backing band for The Falcons, who interestingly went on to become The Ohio Players after a short bout of evolution! This single went on to hit #6 in the R&B charts and #75 in the Pop charts, but more importantly without bands such as The Falcons paving the way, soul music would never have been what we know it as today.

  Next up was Sunday mornings ‘Find Du Jour’. A trip out to the sticks and a massive car boot sale, where I braved the huge ‘Gypsy’ contingent to plough through boxes and boxes of 45s. While I was at one table working my way through a couple of crates of singles, a guy comes up next to me and starts leafing through the albums. Now I’m not a huge collector of albums, but I know something good when I see it. So when this guy pulls out Sam Cooke’s highly sought after ‘Twistin’ The Night Away’ LP on RCA my ‘Record Angst’ kicks in and I’m willing him to put it back in the box.

He spends the next 5 minutes trying to knock ONE POUND off the £5 asking price, with the dealer rightly telling him to ‘Do One’. He makes a huge scene over pulling a coin out of his pocket and he tells the dealer “I’ll let fate decide whether I should spend the extra pound and buy your LP”. At this point I’m stood there thinking ”What a tool!” and I felt like I just wanted to rip the album out of his hands and beat him with it. So he calls the coin in the air and ‘fate’ went my way with him putting the album back and me making my grab for it. As an extra touch the dealer throws the handful of unsleeved 45s I’d picked out in for free. Bonus!

The album is a collection of ‘Twist’ orientated tracks fitting in with the hugely popular dance craze of the time. I picked out Sam Cooke’s cover of the Hank Ballard original for you as it’s a cut that always puts a smile on my face!

Don’t forget we return to The Brown Sugar Bar this Saturday for our monthly night. All the details are HERE.

Enjoy today’s selections and I’ll see you back here later in the week for more of the good stuff.