MOR

These two things are utterly unrelated.

And I like it that way.

Jesus Loves You...So Give Us Your Money (1983)

Morbid Opera were from Ft. Lauderdale in the state of Florida.

It's punker than you. Three women and a dude.

Somebody else's 13 year old blog post says more than I could. I just have the record.

I like it so much I included a pic of the insert. That's how you know something is special.

Fuck yes.

Rockabilly Bungalow (1958)

And on a totally different plane of existence is George Morgan. An established mid-level country singer who had a hit in 1949 with a song called "Candy Kisses" (which is rerecorded for the flip here.)

With Rock 'n' Roll and its country flavored bastard chile Rockabilly taking over, a lot of established Country stars gathered up some studio guys and shat out some records trying to capture the fire of youth and some pocket change from what they thought would be a short lived teen fad.

So here is an over 30 George Morgan trying to gain a foothold in the teen market with "Rockabilly Bungalow" as written by the impeccable duo of Boudleaux & Felice Bryant (who penned many of the better Everly Brothers songs) and some fine Nashville studio folks "rocking" out behind him.

Was it a breakthrough hit for George into teen pop stardom? No.

Is it a pretty cool song anyway? Fuck yeah!

Roll up the rugs and have your own personal sock hop.

All the Kingsmen

A two-fer.

Names the same, different bands

Haunted Castle (1966)

It's the band and a single with the song that you most immediately think of when you see the name the Kingsmen. "Louie Louie" is the b-side here.

It's an essential part of every music collection and having a nice mono version from a half a century old 45 just makes it sweeter.

You are now prepared in case a toga part breaks out near you.

The A-side is a nice instrumental number too.

You're welcome.

Week End (1958)


What may add to some confusion is that there had previously been a band with a Top 40 hit (this song) by a different group calling itself the Kingsmen.

This Kingsmen was actually the Comets of Bill Haley & the Comets moonlighting for a little extra cash.

It's a nice little instrumental bit of the Rock and Roll.

It is also Toga Party appropriate.

You're welcome.

The Homer & Jethro Project #37

I'll be right back.
I think the time is right to crack the seal on that new bottle of Tyrconnell Whisky.
Now's a good time for that.
Not because of the quality of the post that follows. No.
That's every bit as crap as they've ever been.

I just suddenly remembered it was there.
Two fingers and a splash and we're good....

February 1958 - RCA 47-7162 - At the Flop / My Special Angel


There. That's much better.

Oh yeah, this post.

So Elvis wasn't the only Rock and Roller that Homer and Jethro attempted to emulate as the world's oldest teenagers. There was this single too.

A side is their take on doo-wop chicken shaker "At the Hop" as recorded by Danny & the Juniors which was a top hit the #1 slot in January of 1958 and so full of youthful hormones that you might want to wash your hands thoroughly after listening to it and keep the black light off.

For Homer & Jethro things don't work out so well. Perhaps they need some of those testosterone enhancing pills that get shilled on late night tv. (Probably better than goat ball implants, but still...)

B side. More drear in the form of "My Special Angel". This time originally committed to wax by Bobby Helms who probably lived a solid middle class lifestyle on the proceeds. I commend him for that, but damn it's god awful white bread crap that probably lead to more than a few heavy petting sessions and unfortunate trips to out of state doctors.

Homer and Jethro have no respect for it.
Additional commentary from Chester Atkins behind the board for emphasis.

August 1958 - RCA 47-7347 - I Guess Things Happen That Way / Lullaby of Bird Dog

They did so well with the previous single that they didn't release another single for another six months. And this is what it was.

A side "I Guess Things Happen That Way" was a hit for the future Mr. June Carter, Johnny Cash. I wonder what happened to that guy?

The song was written by Jack Clements who took over production & engineering duties at Sun Records after founder Sam Phillips made his first million and decided not to work so hard.

B side started life as a song that has become a jazz standard. "Lullaby of Birdland" written by George Shearing for his Quintet in 1952. (Birdland being a popular NYC Jazz Club.) George David Weiss provided lyrics which then gave the song a second life and a hit for Ella Fitzgerald despite the vocal group behind her. She swings like rhino testes though. Great song.

Homer and Jethro have a more canine take that is another of my particular favorites.

My sleeping schedule is all messed up

Went out of town for a week and had to flip my schedule to normal people time now I'm in some weird twilight sleep where I'm neither completely night nor day and awake when I really shouldn't be. It's going to take weeks for me to sort this shit out.

In the meantime here's some oddities to wet your sonic whistle

Daddy LoLo (1958)

Yeah, so it's kind of hard to figure out what was going on here. This single released by Ganim's Asia Minors was the product of Charles Ganimian, and Armenian-American musician and virtuoso oud player whose parents had emigrated from Turkey in the early 20's

Here he applies his heritage and oud playing to making a novelty rock and roll song.
It works.

I Wonder Why (1967)

Here's Utah. 

At least that's what the intertubes says, and I for one, am inclined to just go ahead and trust it on that.

So imagine if you will that you are a young hip garage band from Provo, Utah and you've got a sweet raw garage fuzz number and something important to say to the world, but you don't trust that any radio station that might play your record will choose the song you want to share with the world. 

What do you do?

If you're the Gents the solution is to put a version of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" as the flip to the fuzz number. Ain't nobody going to play that shit.

(Or it could be that they only had the one song. Either is plausible)

That's Your Problem (1966)

A pleasant enough 60's garage number foisted upon an unsuspecting teen audience by the production factory at Bang records under the auspices of songwriter Jerry Ragovoy. This was in the days when there were still professional songwriters who would cobble together a track with studio musicians and throw it out to the radio stations like so much sonic chum. If somebody picked it up and it started gaining some traction, they'd quickly assemble a group of long haired youth to go out and be that group for as long as the momentum lasted. Bang had a few of these faux teen groups ( the Strangeloves being probably their most famous product)

Which isn't to say that this isn't a nice track. It is. It's a professional product and nicely done. Jerry knew what he was doing and his intended audience. That it was the product of a white collar dude in his 30's for a rebellious teenage market is just icing on the proverbial cake.

It's almost weirdly reversely subversive. The revolution will not be televised, but it will be packaged and sold back to you wholesale.

Have an issue with that and your delicate sense of authenticity?

As the song goes:

"That's your problem, it ain't mine..."