Well, here goes...
I've been laying awake nights trying to figure out how to set up an "audioblog" dedicated to one of my secret passions: the B sides of 45rpm records.
I mean, the first 45 I ever bought was "Do the Mouse" by Soupy Sales. It sucked. BUT, the B side was a little number called "Pachalafaka", or something like that, and I thought it was just da bomb! Later on that year (1965) when I bought the single of "Help" by the Beatles, lo and behold - the B side was "I'm Down", the real deal! Or like, how about the flip side of "Good Vibrations" being "Let's Go Away for Awhile" one of Brian Wilson's awesome Pet Sounds tone poems?
I knew I was on to something... I never understood why other people didn't "get it".
Essentially, this went on to color my whole life, I think... I mean, I always wanted to be different or something - always lived on the B side of life somehow.
If it was popular and glamorous (read: A side), I wanted no part of it.
I still don't.
When I was in 9th grade, I found a scratched up copy of Cold Sweat -Part 1 (of which the B side, of course, was Part2) outside the Electric Circus on St. Mark's Place in NYC. This event changed my life. I couldn't believe music like that actually EXISTED! I've been in search of that funky groove ever since... Through yard sales and street fairs; hunting through dusty record shops from NYC to New Orleans, Amsterdam and London... eventually I even bought the entire stock of 45s from a record store that was closing down in Cottondale, Alabama... but THAT'S a whole other story...
So, here I am with all these obscure slabs of vinyl... with all these yummy B sides to explore together!
ANYWAY, I'm sure you're totally bored with this by now (like I am!), SO sit back and enjoy the ride...
I'm going to attempt to post at least one B side a week here, if I can figure all this shit out!
I mean, the first 45 I ever bought was "Do the Mouse" by Soupy Sales. It sucked. BUT, the B side was a little number called "Pachalafaka", or something like that, and I thought it was just da bomb! Later on that year (1965) when I bought the single of "Help" by the Beatles, lo and behold - the B side was "I'm Down", the real deal! Or like, how about the flip side of "Good Vibrations" being "Let's Go Away for Awhile" one of Brian Wilson's awesome Pet Sounds tone poems?
I knew I was on to something... I never understood why other people didn't "get it".
Essentially, this went on to color my whole life, I think... I mean, I always wanted to be different or something - always lived on the B side of life somehow.
If it was popular and glamorous (read: A side), I wanted no part of it.
I still don't.
When I was in 9th grade, I found a scratched up copy of Cold Sweat -Part 1 (of which the B side, of course, was Part2) outside the Electric Circus on St. Mark's Place in NYC. This event changed my life. I couldn't believe music like that actually EXISTED! I've been in search of that funky groove ever since... Through yard sales and street fairs; hunting through dusty record shops from NYC to New Orleans, Amsterdam and London... eventually I even bought the entire stock of 45s from a record store that was closing down in Cottondale, Alabama... but THAT'S a whole other story...
So, here I am with all these obscure slabs of vinyl... with all these yummy B sides to explore together!
ANYWAY, I'm sure you're totally bored with this by now (like I am!), SO sit back and enjoy the ride...
I'm going to attempt to post at least one B side a week here, if I can figure all this shit out!
posted by Red Kelly at 8:11 AM
6 Comments:
Cool, man. Real cool. I'm late to the party, but I'll be stayin awhile.
Cool idea for site! The good music helps too. I had a similar tendency to forage for music in my younger years, only I'd hit the $1.00 album rack @ used record stores (and garage sales, natch), and dig deep for the cool neglected nuggets nobody'd heard or played to death on the radio. A fave pastime in college while sitting around in the dorms was to play something good but obscure by a band everybody in the room had presumably heard of, and get 'em to "Name That Band". The first one to get it right got the next bong hit. If nobody got it, I got the next one. Much more subterfuge is needed to hide an album cover than a CD case, I've noticed.
Of course the foraging continues, but now it's mostly downloads and the join-and-quit BMG cycle. Originally it was just Rock, but then Blues, Reggae, African, & Jazz elbowed their way in. Now I don't find old Country music quite so repulsive anymore. I recently calculated that if all my music was played end-to end (yes, I had a brief cassette phase) it'd last about 8 1/2 months. I'd love to get into blogging and uploads and all that, but time is a bit tight.
Keep up the awesome work!
Ahh, a site dedicated to one of my great passions in life. From Little Royal to Lee Dorsey to Toussaint McCall, some of my favorite tracks and best booty-shakers are found on the b-side. Keep up the good work!
Just discovered your AWESOME music blog waaaauw thanks man for sharing so much goodies + extra, in depth information about the artists. Super, man
thx a lot and keep up the good work
I've always been fascinated with the B-Sides also! I am looking for a specific record and I cannot remember who the artist is (maybe Helen Reddy), but I know some of the lyrics. Do you know of a website that will give me some B-Side lyrics? Thanks for your website!! It's awesome!
The Beatles - my dad was stationed in the UK when they were just getting hot, and I discovered the same you did about the B sides of the singles, usually better. When I returned to the states, I learned that the B sides of Beatles 45s in the US were separate releases in the UK (A sides, with B sides not released on 45 in the US).
Then I discovered the UK and US releases of LPs and cassettes were different - Jethro Tull's "Aqualung" in the UK has 2 songs not on the US version, and lacks one song that is on the US version.
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