(Christopher Arnott’s latest stack of old 45s)
1. Buddy Richard, Tu Carino Se Me Va/ Guitarra Toca Otra Vez. I’ve stared at it a lot, and can’t figure out which song is the A-side. (Such things used to be important in the record industry.) But it dates from 1974, on the Dicesa. Whoops, I’ve just looked him up and it turns out not just that “Tu Carina” was a major international Spanish-language pop hit (the other side’s a schmaltzy ballad), but Buddy Richards is still with us. That oomphy trumpet-and-string thing is a fine art.
2. Baby Ray, Sorry/Open Season. A Boston band featuring Nathan Logus from Jules Verdone’s backing band and several other respected indie acts of the late ‘90s. The band’s apparently still out there. I remember commiserating with them about the closing of predominant Kenmore Square punk club The Rat, which dates all of us. So does this very ‘90s single—that whole sped-up wordy repetitive-rhythm-and-riff thing.
3. The Three Suns, “To Think You’ve Chosen Me/It Is No Secret. Instrumental with pumpy accordion, loungey keyboard ambience, and what sounds like way more than three Suns—enough suns (and daughters) and satellites to mmake Saturn feel jealous. It really is a trio—they ruled the charts in the early ‘50s, just pre-rock & roll—but the lead voices get sucked in by the backing choir. The deep-voiced spoken-word interlude on “It Is Not Secret”? One Sun.
4. Lee “Scratch” Perry, City Too Hot/Kentucky Skank. Before MOJO Magazine started regularly sticking free CDs on its covers, it offered this weathered-looking vinyl reissue of two Lee “Scratch” Perry tunes with red/yellow/green reggae-rainbow label and a silkscreen-blurry red sleeve that proclaims “Dub It Up, Blacker Than Dread.” When Perry made a rare (ultimately postponed) trip to the U.S., I remember poring through decades of MOJOs in my basement to find an (equally rare) full-length interview with the guy so that the New Haven Advocate could be well-informed when he played Toad’s Place.
5. Miracle Legion, Little Drummer Boy/Blue Christmas. Released on the Incas label in a wondrous sleeve of childlike drawing printed in blue and green ink on a snowy white background, Drummer Boy is the purported A-side but both tracks are strong. Mark Mulcahy brings his wistful-longing vocals to holiday songs—albeit ones that are already downbeat, but since Miracle Legion was also defined by the slicing guitar work of Ray Neal, this a real ‘90s rock record.