Wednesday, May 4, 2011

A Slew of 45's

I recently bought a new record player, and have been so jazzed about it that I went crazy stocking up on old soul 45's over the weekend.  Funnily enough, most were picked up at Half Price Books in Lynnwood, Washington, where apparently someone unloaded hundreds of old 45's and since Half Price sells them at a quarter a pop, I went crazy.  I had to fight off a mid-40's Elvis look-alike, but was able to secure most of the best ones there:   Jackson 5, James Brown, Impressions, a bunch of Sly Stone, Al Green, The Stylistics, and Stevie Wonder, Ohio Players, Booker T and the MGs, Aretha Franklin, Chambers Brothers, and an Allen Toussaint-produced Dr. John 45, among many, many more.  90% of what I picked up I was already familiar with, but it's always nice to find something that you're not sure about and end up really liking.  Regarding the Ohio Players, I've honestly only liked a few of their songs in the past off of their early 70's albums like Honey,  Skin Tightetc.  I picked the Ohio Players "Who'd She Coo/Bi-Centennial" 45, both songs taken off of their 1976 release Contradiction.  I've never heard this album previously, mainly because I figured it was when the Ohio Players drifted off into disco mode, but I was wrong.  "Who'd She Coo" is a tasty funk jam.  "Bi-Centennial" is a slow jam, perfectly showing how the Ohio Players were getting better at writing good ballads and slow jams, which they began showing during Honey.   Both tracks are outstanding, and if this is a good representation of Contradiction, then I need to pick it up.

4 comments:

  1. It could've been! He had good music taste. He picked up a Billy Preston 45 just before I got to it :(

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  2. Those Ohio Players'll never let ya down!

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  3. You know, I'm beginning to feel that way as well. I'm digging into their catalogue more recently and liking more of what I'm hearing!

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