Remembering That I Love You

As I dig through more record crates

Choosing which five of my recent finds to highlight this week is difficult. I want to catch up on the stacks I’ve acquired since my trip to Canada, but I accumulated maybe three dozen more upon returning, especially after finding that here in Greenville, we have yet another brick and mortar record store that had been hiding from me until last week. I don’t know how these things happen, or why, but Pharmacy Records is a thing, and though they seem bent toward hardcore metal, they will accept used records of any sort from anyone.

They’re really friendly guys, willing to talk with me about Country and Country rock amidst the sounds of thrashing around me. I didn’t ask what they were playing or why, because no one should have to justify what they like, I keep telling myself as I pick up early 70’s Country and Soul (though one of them did wonder how anyone like his father could still like Porter Wagoner, and I kind of died inside, but…). Their prices were decent, the records in very good condition, though needing a good bit of cleaning before my brand new needle would think of touching those easy grooves (Thanks for all the good advices Andres!).

So, what DID I find there, you ask (I hope I hope I hope)?

First, an album I never had or thought about buying back in 1972:

Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose (UAS 5568), featuring those blistering cuts, “Treat Her Like a Lady” and…

I found the LP for $10, more than I thought I’d pay for it, if indeed I had ever thought before I found it that I would find or want or pay for it. But holding it in my hand transported me to being 15 and hearing that single constantly on the radio, remembering that I’d always sing along with it and “Take a Letter Maria,” a song by R. B. Greaves that I’ll likely have to pick up when I find/hold it some day. The sound on this one is groovin’ fine and I feel so good despite the lamentations within.

Somewhere out in this world is a guy named Bob Tillery, or at least I assume he’s still out there, but who knows the state he’s in? In any case, he sold, traded, or had sold for him a bunch of Country/Rock LPs from the early 70’s and so I was lucky enough to snag these two at Pharmacy (and I wonder if anyone else would have grabbed them, or how long they had been stacked there already before I wandered in?).

The first one is Home, Home on the Road, The New Riders of the Purple Sage’s 1974 recording (Columbia PC-32870), produced by Jerry Garcia and featuring Andy Stein of Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen. Some of the tracks are recorded live, and they do a mean cover of “Truck Drivin’ Man,” “She’s No Angel,” Chuck Berry’s “School Days,” Jagger/Richard’s “Dead Flowers,” and of course Gene Pitney/C. Mangiaracina’s “Hello Mary Lou.” Buddy Cage’s steel guitar sounds so fine here, and at a cost of $8, what’s not to say hello to?

Bob Tillery also once owned Last of the Red Hot Burritos, that elusive to me Flying Burrito Brothers LP (A&M SP-4343, 1972). Featuring this lineup—Al Perkins pedal steel; Kenny Wertz, acoustic guitar/banjo; Chris Hillman, Bass and mandolin; Rick Roberts, Rhythm guitar; and Michael Clarke, Drums; along with Byron Berline and Roger Bush—the band treks through live material including the famous “Hot Burrito #2” that makes my head spin, my heart dance, and my desire to head back in time so very real and palpable. And yet, I keep thinking of Gram Parsons and how much he could have contributed had his inner demons just remembered to let him be.

Just five years after this LP, Michael Clarke and Rick Roberts would be living their full lives in a band called Firefall. While in Canada at Hot Wax, I found their most famous record, Luna Sea (Atlantic SD-19101) for the lowly sum of $5 Canadian. Has there been a book written on Michael Clarke’s musical journey, from The Byrds to the Burritos to Firefall? I’m sure we have our preferences, but on Luna Sea, those haunting hits “Someday Soon” and “Just Remember I Love You” (falling more into Pop than anything else) caught me on drives around my campus and hometown in those late 70’s.

Finally, back in the old US of A again, where we keep indicting our former, ahem, President, I found a sealed copy of Emmylou Harris’s Bluebird (Reprise W1-25776, 1989) for $6 at Horizon Records. I’m guessing that this is an overlooked Emmylou recording, but if you’ve never heard her version of “Lonely Street” or Johnny Cash’s “I Still Miss Someone” like me, you’ll wonder where you’ve been—what rock, what underground tavern? So many great artists play with her on this record including Bonnie Raitt, Kieran Kane, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, and Steve Fishell on pedal steel accompanying that VOICE keeps it all grounded.

This one started our rainy Sunday, and our granddaughter began moving to the very first note.

Now what says just remember I love you better than that?