Tired of playing wingman all night, Ricardo decided it was time to make HIS move with Joannie.

(7 votes, average: 3.86 out of 5)

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Rufus Thomas, the “Crowned Prince of Dance” on Stax! Rufus of “The Breakdown,” “Memphis Train,” “Do the Push Pull,” “Can Your Monkey Do the Dog,” “Jump Back,” and “All Night Worker” fame. Father of Carla. Born in Mississippi. Born to DJ in Memphis. Passed on in 2001. “The world’s oldest teenager” killed them at the Wattstax concert with “The Funky Chicken”.

(13 votes, average: 3.46 out of 5)

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A lesser known girl group, The Sherrys put out only this lp in 1962. It features their only hit single “Pop Pop Popeye” (sic above) which was a big dance hit that year (especially in New Orleans). Delthine and Dinell Cook originally formed the group with Tammi Montgomery (later to achieve fame as Tammi Terrell on Motown), but that combination soon fizzled when the sisters and Montgomery couldn’t get along very well so she’s not on this record.

Guyden Records out of Philadelphia put out lots of late fifties teen dance singles back in the days of record “hops” and dance fads like the “fly,” the “stomp,” the “slop” and the “mashed potato”. In the early sixties, the company merged with another Phili label, Jamie Records, and soon put out records under the Arctic imprint as well.

(14 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

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Not a “pretty” cover really. Beat to hell. From Mexico. There’s little aesthetic appeal here. Not really much “art direction” to speak of. Maybe an interesting low vantage point angle. Can’t speak to it musically but it’s intriguing.

Sometimes I try to image the record store and then house that a used record came from before I found it. A small dusty Mexican apartment with a cheap hi-fi set, torn curtains by an open window. Maybe the guy worked at a factory and came home with a bottle of beer and a goat taco he bought on the street; unlocked the door, pulled the light cord, opened his beer, switched on the stereo, placed the needle on the record, propped up the cover and had dinner alone.

(47 votes, average: 4.47 out of 5)

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On Smash records. 1962. I love this cover. Both for the photograph and the typography.

Billy Mitchell was a Detroit tenor man who in the fifties played (and recorded) with the bands of Dizzy Gillespie (1956) and then Count Basie (1957). Sidemen on this session include Bobby Hutcherson on vibraharp; Herman Wright on bass, Otis Finch on drums and on one track Dave Burns on trumpet. Mitchell continued to lead bands throughout the sixties and seventies and played live into the nineties before passing away in 2001. Among his other recordings were a series of sessions with co-leader and trombonist Al Grey.

(14 votes, average: 4.21 out of 5)

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