Johnny & the Mark V - "Down The Pike"

Here's another St. Louis record show discovery. There was a young guy, probably in his early 20's, play testing stuff on a portable record player at one of the tables. Sounds like he was mostly interested in soul instrumentals and today's disc is one that he put on to give a listen. I leaned over, asked what it was and said that I thought it was pretty good. Well, to make a long story short, he decided that he didn't want it and put it over on my stack. That's how I wound up with "Down The Pike" by Johnny & the Mark V.

Searching for info on these guys has turned up a big ol' goose egg. The All Music Guide helps by providing a blank page under their entry. Maybe someone will come along who can fill in some details, eventually. It looks like this record was originally released on the Charay label and then later on Revue. I don't have a definite year of release, tho based on the label, I'll go with late 60's.

"Down The Pike" is a cool organ workout, with horns, drums and a funky guitar that comes in at the end of each run through the main theme. The best part though, is the unexpected, wild guitar break! There are so many tunes that could use this treatment and it never happens. Well, here it does and it makes "Down The Pike" all the better. Too bad the record fades shortly thereafter, lasting just over two minutes in total. But what a great record!