Contrary to what almost every non-record collector thinks about us, we (in general) do not enjoy the crackles/pops/distortion/etc that beat up records produce or think that these imperfections enhance our enjoyment of listening to the music. In general.. BUT - here is an interesting example of how pressing flaws (in this case an off-center press)/distortion (old needle picking up layers of dust settled into grooves from 30-40 years of inactive storage) actually do help, in my opinion, the eeriness and effect of this amazing gospel recording. By the end of this, as the the off-kilter and dust-strangled screams of one Rev. Charles Fair reach their apex, the already spooky mood is transformed into an absolute nightmare! Enjoy!

Rev. Charles Fair - Stand By Me (UNITED BAPTIST CHURCH)

Breathers - Don't It Make You Feel

Super rare Carolina's 45. Badly transferred from my portable sorry!

Soulfull Strutters "Let Your Feelings Go"

Beautiful funk 45 recorded in Waupun Correctional Institution and pressed on Oshkosh custom label "Love". A great, heartbreaking YT video made by the group leader's daughter after his death and featuring unreleased track "Come On With Your Come On" can be seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYqYxgpnrm8

Upheaval - "Paradise Lost" (Love)

Beaumont, TX beauty! Rob and Johnny Greene (the only other artist to release anything on local shadester Odis Briggs' imprint) were also both founding members of the 4th Generation and the Ebony Stones. 

Rob Cummings - Walking Around (Peace)

"We not gonna let the White Man make us slaves anymore, we gonna put the White Man outside the Freedom Door!". Milwaukee, 1967 and the Journal-Sentinal's headline read "RIOT ERUPTS AGAIN; SNIPING, FIRES RAGE" . Meanwhile the clandestine "Black Arts Theatre" and it's musical director Will Crittendon are busy cutting this amazing snapshot of the tense vibe on the streets. On the flip side Brenda and her backup singers shout "Black is Rising Up Oh Yeah! Nigger is No Longer Our Name!". Will also recorded a spiritual/free/ethnic jazz LP ("Message From the Third World") around the same time, before heading to NYC where he produced a few 45s in a similar vein (the Sweet Breeze record being a stand out), before transitioning into a much less socially-conscious career as a disco producer. The Raynard 45 fascinatingly combines mid-60s Motown girl group sounds, a Coltrane-influenced modal jazz piano and a trance-y R&B back beat with Black Power lyrics. It remains one of the rarest black records from the city.

Brenda & The Afroettes - Color Me Black (Raynard)

Spooky testimonial from Cincinnati, OH. My friend Spero and I have the only two copies I can find any trace of, both were found in a Milwaukee basement. 

Phyllis McNeese - Talkin' Bout A Child (Pisces)

A sublime disco track from this early 80s Milwaukee family/kid band. The "C" is for Charles (Smith), the band's leader. Sweet Thang records also released a hopelessly rare 12" EP by the group, who had changed their name to Dazzle in the interim. The EP features a nice synth and percussion heavy remix of 'In the Disco', as an instrumental and retitled 'Disco's Out'. 1980.

"C" On the Funk - In the Disco (Sweet Thang)

A rare boogie record from Youngstown, Ohio. This wouldn't of been out of place, musically, at the roller rink back in the day and was a staple favorite at Love Sounds, the ill-fated disco/boogie DJ event my friend Frank and I used to spin in Milwaukee. 

Jerry Blackshear - Defected From Your Love (ERAL)

An extremely rare modern soul 45 cut in Atlanta. Label says 1978, although it sounds a bit later to me. One of those 'Taken from the LP' notes on label, although I'm pretty sure no LP was ever released. What that does usually infer is that more material was recorded, and with the quality here (and the nice spacey instrumental flip-side) I for one would love to see it surface one day!

Keither Florence - Future (Florence)

A very understated, almost folk-ish disco 12" from Boston. 7min of mellow bliss, sounding just right to my ears on one of the first chilly days of fall. Not sure if this is going to blow up the floor at the disco anytime soon, but then there's enough tracks to do that - and very few that can take you to the place this one does. 

Evans Pyramid - Never Gonna Leave You (Funk)

The rare 45 mix of Penny Goodwin's classic early 70s down-tempo rare groove. It excludes the LP versions double-time ending where Penny starts ranting about acid and track marks, but probably ends up being a generally more cohesive piece of music. Penny is from Milwaukee and still sings here occasionally to this day. The sessions that produced this record and the rest of her 'Portrait of a Gemini' LP were done in Chicago, however, with Richard Evans stepping in on arrangements. His string charts in particular really add a lot to this track. The title is taken from an old Jewish proverb, with lyrics cleverly adapting the sentiment for the switched-on kids of the late 60s/early 70s generation. Sy Lefco, the writer, penned many other tunes for black and white groups in Milwaukee at the time- effortlessly crisscrossing genre and racial boundaries. 



Penny Goodwin - Too Soon You're Old (Sidney)

A hyper-rare modern soul 45 from Milwaukee (despite the label name). Hadn't seen a copy in my 15+ years of hunting locally. Lady luck smiled this crisp September afternoon and united me and this beauty via a stack of El DeBarge pic sleeves that had perfectly preserved Al's masterpiece in fine NM condition. The artist threw all his copies away years ago, nice one dude! I'd like to think they are in the same trash heap as all the Cosmos Universal Band 45s. You know who has the best 45 collection in the world? The garbage man. Sadly he doesn't play out much.


Al (Alonzo) Wilson - Love You Girl (Nashville)

Today we take a slight detour into the world of psychedelic rock/funk. Hootch's self titled LP was recorded and manufactured by Thomas Gress for his Progress imprint. They cover a few styles on this record, employing male and female vocals here and there - most of the really interesting bits are instrumental, though. "Arabian Style" is pretty much exactly what the name implies, although the addition of fuzz bass, funky drums, and a nice punchy recording really take the simple Eastern-guitar lines to somewhere a bit further.

Hootch - Arabian Style (Progress)

The first single from the half-a-century old Milwaukee gospel group. After this late 60s release, the group would travel to Nashville to record for Style Wooten's Designer imprint and Jackson, MS to do two LPs for James Bennett's J&amp;B label.
Lead vocals courtesy of the amazing Thurmon Gill, principle songwriter for the group since it's origins in the late 50s. Thurmon and the group are both going strong to this day in Milwaukee,



Gill Singers of Milwaukee - Whisper (A Little Prayer) (Church)

Gospel Supreme's of Milwaukee - Shouting Religion (Hummingbird)

Recorded by Babs Brown and Samuel Marti on June 24th, 1956. 


Collas Dance Music - Traditional Music of Peru (Ethnic Folkways)

An otherworldly guitar leads off this strange, beautiful, off-kilter pledge. 

The New Corinithians - Soldier (Corinthian)

Words kind of fail here. A major work of art.




Darkseid - Ground Zero (Brooks)

Darkseid - Land of the Darker Sun (Brooks)

Very pretty folk/rock record by this all-female outfit from Canton, IL. Totally love the harmonies and the C86-ish guitar style. Think this is late 70s. Intrigued to find out what these ladies were influenced by at the time. Deb, the guitarist, was apparently in the Third Booth much earlier.

Baby Blue - A Feeling Of Love

Not usually a fan of the gospel choir records, I tend to favor the small vocal group releases which were very often recorded in a style of secular R&B at any given time, both musically and technically (mic positions, mixing, etc). This is a huge exception, where the 1-2 microphones in a church-style recording really produces a stunning effect. The drummer is certainly not hurting matters either! Regardless, it's the lead vocal courtesy of Mary Lewis here that really shines and reinforces my desire to keep searching out these obscure discs.

All College Choir State University feat. Mary Lewis - What A Friend (Mo Do)

One of the greatest Milwaukee gospel tracks, this original Gill family composition was recorded and released in 1974 via Cuca studios in Sauk City, WI and issued on their fantastic Psalms imprint. 

The Gill Singers - Don't Put Off Today For Tomorrow (Psalms)

One of my very favorite gospel 45s, thanks to Shopkeeper Ken for finding this gorgeous copy for me. This was re-released as part of an excellent debut LP by Texas label Heavy Light a few years back, loads of other great tunes on that. "Life is a cancer, as big as the world"!

The Relatives - Don't Let Me Fall (Hosanna)

Beautiful blues/gospel 45 on a tiny Gary, IN label. Johnita & Joyce were a mother/daughter act. They released a handful of singles on their self-owned Whirlwind imprint. Both sides are special, definitely not typical small-label gospel tunes. This is from the early 70s, and features a very young Johnita on the guitar.

Johnita & Joyce Collins - One Morning Soon (Whirlwind)

One of my favorite recent finds. A haunting vocal, with a great jazz-tinged funky backing track courtesy of Ken Chaney and company. Chaney also recorded an instrumental funk 45 for the Ben-L label with a similar head-nod vibe. Great stuff.

Georgette Blu "You Had A Dream" (LOVE)

This swamp-y little piece of black witchcraft came to me via trade with Josh Davis aka DJ Shadow. I had the privilege of digging through Shadow's storage lockers last January and was absolutely blown away by the quality of the records he's dug up over the years. The world seems to be full of celeb DJs these days - very few, if any, who bring the knowledge, passion, and dedication that Josh carries. 

Boco - Running the Mardi Gras (Laughing Eye)

1986 Philly sounds from the same producer who gave us the inimitable Night of Power LP. 
A Smooth banger that effortlessly blends a freestyle-electro-soul feel with loads of jazz influence.

S/M - I'm Here For You

Two guys, a horse, and some borrowed music gear all figure into this great rural (Sussex, Wisconsin) mid-70s private press LP. "Black Cherry", an ode to Jeffrey Engel's trusty steed, is a sincere and pretty track which perfectly summarizes the record for me. 

Sensation - Black Cherry (Sensation)

A really gorgeous MKE-area mid-70s release, known by only 2 copies in the collectors world. This copy was barely saved from destruction right before my eyes as it's previous owner attempted to 'wash it off for me'! This unlikely musical pairing features the enigmatic Ms. Smith, obviously more of an R&B singer, being backed by local faves Sensation - a folk/rock/pop ensemble featured in my previous post. 

Tina Smith - Chained To You (Sensation)

Cover version of The Parliaments "I Wanna Testify" from a very rare Milwaukee gospel LP, seems to be a bit of a various artists compilation.

I found this LP in a box of easy listening records, it had no cover - I'm not sure if Hummingbird made a cover for it or not.

Big Bill - I Wanta Testify (Hummingbird)

so i had this band with this dude little gregory for like 6 months, he was cool but he was old, i guess i shouldn't have put much faith in it ,but i did, because - well i guess that's what i do .. anyways, he dipped outta nowhere one day and left me with not much else besides a lot of little phone recordings of stuff, anyways, i like them - maybe you will too?

Last day before Little Gregory quit

An assortment of rare tracks from my personal collection. Focusing on lesser known sounds in a variety of genres, most of which have been found in my travels digging for records over the last 20 years.

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