I was in Indianapolis over the Memorial Day weekend. While there, I had a chance to visit a couple of local record shops, including one that I hadn't been to in a few years. The store had recently moved a couple of doors down from its previous location. The new place was much smaller and the only records they had were a few 12" singles. "Did you get rid of all your old vinyl?", I inquired. "It's next door, in the back room of the furniture store." "Great, thanks!", zoom, out the door.
I headed next door where the proprietor pointed me in the right direction and added, "Everything's 99 cents. I wanna get rid of it." Well, they had several thousand 45's and I barely made a dent in my 90 or so minutes there. But I managed to find about 40 records that I wanted, including several things that I was unfamiliar with. Today's selection is one of those but one of the better things I've purchased on spec in a long time.
I know nothing about Bobby Turner. There doesn't seem to be anything written about him or his record on the net. Odd for a major label disc, especially one this good. I'd have thought someone would have comped it by now. Apparently that's not the case.
What I do know is that "Baby, Baby, Baby" is a 1962 release. Both it and "I Miss You So" on the flipside were written by Bobby Turner, himself. And, of course, "Baby, Baby, Baby" is an excellent, upbeat, r&b rocker, just perfect for It's Great Shakes.
The song starts with a few splashes on the cymbals, followed by a bass guitar and then a guitar riff that sounds very similar to the one at the beginning of "Misery" by The Dynamics, only today's disc was out a year earlier. Perhaps someone reading this knows its origins. Turner then starts vocalizing and sings at almost a shout, "Baby, baby, baby tell me what would you do/Baby, baby, baby if I stopped lovin' you". He's has female backing vocals and after a couple of verses, he takes us through a refrain that leads to a honkin' sax break with handclap backing. Then, it's off to another verse and the song fades on the repeated line "What would you do".
The record is a bit of a mystery but a great pickup, if you ever happen across a copy. Yeah, mine only cost a buck but it's worth more than that.
1 comment:
It turns out this record is actually Bobby Freeman and, in fact, the exact same recordings as one of his 45s on Josie. I have no idea how it wound up on Decca (maybe as a promo only release) under a different artist name with slightly altered song titles.
Todd L.
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