Les Paul and Mary Ford

Artist: Les Paul and Mary Ford

LP: The Hit Makers!
Song: "The World Is Waiting For the Sunrise"

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Song: "Tiger Rag"

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As I mentioned before, I'll start a new job on Monday, so yesterday I took myself out for a "Last Days of Freedom" vinyl shopping spree. First I dropped in at Beats and Bohos on Phinney Ridge for a brief session of crate-digging before meeting my friend Liz for lunch at the Greenlake Tacos Guaymas at 1pm. When I found this collection of hits by Les Paul and Mary Ford, I bought it sight unseen! Well, actually I could see it...so I guess I bought it sound unheard. I've learned that you can't really go wrong with these two. I'll pick up just about anything of theirs that I don't already have, and would encourage other vinyl collectors to do the same. Les and Mary really do add their "shiny musical finesse" to everything they do, making music that's both "sparkling and attractive!" 

Sadly, according to Wikipedia, they ended both their marriage and their musical partnership on unfriendly terms in 1964, after which Mary was never again to be found perched upon the neck of Les' guitar.

[ Mary Ford: July 7, 1924 — September 30, 1977 ]
[ Les Paul: June 9, 1915 — August 12, 2009 ]

Freddie Bell & Roberta Linn with the Bell Boys

Artist: Freddie Bell & Roberta Linn with the Bell Boys

LP: Get Yourself a College Girl

Song: "Talkin' About Love"
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There's a new record store in town! Fat Cat Records, located in Seattle's Wallingford neighborhood, is about midway between Golden Oldies, which is just down the hill by Dick's Drive-In, and Daybreak Records over in Fremont. Fat Cat has only been open a little over a month, but it's already starting to get that comfortable, kinda' messy, lived-in feel of a joint that's been there for ages. 

I dropped by after getting my taxes done at the United Way Free Tax Preparation site up the street (I recommend the service, if you haven't already done your taxes) and found a couple of gems, including this dazzling 'various artists' soundtrack to the hip and happy 1964 cinematic oddity GET YOURSELF A COLLEGE GIRL. It's got Nancy Sinatra in it!

Roberta Linn was born in a scrappy little Iowa town called Gravity in 1931 (when the population was 465, but today it's just 187). She graduated from her days as a Lawrence Welk "Champagne Lady" in the 1950s and teamed up with early-rock-n-roll musician Freddie Bell in 1961. They had a show together at the Sands and other Vegas casinos for a few years but divorced in 1972 after Bell began hitting the bottle. He passed away in 2008 at age 76. I'm delighted to see Roberta still going strong, performing with the Sun City Singers in Palm Desert, CA just last week! You can read more about the lovely Ms. Linn here and here and visit her website here.

 

[ Freddie Bell & Roberta Linn w/ the Bell Boys ]

[ Fat Cat Records — Seattle, WA ]

Jim & Jean

Artist: Jim & Jean

LP: People World 

Song: "The Planet June"
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Song: "People World"
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Song: "Playground"
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I couldn't think of any better way to spend a grey and rainy Saturday afternoon than to go looking through my LPs to find the sexiest unibrow of all. There was some tough competition, but the winner, by a hair, is Jim Glover of the '60s folk duo Jim & Jean.

[ Jim & Unibrow ]

Not only is Jim smolderingly handsome to start with, and also not wearing any clothes, but when I propped this LP up on my kitchen counter, Jim's eyes seem to follow me all around the room. They even followed me into the bathroom!

Jim & Jean were married to each other when they made this, their third and last, LP in 1968. They didn't stay together much longer, but they were one of those genuine hippie/folk duos that performed together in Greenwich Village as they built a following that led to international stardom. Well, okay; stardom may be too strong a word, but their single "People World" did peak at #94 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Jim went on to release some solo material over the next few decades (and he may have operated a Chevrolet dealership in Tulsa), whereas Jean appeared in plays and then died in the summer of 2007.

String Driven Thing

Artist: String Driven Thing

LP: String Driven Thing

Song: "My Real Hero" 
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The Scottish group String Driven Thing, fronted by husband and wife team Chris and Pauline Adams, seem kinda' like what X might have sounded like if they'd been around in 1972 and knew their way around a violin. I found this one at Golden Oldies yesterday when I dropped by to look for some Whitney Houston singles.

[ String Driven Thing ]

Gene & Debbe

Artist: Gene & Debbe

LP: Hear & Now

Song: "Anyway You Want Me" 
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Song: "Love Will Give Us Wings" 
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Here are a couple tracks from a terrific 1968 LP by Gene Thomas and Debbe Nevills from Nashville, Tennessee. They perform in the vein of Nancy & Lee, but what I particularly admire about this duo is how Gene's restless, searching personality mixes with Debbe's pure simplicity and inner beauty to reaffirm the very laws of nature. Go hear to read about the pair on Wikipedia.

[ Gene Thomas & Debbe Nevills ]

Princess Ramona and Buddy Kemp

Artist: Princess Ramona and Buddy Kemp

LP: Talk About Jesus
Song: "His Name Is Jesus"
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Song: "I've Got It Bad, That's Good" 
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Song: "A Tribute to Mom and Dad"
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As you may have guessed, I've been cleaning out my LP bins again to make more room. I was about to tell Buddy and the Princess to hit the road since their "Gospel Liner" motor home was taking up three parking spots in the religious music section. But then when I heard them perform—especially Princess Ramona's whispering in "His Name Is Jesus" and the yodeling in "A Tribute to Mom and Dad"—I decided to let them stay. Music pays the rent around here. 

I was excited that I'd found an autographed copy of Buddy and The Princess' 1978 "Talk About Jesus" LP...until I realized that all copies of this one were equally autographed by the time they left the printer. There's some interesting information about Princess Ramona and Buddy Kemp—along with links, videos, and more music—on the Clean, Nice, Quiet blog here. And if you're wondering where in the world Trail, Oregon is, you can find out here. 

[ Buddy Kemp and Princess Ramona ]

Fedra y Maximiliano

Artist: Fedra y Maximiliano

LP: Un Muchacho, Una Muchacha

Song: "Angelitos Negros"

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No matter how hard they'd tried, the chips were stacked against Argentinian duo Fedra y Maximiliano as they attempted to record songs for their album that might somehow be even more exciting than their pants.

They didn't quite make it (those are amazing pants), but they came pretty close. Fedra and Maximiliano (real names Élida Navas—or Eli Salvador—and Pedro "Bebe" Muñoz) formed their singing duo in 1968, and were evidently together for fewer than five years, since the info I found online indicates that Pedro adopted the name "Maximiliano" only for that length of time. You can read about Fedra y Maximiliano in Spanish here (Fedra even chimes in with a comment!—but not Max; he passed away in 2008) and additional Spanish-language notes from the back of the "Un Muchacho, Una Muchacha" LP are included below—written by Oscar Cardozo Ocampo, whose orchestra provides accompaniment on the record. There's a neat YouTube music video of Fedra and Max you can watch here:

Fedra y Maximiliano on YouTube:

[ "Cuéntame" ]

Lucha Moreno y Jose Juan

Artist: Lucha Moreno y Jose Juan

LP: Impactos Musicales

Song: "Deja Deja"

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Here's a little something from charming Mexican duo Lucha Moreno and Jose Juan, who were evidently married in real life. According to my online Spanish translator, "Deja Deja" means either "Leaves Leaves" or "It Stops, Stops" in English, and according to the label on the record, that's Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan behind them on this particular track. My search for info about Jose Juan only turned up lots of sexy pictures like this one, this one, this one, this one, and this one. As for the lovely Lucha Moreno, I discovered that she's a film and television actress who's been in lots of shows and movies—including 1961's "Tirando a Matar," which my translator calls "Pulling to Kill" in English. There's some Spanish-language info about Lucha y Jose here, and I've included the "Tirando a Matar" movie poster below along with notes and photos from the back of the "Impactos Musicales" LP, which I'm guessing was released in the early-to-mid 1960s.

 [ Lucha Moreno y Jose Juan... y su tequila. ]