Mrs. Mills

Artist: Mrs. Mills

LP: Everybody's Welcome At Mrs. Mills' Party

Song: "Chicago/Avalon/Who's Sorry Now"

[ listen ]

 

I'm taking some time out this evening for a party with Mrs. Mills. Everybody's welcome at her parties. Can you imagine this kind woman turning anyone away? Neither can I. According to Wikipedia, Mrs. Mills was "discovered" and was taking England by storm at about the same time as The Beatles, but sadly, her chapter in the history of British pop music has been edited out of most recent editions. 

 

Personally, I "re-discovered" Mrs. Mills in a dank basement record "store" called Play It Again during my trip to Astoria, Oregon this past weekend. Speaking of re-discoveries, back in 2006 or 2007 I was driving to the Oregon coast with Eduardo and as we were heading down the highway, I saw a sandwich board sign next to the highway that just said "Records" and had an arrow leading passers-by down a small hill to a huge silver warehouse. Turns out the warehouse was stacked high with records! As we were on vacation to the Oregon coast and hadn't yet actually arrived there, I wasn't allowed much time for browsing, but I did manage to find a neat old LP by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. So the next time I went to the Oregon coast, several years later, I kept an eye out for the magic warehouse full of records...but it had totally disappeared. 

 

Well, Play It Again is the same store! It's the same guy, with the same unruly collection! He said he's moved 22 times in the past 23 years, or something like that. He also said he had recently hired a 20-year-old employee, but "You know how that goes" and he mimicked the slashing of his wrists. I guess I don't know how that goes, since I have no idea what he was trying to say. Do all 20-year-old record store employees commit suicide? Maybe he should try hiring someone who's 23. Anyway, I'd better get back to the party. I've included a Mrs. Mills video clip below. Enjoy!

Mrs. Mills on YouTube:

[ "Save All Your Kisses For Me" ]

[ Mrs. Mills: August 29, 1918 — February 24, 1978 ]

The Pogues

Artist: The Pogues

LP: If I Should Fall From Grace With God
Song: "Bottle of Smoke"

[ listen ]

Song: "Fairytale of New York"

[ listen ]

I don't remember what brought The Pogues to mind earlier this week, but when they were there, I suddenly realized that I couldn't recall seeing their records in my collection lately, and I worried that perhaps I'd gotten rid of them. (I've had similar vinyl "I got rid of it" regrets in the past.) 

I thumbed through the 'P's and was relieved to find my two Pogues records still there (the other one is 1985's "Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash"), but lodged in the slight fold in the top of the plastic sleeve for this one was the corpse of a spider, enshrouded in web. Thank you, dead spider, for underlining the fact that I've neglected my Pogues albums for far too long. I gave both records a spin and they haven't aged a bit.

Described as a "British Celtic punk band," The Pogues is one of the groups I discovered while working at Budget Tapes & Records in Yakima back in 1986-1988. We got a play copy of "If I Should Fall From Grace With God" (I think this may be that same copy!) when it was released in 1987, and I was instantly hooked. There's no other band like them. "Fairytale of New York" is the most wonderfully dreary Christmas song ever recorded, and it's been stuck in my head for days!

[ The Pogues ]

Edmundo Ros and His Orchestra

Artist: Edmundo Ros and His Orchestra

LP: Rhythms of the South

Song: "The Blue Danube"
[ listen ]

Song: "Capullito de Aleli"
[ listen ]

I remember looking up Edmundo Ros online back in 2011. I was shocked and awed to discover that he was still alive—he was 100 years old! I've got quite a stack of Edmundo's LPs on my shelves, so I was hoping he'd either live on forever or, if he had to pass away, I was hoping I'd hear about it so I could pay tribute to him here. Well sadly Edmundo did not live forever, and unfortunately I was not informed of his passing. He died in Spain that very same year. The British, whom he entertained much more than the Americans during and after WWII (we had Xavier Cugat), were pretty much the only people who were told about Edmundo's death; several UK news outlets posted obituaries for the world-famous bandleader (The Guardian, the BBC, The Telegraph), but I don't see any from the USA. 

Though many people evidently thought Sñr  Ros was born in Venezuela (including Nigel Hunter, who wrote the liner notes for this 1958 LP), Edmundo's original name was Edmund William Ross and he was born in Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago, just off the Venezuelan coast. After a stint in Venezuela to study music when he was 17, Edmundo headed to England where he battled racial profiling, made millions of people start dancing, and eventually became wildly famous and incredibly wealthy—and he was reportedly a gentleman, to boot. Just ask the Queen!

[ Edmundo Ros: December 10, 1910 — October 21, 2011 ]

Bananarama

Artist: Bananarama

LP: 12" single

Song: "Do Not Disturb"

[ listen ]

I know I probably shouldn't let it disturb me, but the El Camión taco truck up the street has really been stressing me out lately. I went there the other night and waited in line behind a man who seemed slightly annoyed that I was standing so close to him as he got to the counter to place his order (mostly I just didn't want to get run over by a car). But then I heard him tell the cashier that he was homeless and he asked if they had any food they were getting rid of that he could have. As the cashier asked the cook, I decided that, if they told him they didn't, maybe I would offer to buy him something to eat. The cashier told him they had nothing to give and, as the man walked away, I thought to myself: "I think I should; no, maybe I shouldn't; I really should; but maybe I shouldn't; I should. Should I?" By the time I realized that of fucking course I should, the man had already walked around the corner. At that point I would have had to stage an elaborate, attention-grabbing musical production to retrieve him and bring him back to the window to order some food. So instead, I stepped quietly forward, ordered my food and paid for it. After all, I'm not homeless and I have a job. I can order a huge burrito that's way bigger than any burrito reasonably needs to be, but I will still eat it all because I have the money to pay for it, and so well why not. I realized pretty quickly that I'd just missed a golden opportunity to put my money where my mouth is and I was ashamed. What kind of man am I anyway?

Then last night I went back to El Camión because I needed another burrito—un burrito de carne asada. Unfortunately, just as I arrived there, the truck was beset upon by one of those flash mobs made of young urban professionals who all have the same personality, one that doesn't really have a lot of features to speak of. They probably like sports. Some of the youngsters were in line ahead of me, but two of them were directly behind me in line. I overheard one of the guys behind me reveal to the other that he was totally burned out at work; he's just been showing up there each day and going through the motions. He's been completely unproductive. Then they began to discuss what they were going to order for dinner, which involved yelling at each of the other young professional flash mobsters to ask what they had ordered for dinner, or what they were planning to order for dinner. It was the most banal conversation I'd heard in months. When one of the two guys behind me in line told the other that he had decided to order a carne asada burrito, I knew instantly and without a doubt that, when my own carne asada burrito order was called out at the pick-up window, that guy there was gonna' take it. Moments later, when the gal at the window called out, "carne asada burrito!" and I stepped forward, the burned out young professional moved in ahead of me and nabbed my food. He gave me a sideways look, after which I resigned myself to waiting for his burrito to appear at the window for me. Of course I realize that he didn't take my burrito on purpose—he did it without thinking, like he does everything else in life. I realized pretty quickly that I'd just missed a golden opportunity to put my mouth where my money is and I was ashamed. When I got home and was eating that guy's burrito, I had to pick three big cilantro stems out of it. I thought to myself, "I bet my burrito only had two." 

Now I've earned a free burrito with my El Camión punch card, but I'm scared to go back since I keep having to take such a cold, hard look at myself there.

On a completely unrelated note, I bet I've got more Bananarama 12" singles than anyone else in Seattle north of the ship canal.

[ Bananarama ]

The Walker Brothers

Artist: The Walker Brothers

LP: 7" single

Song: "In My Room" 
[ listen ]

Maybe I haven't been paying attention, but I just found out that none of The Walker Brothers are named Walker—and in fact they aren't even related! They only look related because they all have the same hair. You can read more about the group on Wikipedia here. Anyway, this 1966 Japan-only release by John Maus, Gary Leeds and Scott Engel is one of a handful of neat rare 45s I picked up at Georgetown Records earlier this week while visiting the Square Knot Diner with my good friend Carrie.

[ Neither Walkers, Nor Brothers — The Walker Brothers ]

Delegation

 Artist: Delegation

LP: Delegation

Song: "Blue Girl" 
[ listen ]

Here's a lovely blue tune for a grey-blue autumn morning in Seattle. Formed in the UK in 1975, Delegation is considered a "one-hit-wonder" in the USA (their 1978 single "Oh Honey" went to #6 on the Billboard R&B singles charts and #45 on the Hot 100). The group's initial lineup included Rickey Bailey, Len Coley and Roddy Harris, but by the time this self-titled LP was released in 1980, only Bailey remained from the original trio. Bruce Dunbar and Ray Peterson had taken the places of Coley and Harris, respectively. There's a neat photo of Delegation here, but I have a hunch it's the earlier incarnation of the band. (Those guys look way more "1978" than "1980," don't you think?) You can read more about Delegation on Wikipedia here.

Sharks

Artist: Sharks

LP: First Water

Song: "Driving Sideways" 
[ listen ]

I've probably said before that one of my favorite things about weeding through my records in search of things to get rid of is re-discovering some of the treasures I didn't know I had. This 1973 LP by Sharks is one of the things I'd forgotten about. Formed in England in 1972, Sharks bandmates Fraser, Simon and Spedding auditioned several singers before, thankfully, settling on Snips (aka. Steve Parsons) whose gravely vocals allow Sharks to dive into the deep end of the ocean where the other great early-'70s bands swim. (Robert Palmer and Leo Sayer had also been interested in the lead-singer role. Can you imagine?) Guitarist Chris Spedding outfitted his Pontiac Le Mans with shark accoutrements for the band's first tour, but the group ended up "Driving Sideways" on their way home from a gig in Cleethorpes in early 1973 and ran the shark car into a tree. Sharks released a second LP after some lineup changes and were working on album #3 when things went south and the group called it quits in 1974. There have been reunions, and even another Sharks release in the late 1990s, all of which you can read about here.

[ Sharks — with Sharkmobile ]

Victor Silvester y su Orquesta de Cuerdas

Artist: Victor Silvester y su Orquesta de Cuerdas

LP: Latin-American Dance Parade [10" EP]

Song: "Sierra Madre"

[ listen ]

Wouldn't ya just know that my supposedly rare, vintage Columbia 10" EP (CL 6308) of "Latin-American Dance Parade" by Victor Silvester and his Orquesta de Cuerdas turns out to be nothing but a cheap 1953 re-issue of the original that was released in 1950 under catalog number FL 9516 with a nice yellow cover instead of blue. Oh well. Victor Silvester was born in England in the formerly quaint town of Wembley just after the turn of the last century. He served in WWI after lying about his age, and then after the war he turned his attention to dancing. He was one of the first post-war dancers to feature the full natural turn in the slow waltz, which helped him snag the top prize (with partner Phyllis Clarke) at the first World Ballroom Dancing Championship in 1922. (He competed again in 1924, but lost to Maxwell Stewart, who had invented the double reverse spin. Clearly, poor Victor didn't stand a chance.) Silvester eventually developed a chain of dance studios where throngs of people, including Merle Oberon, were able to indulge their passion for ballroom dancing. Frustrated by the general lack of "strict-tempo" dance music being released on vinyl at the time, Victor assembled his own five-piece group of talented musicians and began recording under the name "Victor Silvester and His Ballroom Orchestra." Their first release, "You're Dancing on My Heart," (!) hit stores in 1935, sold over 17,000 copies, and launched a recording career that would last for decades. You can read all about that here, and my re-issued liner notes are included below.

[ Victor Silvester: February 25, 1900 — August 14, 1978 ]