Teardrops and Greatest Hits

Crate Diving in Modern America

It’s funny what can happen in a week. Friday night a week ago, my wife and I watched the new documentary on Little Richard who, as well as anyone could have, created Rock and Roll. The film is by turns revelatory, jubilant, and extremely sad, which is definitely on point given that the music conforms to those adjectives, too.

The following day, I went to my local store hoping to find an album or two of Richard’s songs. No luck, unless I wanted some of his sacred music. I have nothing against that turn in his career, but it wasn’t what I had in mind and I couldn’t see myself listening to it often or perhaps ever,

Exactly a week later, I go back and there waiting for me is…

Little Richard’s Greatest Hits (Okeh Stereo OKS 14121), recorded live in Los Angeles in 1967. (And that is my photo of my copy!) Every song you’d think would be here is here, and I don’t know what thrilled me more: hearing “Long Tall Sally,” “Tutti Frutti,” “Good Golly Miss Molly,” or just having this gem for the cool price of $12. A true piece of history, and I wonder how many of these still exist.

But I wasn’t done, for as greatest hits albums go, this was a day to treasure for sure. Awaiting me next, and I didn’t have to dive too far in, was this rock and roll gold:

Yardbirds’ Greatest Hits (EPIC BN 26246 1967). I paid $12 for this, and according to Discogs, I did okay. I’d say the sleeve is in VG shape, and the vinyl itself is a couple of notches above that. There are other compilations of their “hits,” and this one includes the standards plus “Happenings Ten Years Time Ago.”

I haven’t spent much time lately digging through Country treasure troves, and as I was waiting for my record store custodian to search for something rare, I peeked into the new used acquisition bin and found…

The Best of Buck Owens (Capitol ST 2105 1964). It’s a Near Mint copy featuring “Love’s Gonna Live Here,” “Under Your Spell Again,” and the classic “Act Naturally” which The Beatles covered on the American release Yesterday and Today (featuring Ringo on vocals). I don’t know how many of you would have paid $10 for this one, but I did, and the sound is as pristine as you could want it to be.

And maybe I got a bit sentimental then, because the next thing I knew, I had found and purchased these two for $5 each:

Freddy Fender, Before the Next Teardrop Falls (ABC DOT DOSD 2020, 1975). Along with the title song, he performs “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights,” “After the Fire Is Gone,” and “Wild Side of Life” among others. My grandmother (who wrote a couple of songs herself which I’ve just learned are considered “rockabilly classics”) loved Fender. But did she also love…

Diana Ross, Touch Me in the Morning…? (MOTOWN 779, 1973), including that giant hit along with “I Won’t Last a Day Without You,” “Imagine,” and the medley, “Brown Baby/Save the Children.” Someone bought this originally for $4.57 at a place called “ayr-way,” which, according to Wikipedia, is the stuff of legends itself:

“Ayr-Way, the Ayres discount store subsidiary, became the first discount store launched by a full-line department store. By the end of the 1960s Ayres had become a diversified merchandising business with retail department stores, a chain of discount stores, specialty clothing stores, a home furnishings showroom, and a real estate holding company. A long-time Ayres slogan, "That Ayres Look", promoted the company as a fashion leader, and by 1972 it had become the oldest continuous retail slogan in the United States.”

The Ayres here is Lyman S. who founded his first department store in Indianapolis in 1872.

Now that’s what I call digging!!!

See you next time and feel free to try this at home with your kids!