Merry Christmas, everyone! Well, we are unusually ahead of ourselves at No Hit Central. Our Christmas started in the traditional way of playing the best ever Christmas Album – A Gift for You from Phil Spector, starting with track 5, side 2, skipping back to track 1, side 2, then side 1.
We have lights up, festive foods have been sampled, and winter jumpers have been donned. It is not too early to pull out the Christmas records; however, records are not just for Christmas.
Remember, if you want a gift that will really make your record nerd partner, friend, father, son, wife, daughter, postman, strange relative, imaginary friend, or imaginary enemy, anyone happy, we can provide gift vouchers. Just email with the amount you want, and we will do the rest. There is no extra charge; they will get the whole amount to spend that you send us.
To ensure your order is in the post in time for Christmas, please complete the order by 17 December.
We decided against a Christmas-themed newsletter as we have so much amazing stuff to catch up on. We have all sorts of 45s and LPs, including new Corn Fed and Busy Bootin’, so take your time to have a good dig through.
The crown jewels of the recent releases, however, are a slew of genuinely completely unknown/unissued tracks being issued on limited-press 45s. These sides are taken from unissued tapes or acetates, and the 45s are balanced out with a known but unavailable track to make each 45 a true double-sider.
Finally, before we get into it all, a note that we have masses of records not on the website. Mainly one-offs, both original and reissue 45s and LPs. If you have a wants list, please shoot it over and remember to follow our Facebook sales page , Sounds That Swing Record Shop, where I post these one-offs.
Unknown Artist – Don’t Bug Me Baby / Clyde Pitts – The Lonely Side Of Town – Western Records
It is amazing that great Rock n Roll from the 50s is still being discovered, and this unknown artist track is an example. But let’s start with the flip side. Clyde’s Lonely Side of Town has appeared on a few CDs, as it is a popular Elvis sound-alike jiver from 1961. Notably, Clyde was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and he really does catch the sound of the other, much more famous singer from the same town.
The song Don’t Bug Me Baby is best known as recorded by Milton Allen. This version is, apparently, a demo cut for Fabor Records that has lain undiscovered on a tape since 1957. The Milton Allen version is good, but this is great, a real Rockabilly number. The essential slap bass really thumps out the foundation for the song, the guitarist plays riffs, fills and a super break that has got people online speculating about who this could be. The vocalist has a fine voice that starts relaxed but builds to a frantic finish.
This is a limited press and is already sold out with the distributor. I know, as I have had to re-order as it sold out in days. Don’t hang about for this one.
Clyde Pitts – The Lonely Side Of Town
Unknown Artist – Don’t Bug Me Baby
The Rumblers – Warhead / I Don’t Need You No More – Downey
Just in case anyone thinks all surf music is instrumental, here come the Rumblers.
We start with a track from 1963 that lay unissued until 2010. It really hits the surf sweet spot, pounding drums, rasping sax, menacing echo-drenched guitars. This is real surf music. If you have ever half floated, half swum in a warm sea, your chin on your board as you scan the waves coming in, waiting to leap up and catch a wave, this sound will take you back to that time and place.
I Don’t Need You No More is totally surf but has the addition of one of the all-time great rasping Rock n Roll vocals riding the crest of the musical waves. This was the flip side of the super classic Boss and was originally issued on Downey before being picked up by the national label Dot. It was a big enough hit to be issued in various other countries, including the good old UK. This is what Rock n Roll in 1962 is all about.
The Rumblers – Warhead
The Rumblers – Don’t Need You No More
Ned Fairchild / Jean Shepard – Who Baby / Jeopardy – Gold Star Demo
Ned? Ned? What kind of name is that for a female Rock n Roll singer? Just one of the surprising things about this record.
Ned (actually short for Nelda) was a country singer and songwriter who, as times changed, turned her hand to this new-fangled Rock n Roll and wrote a stone cold classic – Twenty Flight Rock. So we have a Cochran connection for this Gold Star Demo.
Strangely, no one is claiming he is playing on this. The tune is a great Rock n Roll number. It is a demo for sure and has the rough and ready energy that arises in a studio when a song is fresh and new to all involved. Ned has a strong (can I say strident as a good thing?) voice and the simple backing – tinkly piano, echo-laden sax and in the best way, simple drums – blend to create a driving rocker that demands to be heard.
The flip side is a classic Rockabilly track from Jean Shepard, another Country girl showing that she can really rock.
BTW, the staining on the label is not a mistake; that is how the unique acetate that this recording is taken from looks.
Jean Shepard – Jeopardy/html
Ned Fairchild – Who Baby
Johnny Cymbal / Tommy Uhr – This Night / Cold Hearted Woman – Monumental
The top side of this 45 is a demo that Johnny made in 1959, and it is amazing that such fantastic recordings as this can lie unissued for decades.
It is the sparest and simplest form of Rock n Roll, or any genre, an artist singing and playing. One voice, one instrument, but somehow, sometimes that is all that is needed. Johnny creates a driving beat with the guitar and an urgent feeling with his singing. He has Buddy Holly-style vocal swoops, adding to the overall sound. On the flip side, we have another track from 1959, this time from Tommy Uhr. This haunting track was released on the 20th Fox label, but it remained almost as obscure as the flipside until collectors started to hear it on Desperate Rock n Roll Vol 22. It is great that more people will get the chance to hear this uniquely mournful record.
Tommy Uhr – Cold Hearted Woman
‘Groovey’ Joe Poovey – Lightning ‘ Cross The Sky / You Are My Sunshine – President
Back in the 1970s, Joe became a giant on the Rockabilly scene for his two amazing Dixie Records from 1958 and 1959, Move Around / Careful Baby and Ten Long Fingers / Thrill of Love. But he did not just rest on his laurels.
So I have to admit that most people who cut great records in the 1950s and then returned to the studio decades later, tended to produce… well, not good stuff.
But occasionally they hit the mark, and Joe knocked it out of the park with these two sides recorded in 1981. Lightinin’ ‘cross The Sky was THE side and still is a great Rock n Roll number, but listening to both sides again (I guess I have to admit a copy has languished unloved in the back of my collection for years.), it is the flip that really gets me.
Sunshine is fantastic neo-Rockabilly, with Dave Travis and The Blue Caps on backing, it is so sharp that it cuts through the years to sound new and fresh. A track that reminds us that good music is timeless, and as Bill Smoker says, we listen with our ears, not a calendar.
There is no repress of this fine 45, but we came across a little pile of original 1981 presses, so it is available again but only for a short time.
Groovey’ Joe Poovey – Lightning ‘ Cross The Sky
‘Groovey’ Joe Poovey – You Are My Sunshine
Johnny Fuller – Haunted House / Swingin’ At The Creek – Specialty
Another ‘old’ pressing that we have found a little pile of. This time, a late 70s press putting together two A-sides that were originally issued in 1959.
Johnny uses his fine Larry Williams-style on Haunted House, which is a guitar-boppin’ RnB mover that really should be a Halloween staple but has been unfairly overlooked. You know what? If we are comparing label mates, let’s pull Lloyd Price in here for the Swingin’ At The Creek side.
If Haunted House is unfairly overlooked, it is absolutely criminal that this side is not better known. The lopping swing beat, the outstanding guitar work and Johnny’s insolent vocal combine to make this a real gem.
Johnny Fuller – Haunted House
Johnny Fuller – Swingin’ At The Creek
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