Tuesday, June 05, 2007


The Moody Blues: Go Now! b/w Lose Your Money [1964]

Through a friend of a friend, I recently acquired a collection of 45's that belonged to two sisters growing up in Port Chester, New York, in the early 60's. Taken as a whole, these singles represent a fascinating cross-section of the hit parade of the day and a window into the musical psyches of two teenage girls. The classic teen heartbreak anthem "Go Now!", taken from this collection, is the first installment in what I hope will be an ongoing series. There are hundreds of records in this box. The only difficulty is that I'll need to find clean digital versions of the songs, because the 45's themselves are NOT rippable. (Talk about dusty 7's...)

Bonus cut:
Go Now! (recorded live at the NME Poll Winners' Concert, April 11, 1965)

And because the Internet is insane, go here to check out the original
Bessie Banks version.

The Magnificent Moodies on CD

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like an intriguing find.

Since you give no indication of when the collection begins and ends, i'm wondering if there is maybe anything in there from the Left Banke, Emmett ? Probably one of the most exciting and frankly outrageously underrated groups to have come out of New York (Greenwich Village) in the mid-sixties.

I can easily imagine them having the a surfeit of bubblegum appeal to two young sisters slap bang in the middle of NYC in 1966.

Interestingly, too, did you know the Left Banke's Steve Martin Caro sang back-up vocals on the Stones' "Salt of the Earth" ?

Emmett said...

Hey ib -- I've only just begun to sift through the collection. There may well be some Left Banke in there and I will certainly keep you "posted" if I find any. It seems to be mostly early to mid-60's. A lot of British Invasion.

Speaking of which, what do you call the British Invasion over there... just "The Invasion"? :)

Anonymous said...

Ha, Ha! Always thought it was a strange genre category ; we didn't have an "American Invasion" here (unless you count the preparations for Normandy), but then again there's always been an abundance of U.S. solo acts and groups in the "hit parade".

I think the term most people would apply is Beat - after the Beatles - i would assume.

ally. said...

rip them rip them - crackles and scratches and jumps aren't the enemy and they sound too gorgeous to wait around for.
x