“Judo Boy”   Polydor Records.

(34 votes, average: 3.12 out of 5)

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Mrs. Shufflewick   “A Drop of the Hard Shuff…”   “Live at the New Black   Cap”   For Adults Only   Decca Records UK

Notes by Molly Parkin:

‘Mrs Shufflewick is a dirty old woman. She is 60, maybe 70, weak-willed and easily led. She has usually just had a few, you can tell by her big red conk and boss-eyed way of walking. She loves a gossip but can never stop long in case her next gin gets cold on the counter. Everybody laughs at her. They call her ‘Shuff’, they whistle and poke fun and cheer when she hoicks up her skirts. They always shout for more, though she doesn’t need encouraging. She is a terrible show-off, whether she is tiddly or not. There is no holding her when there are sailors around: she has a weakness for the Navy. The last sailor she met was French, he kissed her on both cheeks. She was doing up her laces at the time.

She calls herself Missus but has never been married. She tells terrible stories of what she gets up to – she has been telling them for the last 20 years, all over the place, at the Windmill, music halls, working-men’s clubs, Mecca bingo halls – she has even told them on telly, but had to clean them up a bit.

One Monday she appeared at the Mecca Dominion, Walthamstow, the same night as Miss World. They both went to entertain the bingo-players. Shuff got the most laughs, mainly from madams who looked just like her. She had thought of hiring a bathing costume and going on as Miss Courage, riding 14 white horses from Whitbreads, not to be outdone.

She won’t even be outdone at Christmas. She has written her own panto – a skit on Cinderella. She plays Cinders, or course. (She is still trying to decide whether to make Cinderella’s slipper into a bovver boot or a pair of panties).

Mrs Shufflewick is very familiar with the Cinderella story. It happens to her every night. After the last laugh and when the clapping dies, she disappears too, into an old brown leather suitcase. And where she stood stands Rex Jameson. He is an elf. A five-foot, 40-year old with a face like Buster Keaton. And a little green cap on his head and a coat that is a bit too big.

He gives the feeling of being a foundling, which he was. He was dumped when two weeks old on the doorstep of Trinity College Hospital and spent his childhood in Southend with a foster mother. He is a classic clown and as different from his creation, Mrs Shufflewick, as it is possible to be. Small and shy and painfully unsure, he is lonely in love and agonisingly unlucky with his choices. He is protected in his bad patches by the loyalty of his friends and sustained by them, too, through his bouts of insecurity and deep depression.

He is shockingly difficult to manage, like a Hancock or Keaton or W.C. Fields. It is a full-time job. But then Mrs Shufflewick knows she has the audience before she even starts.

It is as painful and personal as laughing at your mother when she has had one too many. And, of course, as far as Rex Jameson is concerned, his mother might be in the audience laughing unknowingly at her son.

(38 votes, average: 3.66 out of 5)

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The Mad Lads in Action   Volt Records   (1966)   One of the few vocal groups on the Stax roster during the ’60s, the Mad Lads’ doo wop-influenced harmonies were more akin to what you might find in Philadelphia soul acts than those of their native Memphis.   Action includes all of the Mad Lads first recordings, except for their debut “Sidewalk Surf.” (Remakes comprise 25-percent of the album.)   The waltz tempo, “I Want Someone” went to number ten (R&B) and number 74 (Pop), and is their biggest selling single.     “Don’t Have to Shop Around,”   was the group’s second best-selling record, charting at number 11 (R&B) and number 93 (Pop).

The C.O.D.’s hit the big-time with “Michael the Lover,” but listening to the Mad Lads re-recording, you’d think it was written just for them.   Listen up: Michael the Lover (lp version)

(35 votes, average: 4.23 out of 5)

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“Sexual I.Q. Test”   (1972) Score YOURSELF.   Recommended for GROUP PARTICIPATION as well as individual (editor’s note: !).   “100 intimate questions to PROBE your sex life.” “Asks you about: Your Sexual Attitudes – Your Sexual Technique – Lovemaking, Intercourse, THE ORGASM and You – ORAL Sex, Erotica and Fantasy”   “Learn … whether you are sexually superior, sexually average or sexually below average.   Learn about your loved ones and friends as well” (editor’s note: !)   Sample question:   “It arouses me sexually to see my sex partner naked”   True or False   (editor’s note: !)

(38 votes, average: 2.95 out of 5)

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This looks like Buffy from “Family Affair” grew up and formed a vocal group with three of her fans in Germany.

In fact, Buffy (Anissa Jones) overdosed in 1976, at the age of 18.     Another one lost to the ravages of early stardom and drugs.

(35 votes, average: 3.26 out of 5)

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“Louis and the Good Book”   Louis Armstrong with the Sy Oliver Choir and the All-Stars   (1958) Decca Records

This is a collection of gospel songs, spirituals, homilies, and comic vignettes.   This is Armstrong at his most essential. It’s the real honest him. Armstrong takes a few trumpet solos, but his voice is what is showcased, and God is honored here.

Personnel includes: Louis Armstrong (vocals, trumpet); Sy Oliver Choir (vocals); Trummy Young (trombone); Hank D’Amico, Edmond Hall, Dave McRae (clarinet); Billy Kyle (piano); Nickie Tragg, Harry Mills (organ); George Barnes (guitar); Joe Benjamin, Mort Herbert (bass); Johnny Blowers, Barrett Deems (drums).   Backed by a gospel vocal group led by   jazz arranger Sy Oliver.

Recorded in August 1950 in New York, New York.   Produced by Mort Gabler. Liner notes by Martin Williams.,

Includes:   “Ezekiel Saw De Wheel,” “Going to Shout All Over God’s Heaven,” and “Didn’t it Rain,” as well as “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat” from GUYS AND DOLLS.     Also “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen,” “Shadrack,”   “Go Down, Moses,”   “Rock My Soul,”   “Ezekiel Saw de Wheel,” “On My Way,” “Down by the Riverside,” “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” “Jonah and the Whale,” and “This Train”

(36 votes, average: 3.83 out of 5)

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“Getting Friendly With Music”   Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra   RCA Victor Records

(37 votes, average: 3.89 out of 5)

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Don Mario Suarez   Discolando Records Venezuela

(34 votes, average: 3.53 out of 5)

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Kommt Und Singt Mit PITTI PLATCH   Eterna Records

(45 votes, average: 3.13 out of 5)

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