The Aire-Dales - Drumsville/Just Plain Mess

A happy new week to everyone. I hope that everybody enjoyed the long weekend here in the States. And thank goodness it looks like disaster was avoided on the Gulf Coast this time around, although plenty of folks have property damage and are without electricity. Here's hoping that everyone who lives in that region is doing okay in the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav.

I'm sorry for the lack of posts here, recently. I've taken a little time away from the blog, a needed short break. Also, I've taken a bit of a break from record digging the past couple of weeks, resulting in a scant few things to add to the collection. This coming weekend's record show in St. Louis should help take care of that. One thing that I have done is digimatize (to quote Larry Grogan) a lot of records in the interim, including today's selection.

Details on the Aire-Dales are a bit sketchy. They often backed lead singer Rocky Roberts. In fact, their "The T-Bird" was featured in the mix that I did for Fufu Stew back in July. Both that record and this one are from 1963. One member of the Aire-Dales was drummer Doug Fowlkes, who's credited with penning both sides of today's record. According to Jeff Lemlich, in the additions to his book Savage Lost, the Aire-Dales were from Key West, FL and also included Don Borga (bass), Charles Barron (rhythm guitar), Jerry Armstrong (lead guitar), B-flat Barnes (saxophone) and Austin Roberts (saxophone), who was later replaced by Fred Lawrence.

So, today we have a couple of instrumentals. "Drumsville" lives up to its name, beginning with some wild pounding on the skins. Soon, an organ and sax join in, as the tune clips along at a very fast pace. There are a pair of breaks, one for the drums and another where the bass guitar is heard jamming with the rest of the band. There are also a lot of handclaps. Meanwhile, "Just Plain Mess", despite the title, isn't quite as frantic. It has a bit of a "Night Train" vibe, lots of drums, plus another large dose of organ and sax. All in all, it's a fine, rockin' pair of instros.