Joan Spins Again - Volume 3

Side 1

1 Must Be Falling In Love - The Duponts

2 The Angels Sent You To Me - The Carnations

3 Pretty Girl - The V-8's

4 Shouldn't I - The Orients

5 Feelin' Alright This Morning - The Hi-Liters

6 The Wayward Wind - The Centenniels

7 You Can't Stay Here - The Concords

8 Anna Mocora - The Calvaes

9 Love Tears - The Five Embers

Side 2

1 All Of Me - The King Odom Four

2 Baby Don't Go - The Gentlemen

3 'lizabeth - The Thrillers

4 Hello - Little June & The Januarys

5 Mr Blues - The Master Keys

6 Why - The Impalas

7 Gone So Long - The Invictas

8 Sweet Names - The Five Stars

9 Sweet Tooth For My Baby - The Four Buddies

Here ‘tis – another collection of vintage R&B courtesy of Joan K. Volume 3 of Joan Spins Again is a whirlwind tour of a decade of vocal group stylings, ranging from sophisticated early 1950s jazzy records rooted in the sound of The Ravens, to the younger group sounds of the later 50s which were such an important part of the rise of rock and roll. This is a great compilation which I’ve been sitting on for a couple of months, enjoying on the privacy of my own PC. But here it is at last, available for the delectation of R&B fans the wide world over.

I’ve selected some of my personal favourites and put them on the streaming audio widget below, but every track on the collection is a gem. The King Odom Four, The Masterkeys and The Four Buddies are the smoothies here – suave, sophisticated, knowing (and occasionally leering) – their sound really appeals to me. For the younger followers of Be Bop Wino a word of caution: I suspect you have to be at least fifty years old in order to fully appreciate the subtleties of these records. What kind of a kick can rockers possibly get out of an early 1950s reworking of an old standard like “All of  Me” by a seemingly “square” group like The King Odom Four? Just give it a listen and let the sheer hepness of the record take hold of you. The same group also did a cover of “Lover Come Back to Me” which was equally good.

At the opposite end of the rockin’ spectrum we have The Concords, or rather Pearl Reaves and The Concords with “You Can’t Stay Here,” an irresistible pounding treatment of the old blues standard “Step It Up and Go.” This record has featured on several rockin’ R&B comps across the years, perhaps most notably on number 20 of the inestimable “Stompin’” series where it shares disc space with the likes of Riff Ruffin’s “Money For My Honey” and Pigmeat Markham’s “Let’s Have Some Heat.” If you don’t have “Stompin’ 20” then I’m sorry, you just ain’t where it’s at!

Listen to some highlights from Joan Spins Again Volume 3 below:

Download the collection from here:

https://rapidshare.com/files/2597826766/Joan%20Spins%20Again%20-%20Volume%203.rar

Or here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?wb3ksx2o8pjlhcv

Zapped by Mediafire? Try this link instead:

Joan Spins Again Volume 3 download

Password = greaseyspoon

1 - The Duponts - Must Be Falling In Love - Winley 212 / SAVOY 1552 (1958)

     (F/b Little Anthony Gourdine)

2 - The Carnations - The Angels Sent You To Me - Savoy 1172 (1955)

3 - The V-8s - Pretty Girl - Most 711 (1959)

4 - The Orients - Shouldn't I - Laurie 3232 (1964)

5 - The Hi-Liters  - Feelin' Alright This Morning - Vee Jay (Unreleased) (1958)  

6 - The Centenniels - The Wayward Wind - Dot 16180 (1961)

7 - The Concords - You Can't Stay Here - Harlem 2332 (1955)

8 - The Calvaes - Anna Morcora - Checker 928 (1959) (F/b Oscar Boyd)

9 - The Five Embers - Love Tears - Gem 227 (1955)

10 - The King Odom Four - All Of Me - Derby (1951)

11 - The Gentlemen - Baby Don't Go - Apollo 470 (1954)

12 - The Thrillers - 'Lizabeth - Herald 432 (1954)

13 - Little June and the Januarys - Hello - Salem 188 (1959)

14 - The Masterkeys - Mr. Blues - Abbey 2017  

15 - The Impalas - Why - Corvet 1017 (1958)

16 - The Invictas - Gone So Long - Jack Bee 1003 (1959)

17 - The Five Stars - Sweet Names - Note (1956) 

18 - The Four Buddies - Sweet Tooth For My Baby - Savoy 866 (1952)

With many thanks to Joan K for all her hard work in putting this collection together.

Backyard Affair / Dreaming Again – Sonny Thompson and Orchestra (Miracle 146)

Scan from very faded label 

Another scan from a very faded label!

Backyard Affair recorded Chicago, June 1949. Dreaming Again recorded Chicago, April 1949.

Personnel on April 1949 session: Floyd Jones (tp); Eddie Chamblee (ts); Dick Davis (ts); Sonny Thompson (p); Leo Blevins (g); Curtis Ferguson (b); Sonny Cole (d)

June 1949 session recorded with similar personnel, although Chamblee and Blevins possibly replaced by unknown. This was Sonny Thompson’s last session for Miracle.

Record released October 1949. Label scans from a very faded 78 disc, hence de facto invisibility.

Listen to "Backyard Affair"

Listen to "Dreaming Again"

With thanks to El Enmascarado, the wrestling muso, for these rips and scans. Here is his commentary on the tracks:

“Dreaming Again makes me think of old-fashioned stripper music. The saxes groan, the trumpet blares the blues, the drums go boomp-a-boomp and the girls do the hoochie-coochie…”

“Backyard Affair makes me think that the cats were longing to go a bit more Bebop. Although the main melody seems to borrow from D Natural Blues by Lucky Millinder (one of my very favorites, and possibly the first R&B 78 I knew as a boy- I'll eventually get around to ripping it), it also has occasional boppish dissonant chords that jump out seemingly at random. Also, in addition to what I would think of as the Meade Lux Lewis Tremolo Lick, Sonny plays what sounds for all the world like a Thelonious Monk lick at @1:43. Pretty interesting. I'm happy with the sound quality I got, but the original label is quite faded, hence the scans.”

Billboard 15th October 1949