Tony Allen and the Wonders: Looking For My Baby (Jamie)

The things you can find for 10 cents. I managed to grab this one from out of a pile of 45s I ran through at a flea market in Franklin, IN and it's definitely one of those things that makes digging for records worth doing. It's a doo-wop record, one of two singles this group recorded for Jamie in 1959. I can tell you one thing...it packs quite a wallop in 2:30 minutes.

Allen was born in 1932 in New Orleans, but spent a great deal of his adult life in Los Angeles where he went to high school and knew such people as Bobby Freeman. He first recorded for Specialty, but later moved on to a succession of labels, recording for Dot, Imperial, Ebb, Kent, Aladdin, Bethlehem and many others throughout the late 50s and early 60s.

Let's get on to this record, shall we? It opens with Allen crooning a few lines about how he's gotta find his baby, backed with a few "yeahs" from The Wonders. Then, the band kicks in and now the song goes at it at full speed with Allen "lookin' in the rain, lookin' in the snow" but he can't find his baby nowhere he goes. Meanwhile, The Wonders provide the "shoo-wop, shoo-wop, hey" backdrop for Allen's tale of woe. The song ends when he goes to see a gypsy woman who tells him to just let the girl be. Then, everything just stops and the record is over. There's also a pretty cool guitar solo midway through.

Finding this record proves that there are indeed little gems to be had if you look. Far too many times, I've paid outrageous prices for certain records just because I had to have 'em. I never expected to find this one in those piles I was looking through. Just goes to show you good things do indeed come to those who wait.