Nancy Sinatra - Because sometimes you just have to

These Boots Are Made For Walking -

The elusive 45 - How Can I Be Sure?

How can I (really) be sure I'll ever end up with this one final 45 to complete my 1963-1970 Dusty Springfield 45 & EP records released in the UK.

This 45 with How Can I Be Sure on side A & Spooky on the B is eluding me.
Sure, I can get it if I'm prepared to pay $30-60 when it does show up online but, oh really, I don't think so. If a 45 is going to cost that much... well, that's a good dinner out...it would have to be factory sealed and unplayed and another record entirely - I'd have to think about that - I have and I don't think there is one...

It gets me wondering what it is about this particular record that makes it so collectible - there are rarer ones about that sell for reasonable prices...

I am wondering about the popularity of this particular 45 - it may be all due to the B-side:
Could it be that Spooky was used in the soundtrack of that Guy Ritchie film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

Haven't seen that film yet - will probably get round to it when it's back on telly and I notice it is, maybe but it has once again made Dusty cool and hip...

Could it be that in the film clip of Spooky, Dusty Springfield is wearing an Ossie Clark frock (called "Traffic Light Gown")
One of these frocks sold in 2006 for GBP600 - here it is in my Millers Collectables:




Ossie Clark (9 June 1942–6 August 1996) was a big fashion designer in the 1960s through to about 1974, disappeared into obscurity in the 1980s (not surprising - fashion in the 80s was often horrid) and was in the media again in 1996 after being murdered in his Kensington Council flat by a younger ex-lover whose mind had gone off the rails.

It could simply be that not many 45s of this were pressed in the UK (it wasn't released in the USA)- it reached 36 in the charts after 4 weeks in.

I dunno... I've also read the song was used to sell beer in the UK on telly in 2006.

What I do know is Dusty Springfield was an excellent live singer - there are many TV performances around to prove that - but she was a pretty hopeless lip-sync performer as can be seen here wearing said frock:

** postscript 25 September 2009- I don't believe it - some scabby corporate has taken this off Youtube - I dont think anyone is selling your video mate... in fact it may generate some legit sales - crusty scabby unfair - I'll find a photo & upload it soon - ahh, but I found a link with it - I wonder how long it will last.
so, here it is again:

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and here she is singing the A-side live - not in an Ossie frock - this frock - it's a silk dress by Eric Plant for Darnell of London - is not such a good look in the frock sense but an excellent live performance (on the Morcambe and Wise show)
- the carnival-style sound with accordion mid-way is good stuff on the studio recorded version.




I have the A side on CD and an LP & the B side on CD only. As far as I can find out, was only released on record that one time - that may be the answer there on why this 45 still eludes me.

I do enjoy watching hard core buyers on ebay having a bun fight over this one and when they all have their own copy, I'll pop in and get a bargain*...

(*Postscript - and I did - in very near mint condition - nnyah nnyah)

Cool Jazz and Serendipity

I was feeling like the coolest ear on earth when I noodled about in ebay and scored this Dave Brubeck Quartet In Europe (live) picture cover 45 with Joe Morello on one of the best jazz drum solos during Watusi Drums

You wouldn't think him such a fabulous drummer to look at him - one could mistake him for an accountant but have a look at this gem of a drum solo - he makes it look so easy... even as he pushes his "bottom of bottles" spectacles up, he doesn't miss a beat.



Today was another of those gorgeous sunny Sydney winter days so I went on a 10km walk to Rozelle & back (don't be too impressed, it was a slow walk) - on a mission to get my twin her birthday present.
Gee, the 2nd hand markets just happen to be across the road from where I bought her a present - first stall I looked at had records - a quick flick and there's Joe Morello's 1962 LP, It's About Time in "New Orthonphonic" High Fidelity. I am assured on the back by RCA monophonic records can be played on stereophonic equipped for stereophonic reproduction"

Wow, that's a relief.
So I give it a bit of a clean and pop in on the turntable and it's very cool - no big big drum solos but very nice.



As you can read, this is his first solo but a quick search will bring up reference to a 1956 album - cheeky record company. (the image is a cropped version of the sleeve because I couldn't be bothered photographing it & bunged the cover in the scanner instead)

So now all I need for this week is a copy of Barbara Lewis singing Don't Forget About Me and I'm set

(- if you click on the link you'll have to scroll down to track 14 for a sample listen) - it's an excellent version - never was a hit in 1966.

At the moment I can't be bothered to set music up on the share box music thingy and have proper music listening links here... one day maybe.
Did I mention I'm reading the biography of Nico? she was a liar

Nostalgia, childhood, perfect pop and mystery singers

Brought home a cutie 45: Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) by Edison Lighthouse.
I was a little kid when this came out but like Melting Pot by Blue Mink amongst others, it is one of my favourites. It really is a fab example of perfect pop of its era - maybe now.
Do we as adults eventually revert to music, clothes and ideas we had as children that made us feel good?
I don't have any canvas beachcombers anymore but I still own some navy corduroy pants (OBVIOUSLY not the same ones I wore to the Italian wedding at the age of 7 or 8 with a maroon waistcoat - I loved that outfit). there's a flannie shirt about and yes, I have a maroon waistcoat - not velvet but... Then there's the salmon coloured slacks with the double eye-looking circles and the white sash belt! Loved those super dooper groovy pants from the early 70s - I don't think I could match those even bespoke.
Maybe we keep a collection of affectionate memories that sometimes spill out from where they were filed all that time ago in the mind - so one could exclaim, epiphany! so often instead of realising the memory trigger...
Like this song - story goes I sang a few lines of it after using a cosmetic that has rosemary in it. Turns out my partner had never heard the song - thought I was making it up... Thanks to YouTube, I found it & liked it so much that I went out & found a 45 that week - almost 40yrs after its release - this world is really good fun. And AH likes the song too - her first listen 39 1/2 years after it was released.

So, onto the mystery. Who is the most gorgeous guy I've seen from ages lip syncing in the clip?

(take no notice of the patched in monologue running across the bottom of the clip, it's mostly wrong but it's the best voice-video synced version I could find)

I looked them up & the singer comes up at Tony Burrows so I look him up and it's not the same guy - Tony Burrows being a bit ordinary to look at and very disappointing - well, a bit fugly really - I was expecting to see the cute one live and I'm wondering if it's one of the guitarists, Ray Dorey maybe. Naming the band members against photographs is eluding me and I'm usually an excellent net sleuth. As I was trying to find a picture that matched boy singer, the web search even came up with a photo of David Cassidy as the lead singer of this band!

ahh well, don't matter.. So - onto playing the song and that pretty, pretty fella! Not to mention that body shirt! pure polyester no doubt (armpits to be avoided within 15 minutes of putting it on)

Dolly

gosh




It's Dolly

Caught on film - no, sensor... umm, good art!

How do you say 'caught on film' when someone takes your photo on a digital camera?
That's me in the foreground the short one on the left with the hair & little sailor looking coat, talking to Megan's cleavage - can I say that?!!! bad, bad - best I go self-flaggelate... ahh , that's better (it looks more like I'm counting with my fingers... probably am)

I went to a group exhibition with a heavy bias on first night dips on Megan Yeo's work (I missed her last Gaffa Show and was spewing!) - I'd just got a hint about my tax returns (2 weeks and I still ain't got the bucks but - yikes, have I spent it all?) and figured there could be something there for sale so I could be challenged to create another vacant place on our wall.
And there was.


"Bring on the Ravens" by Megan Yeo - I'm bringing them home - yaye
AH reckons she may not cope with our Queen being in an in her face place so I may have to put her above the other bed... hmmm, that's an idea, best I check for a spot without loose plaster under the crappy wall paint - love an Inner West rental...

(thanks to Megan Yeo for letting me nick the images off her blog - now that I am asking post theft.. cheers cuz!)
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postscript - how to work at home with a cat lying across your wrists as you type - she managed to publish this post twice before I'd finished

Germans can be a bit potty (one more from my collection)

And here's the proof




This little photo (only 10cm x 6cm) was created by a Dresden photographer in 1889 to advertise Knapman's "BIG GUN" Tonic Ale.

That's some pretty clever edit work - Photomontage before the Dadaists made it their own...

I've enlarged it for viewing pleasure (click for a bigger view)

I'm liking the top hats (very Fagan / Artful Dodger) but it's the little one with her/his tongue out in the face of the clock at the top that really tickles me.

yes, babies on the pot have a lot to do with beer...

damn, Germans are fun!

No.., they really are.

And I am absolutely bias.



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Continuing on the loose subject of transport - some photos from my collection - early 20th Century

A favourite of mine - unknown photographer, Australia - early 20th Century
Shamefully, I kept this on a pinboard for many years (cos I used to ride motorcycles a lifetime ago) - this rider is making dust! I always thought he had a cigarette in his mouth but I guess it's just a mark on the negative... wish I had the negative

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Again, no idea - it's one of those make your photograph into a post card from the first 1/4 of last century - It has "post card" in 3 languages so it is from Europe somewhere - I reckon it's from English occupied India - there is one Indian looking fellow (the only one with a water bottle at his waist) and the tanned white boys are all wearing those silly English safari hats - as if wearing one of those will save them in a fall... Perhaps the hard hats are for the sun or really for bullets...

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Raphael's Motor Car Hire & Repair Company is a photo I've had, I think, the longest -since teen years. Again, photographer and place unknown - most likely Australia (the building suggests Aust)- and date? circa 1920s me thinks

I had a t-shirt with this Advert written on it within an outline of Aust map - this is also where I dump on the Yobbo side of Adelaide

The t-shirt was maybe yellow and beige and I think my Mum still has a photo of me with really bad hair (a home cut maybe and probably only 11 years old) playing tippy-go in the yard (that's cricket but if you tip the ball you have to run - hence the tip & go!)
- usually we played with an old tennis racquet from the dump & a tennis ball.



I thought I was never that good at Tippy-go but one day as a mangy teenie at the beach (playing hooky no doubt) I did really well and the boys who so did not want to f**k me were almost impressed at my tippy-go ability - they almost understood respect and camaraderie through the haze of their oily hormones..
(lovely suburban Adelaide in the 1970s - they also pretended to be surfies - on flat wave Adelaide beaches!!)


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Annnd, then there was, "Hey Charger" - every time you see a Chrysler Charger, you must hold 2 fingers up in the peace sign & go all sultry and say sexily, "Hey.... Charger!"
I was about to do that a few years ago while visiting Adelaide and some yobs in a hotted up car yelled, "Lesbian!"
Gee, that's tough.. and your point is?
*only in Adelaide...

*mind you, I've never been to Rooty Hill