Renaldo Domino - Nevermore (Twinight 128)

Nevermore

VINYL RECORD DAY 2007

Hey everybody, here's my piece of the 'blogswarm' puzzle, put up to help celebrate Vinyl Record Day. While, as you know, every day is vinyl record day over here, I'm all for getting behind this grass roots effort to heighten the public's awareness of the wonders of vinyl. You can track the progress of the 'swarm' over at The Hits Just Keep On Comin', where J.A. Bartlett has been instrumental in putting all of this together.

Now, if you've been around here awhile, you already know that Syl Johnson is a big favorite of ours. The work he did, both as an artist and producer, for Chicago's Twinight label in the late sixties is the stuff of legend. Some of the most collectable slabs of vinyl out there, most of it has remained out of my reach. Nevertheless, I remained a big fan, picking up his later Hi material when I could, and staying on the lookout for the rest of it. Johnson's performance at the Ponderosa Stomp in Memphis last year (where he was backed by Hi Rhythm) just did me in.

When I first read over at ol' buddy Jason Stone's always excellent Get On Down With The Stepfather Of Soul! page back in March that the Numero Group had gathered much of this obscure Twinight material into what they dubbed 'The Big Dig, the Tutankhamen of R&B', I was ecstatic. The two CD set, Eccentric Soul: Twinight's Lunar Rotation is chock full of great music, complete with the informative liner notes and photos that mark all of their intrepid output. Awesome.

Nevertheless, as I'm sure many of you like-minded souls already know, the hunt for the original vinyl would continue unabated...

I almost had a coronary this past June, as I was digging through the crates of 45s in the back room of Grimey's (the world renowned vinyl-friendly Nashville record shop), and came across today's selection, in mint condition, in the original company sleeve! 'Great Googly-Moogly', I thought (or words to that effect), 'how lucky can you get?!' Well, dear reader, as I soon figured out, the 45 was an exact replica put out by the Numero Group in conjunction with the CD release outlined above. As it turns out, the Group has issued seven such vinyl reproductions... how cool is that?

Here's what Jason had to say about our man Renaldo Domino in that initial post: "The soulful figure gracing the cover of Twinight's Lunar Rotation is Renaldo Domino (born Renaldo Jones and renamed because his voice was as sweet as Domino sugar), who, had Twinight put more effort into promotion side of things, may have been a major success at the dawn of the '70s. After unsuccessful prior records on Blue Rock in the late '60s, Domino came to Twinight via WVON jock Richard Pegue, who dabbled in production and promotion as a sideline to his radio gig. Although Domino cut several great 45s, including the notorious funk classic "Let Me Come Within," his soulful falsetto failed to make the big time and he eventually faded into obscurity..."

This is one fantastic B side, let me tell ya, and perfectly illustrates the stated mission of the people over at Vinyl Record Day, of 'Preserving the Past - Promoting the Future'. A special Thank You to all involved.

'In Vinyl Veritas'