A/B or B/A - take your pick

January so far has proved to be a month of late finishes at the office (partly because I am so hopeless at getting up in the morning), and successive social whirls at the weekends. All together, that has left little, no, no time for blogging.

But hey, it’s Friday, so there must be time for a post.   

Previously here I have bemoaned the increased cost of shipping records to the UK from the US and how that has seriously curtailed my Soul 45 buying habit. This has caused me to cast around the ‘net to try and find a Soul source closer to home. I find a lot of UK dealers tend to seriously overprice their records – the Northern effect I guess – but I have found a couple of sources on mainland Europe recently. From one of those sources a few days ago this 45 dropped on the mat in amongst a pack of eight 45s, the postmark is the Netherlands of all places.    

Back in the mid Sixties it was commonplace for a Soul 45 to feature a dancefloor pitched uptempo track on one side and a slow “deepie” on the other. This 1965 release from Gloria Parker is a perfect example and a great two sider. This was early enough in that decade for the “deepie” to feature as the A side (possibly).

I’m featuring both sides. As It’s Friday and there are kitchen tables to be danced around you get the uptempo one first. l love the way that behind the pounding rhythm section and the big voiced Gloria  the pianist is throwing his own little party.  Later in the evening be sure to listen to the “deepie” too (with a glass of whiskey maybe). It reminds me strongly of something else but, maddeningly,  I can’t put a name to it. Hmm now I’ve said that, the structure is reminiscent of A Change Is Gonna Come isn’t it? With Otis singing maybe.  

To me, brought up in the UK with staid, dull, mono coloured record labels a bright yellow label looks way ahead of it’s time for 1965. Not unusual for the US of course. But 1965 –this record is almost 50 years old!, and I reckon when I pulled it out of its sleeve and put it on the turntable earlier today it was quite probably the first time it had ever been played. That thought is always a thrill.

Gloria Parker – Hello Baby – Goodbye, Too  1965

Gloria Parker – If You’ve Ever Loved Someone  1965

Not surprisingly Sir Shambling has dedicated a page to Gloria, who it seems only ever had three 45 releases, and by the sounds of things her two LLP releases were almost certainly recorded at the same session. It is pointed out there that Jean Wells also performed the songs featured here with the same backing tracks and released them as a paring on an Eastern 45 . Jean also recorded "The Best Thing For You Baby", Gloria Parker's Samar release.