Joan's 78s Volume 2 - I Got Loaded

Record 1 - Apollo 443

01. Baby, Don't Do It - The 5 Royales
02. Take All Of Me - The 5 Royales

Record 2 - King 4415

03. Put It Back - Wynonie Harris
04. Triflin' Woman - Wynonie Harris

Record 3 - Ultra 101

05. Groove Juice - Preston Love And His Orchestra
06. If You Ever Get Lonesome - Preston Love And His Orchestra

Record 4 - Atlantic 972

07. She Rocks - The Cardinals
08. The Bump - The Cardinals

Record 5 - Meteor 5016

09. Dumb Woman Blues - J.T. (Big Boy) Brown
10. Sax-Ony Boogie - Sax Man Brown

Record 6 - Trumpet 187

11. Strange Kind Of Feeling - Tiny Kennedy
12. Early In The Morning, Baby - Tiny Kennedy

Record 7 - Modern 1000

13. Dancin' Dan - The Cadets
14. I Got Loaded - The Cadets

Joan's 78s Volume 2 (Mega)

Joan's 78s Volume 2 (Zippy)

OK rhythm fans, you got it. Back by popular demand, more shellac shenanigans, more lo-fi high jinks, yes, the return of Joan's 78s. Another 7 discs carefully selected from Joan's old low bitrate transfers from 78 rpm records and run through Magix Audio Cleaning Lab by myself in an effort to boost volume, suppress hiss and eliminate clicks and crackling. All while trying to avoid distortion. I'll get the hang of it someday.

So download and enjoy the gospel style vocal group hollering of The "5" Royales, a Wynonie Harris disc that hasn't turned up on all that many compilations, a Preston Love offering that doesn't have Preston Love on it, fantastic and occasionally chaotic bumping, rocking and rolling from The Cardinals, sax stylings from J.T. Brown backed by the Elmore James band, Tiny Kennedy's original Trumpet version of "Strange Kind Of Feeling" recorded at Sam Phillips' Memphis studio, and a couple of "covers" by The Cadets - a cleaned up version of "Sixty Minute Man" and a rather good version of Peppermint Harris's "I Got Loaded."

The story of Preston Love's "Groove Juice" is told by Tony Collins in his notes to the Ace CD "Creepin' With The Cats - The Legendary Dig Masters Volume One." This track and other "Preston Love" sides on Ultra and Dig were recorded in L.A. by the Johnny Otis band without Preston who was in Omaha at the time. Ultra was owned by the Mesner Brothers and Johnny Otis but after 5 releases it became Dig.

Anyway enough from me. Open up this latest 78 rpm album, crank up the turntable, and put the needle onto these big ten inchers. By the way Joan approves of this selection.

Big Ten Inch Fax

Apollo 443 - The "5" Royales with Charlie Ferguson, His Tenor and Orchestra - Baby Don't Do It / Take All Of Me - released December 1952.

King 4415 - Wynonie Harris - Triflin' Woman / Put It Back - released January 1951.

Ultra 101 - Preston Love and His Orchestra - Groove Juice / If You Ever Get Lonesome (vocal - Roy "Happy" Easter) - released February 1956.

Atlantic 972 - The Cardinals - She Rocks / The Bump - released August 1952.

Meteor 5016 - Sax Man Brown, Elmo James Broom Dusters - Sax-Ony Boogie / Dumb Woman Blues (as J.T. (Big Boy) Brown on Dumb Woman Blues) - released September 1954.

Trumpet 187 - Tiny Kennedy - Strange Kind Of Feeling / Early In The Morning, Baby - released December 1952.

Modern 1000 - The Cadets - Dancin' Dan / I Got Loaded - released September 1956.

Issue information from www.45worlds.com, www.discogs.com, Billboard, and The Cash Box. Label pics from discogs.com and various record sales sites.

On the front cover, from left to right: Tiny Kennedy, Wynonie Harris, The "5" Royales.

"Wheel of Fortune" - The Cardinals on 78rpm

Unlike other major vocal groups from the late 1940s to mid 1950s period (The Orioles, The Ravens, The Dominoes, The Robins, etc), The Cardinals have never received the treatment they deserve from the reissue companies. Some of their tracks have turned up on compilations of Atlantic R&B sides such as “Don’t It Sound Good” and “Atlantic Rhythm and Blues 1947-1974”, but the only album I can find that is dedicated exclusively to The Cardinals is a 10 track CD on the Collectables label.

Which is where Joan comes to our rescue with this 21 track compilation of sides ripped mainly from 78 rpm discs. There are also a few rips from 1950s vinyl, I’m sure, probably from track 17 onwards, judging by the sound quality. Ah, sound quality! Listening to these sides took me back to the days when, as a wee boy, I used to listen to a pile of old 78 rpm records belonging to my parents. The King Cole Trio, The Ink Spots, Artie Shaw, Bing Crosby, Art Tatum, Spike Jones & His City Slickers, and as it was Scotland, Harry Lauder and Jimmy Shand. I’d forgotten about the constant hissing from these big ten inchers, possibly caused by the fact that they were played using a needle attached to a pickup arm that weighed half a ton.

So what I’m saying here is that you mustn’t expect good sound quality. Even some of the vinyl is pretty scratched. That, and the fact that the rips were made at 80 kbps. And they can’t be re-ripped as Joan has sold her 78s. Woe, woe and thrice woe.

Despite the caveats, the sound quality is perfectly listenable. I play my computer sound through my HiFi via a direct USB connection and I also use sound enhancing software, so I’ve got reasonable sound quality from these files. Good enough to recognise that the Cardinals were one hell of a group.

You can read the Cardinals story here:

http://home.earthlink.net/~jaymar41/Cardinals.html

It’s an article from edition number 4 of “Doowop Nation” an Ezine put online by JC Marion. It’s a website I’ve been looking at for years. It’s a treasure trove of articles on all aspects of 1940s/1950s R&B. The home page is here:

http://home.earthlink.net/~jaymar41/index.html

The Cardinals, like the Orioles, were a Baltimore group who originally styled themselves on The Inkspots but moved to a more R&B leaning sound when they started recording for Atlantic in 1951. Their first discs sold well, but disc number three, “The Wheel of Fortune” was a smash hit. The fantastic lead tenor vocals of Ernest Warren were a feature of their sound which raised them above many of their rivals. Although they recorded for Atlantic until 1956 they only issued 12 singles. The rise of the teenage vocal groups probably contributed to their demise, and they went the way of the 78 rpm format.

Let me finish this post with a plea to anyone from the reissue companies who happens by – please, please, please bring out a set which does justice to The Cardinals.

Ripped from shellac & 50s vinyl at 80 kbps. Password = greaseyspoon

Download from here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/130855264/Wheel_Of_Fortune.rar

Or here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Q8SZISMQ

1. Shouldn't I Know
2. Please Don't Leave Me This Way
3. Pretty Baby Blues
4. I'll Always Love You
5. She Rocks
6. The Bump
7. Lovie Darling
8. You Are My Only Love
9. The Door Is Still Open
10. Miserlou
11. Lovely Girl
12. Here Goes My Heart To You
13. Off Shore
14. Choo Choo
15. I Won't Make You Cry Anymore
16. The End Of My Story
17. Wheel Of Fortune
18. Come Back My Love
19. Two Things I Love
20. Near You
21. One Love

The Cardinals Singles

- Shouldn't I Know c/w Please Don't Leave Me (Atlantic 938) 1951
- Pretty Baby Blues c/w I'll Always Love You (Atlantic 952) 1951
- Wheel Of Fortune c/w Kiss Me Baby (Atlantic 958) Jan 1952
- She Rocks c/w The Bump (Atlantic 972) 1952
- Lovie Darling c/w You Are My Only Love (Atlantic 995) 1953
- Please Baby c/w Under A Blanket Of Blue (Atlantic 1025) 1954
- The Door Is Still Open c/w Misirlou (Atlantic 1054) 1955
- Come Back My Love c/w Two Things I Love (Atlantic 1067) 1955
- Lovely Girl c/w Here Goes My Heart To You (Atlantic 1079) 1955
- Off Shore c/w Choo Choo (Atlantic 1090) 1956
- I Won't Make You Cry Anymore c/w The End Of The Story (Atlantic 1101) Aug 1956
- One Love c/w Near You (Atlantic 1126) end 1956