The Cardinals

Artist: The Cardinals

LP: The Best of The Cardinals - Vol. 1

Song: "The Wheel of Fortune"
[ listen ]

Song: "Choo Choo"
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I hadn't initially planned to visit Oxford, Mississippi on my trip through the South, but when I searched online for record stores in Tupelo, I discovered that the nearest one was fifty miles away—in Oxford. The store, called The End of All Music, closes at 6pm on Mondays, so I had to hightail it northward across the state, with no freeway, all the way from Meridian. I'd left Meridian in the afternoon and made it to the Oxford record store at about 5:15pm. I was thrilled to have 45 minutes to dig through the place, but a little bummed that I didn't have 245 minutes available. It was one of the best record stores on my trip! Though it doesn't look like much from the outside, the inside is well-lit, well-decorated, and well-organized with several different rooms, each featuring a different group of genres. There's even a small walk-in closet full of singles, including three bins of Motown and three bins of Stax singles that I didn't have time to look through. I found lots of neat stuff at The End of All Music (gospel, soul, jazz organ, calypso, folk) so it was hard to decide what to post. I've settled on this collection by The Cardinals (yet another one of the "bird groups"), since it features a neat train song. Everyone knows I love train songs. I don't usually collect "Best Of" albums, but since The Cardinals evidently only released singles throughout the 1950s, and no LPs, this vintage collection seems like a good thing to have. Formed in Baltimore in the mid 1940s, The Cardinals recorded their first single in New York in 1950. The group went through a few lineup changes over the years, landing quite a few hits on the R&B singles charts before calling it quits in the early 1960s. "The Wheel of Fortune" was a top ten hit for The Cardinals in 1951; "Choo Choo" was actually the b-side of their 1956 single called "Off Shore." You can read more about The Cardinals here and here and then read even more here, where you'll also find their complete discography.

 [ The Cardinals: Donald Jack Johnson, Meridith Brothers, Ernie Lee Warren, 

Leon "Tree Top" Hardy, Jack Sam Aydelotte ]

 [ The End of All Music — Oxford, Mississippi ]

The Ravens

Artist: The Ravens

LP: The Ravens

Song: "Love Is the Thing"

[ listen ]

Song: "Don't Mention My Name"

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Song: "Come a Little Bit Closer"

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I took the day off work last Friday and drove down to Tacoma where I enjoyed a delicious breakfast at Marcia's Silver Spoon Cafe before going to see the incredible HIDE/SEEK: Difference and Desire In American Portraiture exhibit currently on display at the Tacoma Art Museum. My favorite portrait was the one made of candies ("untitled" by Felix Gonzalez-Torres), but the entire show provides a fascinating historical overview of the lives and works of artists and public figures who challenged gender and sexual norms in American society throughout the 20th century. If you're gonna' be anywhere near Tacoma between now and June 10th, you simply must go. I wasn't about to leave Tacoma without visiting a few record stores first; this collection of recordings from 1952-1954 by The Ravens is one of the wonderful things I found at Hi-Voltage Records. Formed in 1945 (or maybe 1946, it depends) by Harlem waiters Jimmy Ricks and Warren Stuttles, The Ravens had a string of hits in the late '40s and early '50s, starting an avalanche of R&B copycat groups also named after birds, including The Orioles, The Swallows, The Crows, The Swans, and The Wrens. The mellow bass voice of Jimmy Ricks (featured on "Love Is the Thing") and Joe Van Lon's glorious tenor (showcased on "Don't Mention My Name") offer a lovely variety on each of The Ravens' records, with the two lead singers backed here by Jimmy Stewart (not THAT Jimmy Stewart) and Warren Stuttles. I've also included "Come a Little Bit Closer" which has The Ravens bobbing along like a quartet of robins. You can read about The Ravens' National label recordings on the JazzWax website here, and find lots of terrific information about the history and lineup changes of the group on the Vocal Group Hall of Fame website here. The Ravens were inducted there in 1998, and they're my favorite musical discovery so far this year!

[ The Ravens ]