Mary Wilson [1944-2021]

Artist: The Supremes

LP: Floy Joy

Song: "A Heart Like Mine"

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Song: "Automatically Sunshine "

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I was sad to awaken today to news of the death of Mary Wilson, the most supreme member of the legendary Motown girl group The Supremes. Wilson was the only founding member of The Supremes to remain with the group from the beginning (as The Primettes in Detroit in 1959) to the end, when the group disbanded in 1977. 

 

The Supremes' lineup for their 1972 "Floy Joy" LP is Jean Terrell (she handled most lead vocals after coming aboard to replace Diana Ross, who had left the group in 1970 for a solo career), Mary Wilson, and Cindy Birdsong. In fact, Birdsong was exiting The Supremes to focus on raising a family at the time "Floy Joy" was released. She was "great with child" at the time of the album photo shoot, so it's her replacement, Lynda Laurence, standing in on the LP cover (far left, holding a drink) despite the fact that she hadn't actually contributed anything to the record. Mary Wilson is pictured seated on the cover, with Jean Terrell standing to her right (well, to her left, but to our right). 

 

With her misty dry-ice-vapors-on-the-dance-floor voice, Wilson takes center stage on the lovely ballad "A Heart Like Mine." Her vocals are featured again, as co-lead with Terrell, on one of the album's singles, "Automatically Sunshine," which peaked at #37 on the Billboard Hot 100, at #21 on the R&B singles chart, and made it all the way to #10 on the singles charts in the U.K. "Floy Joy" was produced by Smokey Robinson. You can find Mary Wilson's obituary in the New York Times here.

 

Mary Wilson

[ March 6, 1944 — February 8, 2021 ]

We will miss you, Mary.

R.J.'s Latest Arrival

Artist: R.J.'s Latest Arrival

LP: R.J.'s Latest Arrival

Song: "Swing Low"

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Song: "Baby I'm Sorry"

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The guy's name is R.J. who owns and operates Daybreak Records over in Fremont. The store has a 'New Arrivals' section for LPs they've just put out for sale, but I've always thought the section ought to be called "R.J.'s Latest Arrivals."

 

[ R.J.'s Latest Arrival ]

Tavares

Artist: Tavares  

LP: Check It Out

Song: "Mama's Little Girl"

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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 ]

The Family Vibes

Artist: The Family Vibes

LP: Confined to Soul
Song: "Garbage Man"

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Here's a little something for a funky Friday, coming at you from all the way back in 1973. The Family Vibes are reportedly Ike Turner's backing band, which I suppose is why he is presenting them to us. Thank you. I love this "Garbage Man" track, in which a neighborhood garbage man woos his lady by offering to grant her an unlimited number of treasures that he has gleaned from his work. 

I remember reading about a documentary someone made a few years ago in New Zealand or someplace like that, and it was all about garbage men. They even choreographed a musical number in which all the men sang and danced as they collected the city's refuse. But now that I've typed that out, I wonder if I actually read about this film, or if maybe it was just something that happened in one of my dreams.

I feel like people in society generally look down their noses at garbage men (like, they wouldn't want their daughter or son to date them). But I've run into quite a few garbage men in the North Seattle neighborhood alleyways while delivering mail, and they're generally a friendly bunch, and rather fit too from lifting loads of everyone's discarded shit all day long! The recycling and yard waste fellows are generally an attractive set as well. And who knows? Maybe one day one of them could become a famous artist!

[The Family Vibes ]

Betty Wright [1953-2020]

Artist: Betty Wright

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

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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.

The Romanceers

Artist: The Romanceers

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

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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.

Aretha Franklin [1942-2018]

Artist: Aretha Franklin

LP: The Tender, the Moving, the Swinging

Song: "Don't Cry, Baby"
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Song: "Without the One You Love"
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It was while I was in Girona that my friend Eduardo in Seattle texted to tell me that Aretha Franklin had died. As you probably know, she was The Queen of Soul! There's really nothing more to say, except maybe Who's Zoomin' Who. I picked up this lovely 1962 LP at Bay Sound, a little shop across the bay from Mobile, Alabama, on my road trip through the South back in 2014. It's Franklin's third album, from when she was still just an incredible gal singer, before she was a queen, and it was her first to appear on the Billboard charts, peaking at #69. You can read all about Aretha here and go here to find her obituary in the New York Times.

Aretha Franklin

[ March 25, 1942 — August 16, 2018 ]

We will miss you, Aretha.

The Shirelles

Artist: The Shirelles

LP: Happy and In Love

Song: "No Sugar Tonight"
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Song: "Dedicated to the One I Love"
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I love Albany. After a hot breakfast at Jack's Diner I walked all around downtown, snapping photos of the city. Then I hit Last Vestige Music Shop, where they've got a basement and loft full of records, back behind the main front part of the store, pictured below. I found lots of great stuff here, including a sealed copy of "Happy and In Love," the 1971 Shirelles 'comeback' record on RCA, which instead somehow managed to keep them away. Boo on the American public. This is a dynamite record.

Originally a quartet (Doris Coley left the group between 1968 to 1975 to tend to her family) The Shirelles initially came together for a talent show at their New Jersey high school, but then went on to land a string of top ten hits between 1960 and 1963. Their popularity waned as a bunch of other girl groups crowded them off the charts, along with a band of unruly Brits. "No Sugar Tonight" was the sole single released from "Happy and In Love," but it, too, failed to chart. Only Beverly Lee and Shirley Owens are still with us from the original lineup. Time for another comeback LP, ladies?

[ The Shirelles — 1971 ]

[ Last Vestige Music Shop — Albany, NY ]