Shannon

Artist: Shannon

LP: 7" single

Song: "My Heart's Divided"

[ listen ] 

 

This 1984 Shannon 45 arrived in the mail today with a stack of other singles from Germany! I've previously focused mainly on collecting singles released in the USA, but now a whole new continent of vinyl is opening up to me. This is both thrilling and daunting. It's thrilling because, you know...RECORDS! It's daunting because I don't have any space in my apartment for more records. Oh, well.

 

"My Heart's Divided" was the third single from Shannon's debut LP, "Let the Music Play." The album's title track was the first single, and it's Shannon's only release to enter the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 (it peaked at #8). Shannon's second single from the album, "Give Me Tonight," peaked at #46 on the Hot 100, and went to #6 on the Billboard R&B singles chart. Though it's a perfectly fine follow-up to those, "My Heart's Divided" did not crack the Hot 100 at all, and only went to #48 on the Billboard R&B singles chart. The song didn't register on the charts in other countries either, even in Germany, but at least there the label put the record in a picture sleeve, whereas the American release featured a generic plain white sleeve. So when I went online to shop for a copy, I chose the one from Germany. 

 

The fact that Shannon had just one hit single in the USA says more about Americans than it does about this wonderfully talented and beautiful artist. According to the Who's Dated Who website, Shannon may currently be single...so it seems Americans still haven't learned how to appreciate a good thing when it comes to Shannon.

 

[ Shannon ]

Tavares

Artist: Tavares  

LP: Check It Out

Song: "Mama's Little Girl"

[ listen ] 

Last night I wanted to put something on the turntable to help me relax and unwind after a long and arduous day at work, so I selected this 1973 LP by the brothers Tavares that I found in the dollar bins at Fat Cat Records a few weeks back. It must have worked, since I fell asleep at the kitchen table while trying to edit the photos of Tavares from the back of the record. According to sources close to the family, the title of the record refers to the stupendously detailed and out-of-this-world needlework that adorns the outfits of Butch, Tiny, Pooch, Chubby, and Ralph in the cover photo of this, their debut LP:  

[ Check It Out ]

I'll betcha $24.80 that those dynamite duds were thrown together by Mama Tavares so her boys would make a good first impression! Lead vocals on "Mama's Little Girl" are handled by Ralph Vierra Tavares; "Check It Out" was produced by handsome musician Johnny Bristol; you can read about Tavares here.

[ Tavares ]

Betty Wright [1953-2020]

Artist: Betty Wright

LP: Danger High Voltage
Song: "Where Is the Love"

[ listen ]

I was bummed to hear today that Betty Wright passed away yesterday from cancer. (I'm also sad that Little Richard has died, but I don't have any of his records). Betty's biggest hit, "Clean Up Woman," broke into the top ten on both the R&B (#2) and the pop (#6) charts in 1971, when she was just 17 years old.  

This 1974 LP includes "Where Is the Love," linked to above, for which Betty won the Grammy for Best R&B Song! It peaked at #2 on the Disco charts, and #15 on the R&B charts, but only went to #96 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop charts. Where Is the Love, indeed. You can read all about Betty Wright on Wikipedia here, and go here to find her obituary in the New York Times.

 Betty Wright

[ December 21, 1953 — May 10, 2020 ]

We will miss you, Betty.

Colonel Abrams

Artist: Colonel Abrams

LP: 7" single
Song: "Trapped"

[ listen ]

I think this is the first time I've been jealous of pink neon tubing. But it's not just the tubing that's got Colonel Abrams trapped. As he sings here in this song (a top-ten hit in England, thought it fell mostly on dead ears in the USA), he's also trapped by the love he feels for a young woman (the tears roll from his eyes), and by the steely glares from her horribly judgmental parents (they don't think he's good enough; they want him sent to prison!). 

But it goes even deeper than that. Colonel was trapped by the expectations of others, both musical and personal (the rolling tears again). His label likely required him to endlessly repeat the exact same hit-making formula that brought him international fame...but when the formula ran dry and the money stopped pouring in, he was tossed aside like a sun-faded copy of last year's Yakima Herald Republic.

How is one supposed to earn a living after becoming an international pop star that has fizzled out and come crashing down to earth? Trapped again! Trapped even more by the high cost of rent in New York City, by the high cost of diabetes medicine, and by the difficulty of receiving adequate treatment without having a secure place to live, Colonel Abrams died—homeless, sick, and broke—on Thanksgiving Day in 2016. I just learned this today when I looked him up online. What a sad, sad end for such a handsome and talented fellow. Tears roll from my eyes. You can read the BBC's obituary for Colonel Abrams here.

[ Colonel Abrams: May 25, 1949 — November 24, 2016 ]

The Romanceers

Artist: The Romanceers

LP: The Chi-Lites / The Romanceers
Song: "Walking In the Rain With the One I Love"

[ listen ]

Does anyone out there know anything about The Romanceers? There's nothing about them on the Internet, and I don't see any other recordings from them besides the three on this LP they shared with The Chi-Lites, who I also like quite a bit. There's a note on the back of the sleeve indicating that this LP was previously released on Mercury Records, but I don't find any evidence of that on the Internet either. 

Anyway, this lovely thing is one of the pieces I picked up at Jive Time Records yesterday, while celebrating my first day on the new job—and the fact that I was free to do things like go record shopping as early as four o'clock in the afternoon! What is this new job, you might be wondering? Well, let's just say that very soon I'm gonna be having a lot in common with this guy from Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.

The Moments

Artist: The Moments

LP: Look At Me
Song: "Girls (French version)"

[ listen ]

Song: "Look At Me (French version)"

[ listen ]

Last night I went sifting through my soul and R&B records to find something quiet and romantic to bring my enjoyable evening to a delicate close. This 1975 LP by The Moments that I put on the console was already hitting the spot, and then they started singing in French!

I had not realized until now that The Moments were the same fellows who later turned into Ray, Goodman, and Brown. Stang Records evidently wouldn't let the trio keep the name when The Moments decided to leave the label in 1979. (Update: Oh. I guess I did know this 10 years ago. My memory just ain't what it used to be.) Mais peu importe comment vous les applez, ils sont simplement magnifiques! 

[ Harry Ray: December 15, 1946 — October 1, 1992 ]

[ Al Goodman: March 30, 1943 — July 26, 2010 ]

[ Billy Brown: b. June 30, 1946 ]

7th Wonder

Artist: 7th Wonder

LP: Thunder

Song: "The Tilt"
[ listen ]

A friend and colleague from work left on vacation to the Middle East this week. She'll be stopping by Egypt to see The Great Pyramid of Giza—the only one of The Seven Ancient Wonders of the World still in existence today! According to Wikipedia, The Great Giza Pyramid is actually Ancient Wonder #2 though, and not the 7th one as this 1980 funk LP would have us believe. 

With all the other six Wonders wiped off the face of the planet (earthquakes, you know), it makes sense from a tourism standpoint to assemble a new list of Wonders that people can actually still visit to buy t-shirts, key chains, and other souvenirs. In November of 2006, USA Today and Good Morning America did just that, unveiling a revised list of Seven Wonders selected by a panel of six judges, with an Eighth Wonder tacked on a while later based on viewer feedback. Inspired, I've thrown together my own list of things that make me Wonder. The group photo from the back of this LP ended up at number five.

[ 7th Wonder ]

Ruby and the Romantics

Artist: Ruby and the Romantics

LP: Ruby and the Romantics

Song: "I Cry Alone"
[ listen ]

The next record store I went to in Victoria was Cavity (aka. Cavity Curiosity Shop), which is right around the corner from Fan Tan Alley on Pandora Avenue. Another vinyl shop called Talk's Cheap was listed as having the same address as Cavity, but the guy at the Cavity counter said the owner of Talk's Cheap now sells music out of his house, usually only by appointment. The Cavity was filled with lots of neat old vinyl, comic books, posters, crystal balls and other curiosities. I picked up a handful of records; my favorite is this Ruby and the Romantics LP from 1967. 

Singer Ruby Nash and her fellow Romantics, who all went to school together in Akron, Ohio, hit it off big when their debut single, "Our Day Will Come," went to #1 in 1963. Sadly, it was their only top ten hit; their singles stopped making it into the top 20, then eventually began peaking outside the top 40 before the group ultimately called it quits in 1971. Still, as you can see here, the group had a profound influence on lots of other musical artists of the '60s and '70s. Ruby and the Romantics were finally given their due when they were inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame in the summer of 2013.

[ Cavity Curiosity Shop — Victoria, BC, Canada ]

Vitamin E

Artist: Vitamin E

LP: Sharing

Song: "Kiss Away"
[ listen ]

I had to take a big dose of Vitamin E this morning so I didn't catch tonsillitis. But even if I had, it would have been worth it!

Vitamin E's sweetener/vocalist Bianca Thornton eventually went on to bigger and better things as Lady Bianca—we have the same birthday! Wikipedia calls this 1977 Vitamin E record "commercially doomed," though, doomed as it may have been, it was through no fault of the music itself. It's dynamite! I'm fairly certain that the American public was once again to blame. They never know a good thing when they hear it. I picked up this LP for $3 at Doug's Used Records in Yakima, WA two summers ago on my way to a family camping trip in the woods. They had a used copy at Yakima's Off the Record too, which I stopped at next, but there they wanted $45 for it.