All this week I’m taking a look back at 2011, beginning with a look at my top 5 (and 1/2) vinyl records I dug up in 2011. I’m not sure 2011 was as spectacular as 2010 in terms of buying vinyl, but it was a pretty solid year as my collection slowly (and I mean slowly) regains it’s previous strength. I didn’t have nearly as much time to dig as I did the previous year, but I was able to bring back a number of records (and a handful of 45s) that I used to own and pick up a few new gems as well. As with last year, this list only includes things that I picked up in actual record stores (with an ebay assist on “5 1/2,” explained below), since to me at least buying records online (generally) just don’t count as digging.
So, here are my top 5 LP and 45 finds from 2011, I’d love to know what records you tracked down this past year, let me know what YOU dug up in 2011 here or on our facebook page!!!
***Honorable Mentions: Horace Tapscott & the Pan Afrikan People’s Arkestra – Flight 17 [Atomic Records, Burbank], Andrew Hill – One For One [Amoeba Records, Hollywood], Johnny Ace – The Memorial Album [Atomic Records, Burbank], A.C. Reed – Boogaloo Tramp 45 [Vamp Records, Oakland], Novella Nelson – Novella Nelson [Groove Merchant, San Francisco], David Axelrod – Songs Of Experience [Atomic Records, Burbank], The Racket Squad – Corners Of Your Mind [Records LA, Los Angeles]
5 ½. V/A – Sadma: Original Soundtrack – CBS [Records LA, Los Angeles / Ebay]
Asha Bhonsle & Suresh Wadkar – Yeh Hawa Yey Fiza
This is a bit outside of my “record store only” rules with this list, but I feel like I should include this LP here because of the circumstances of discovery. If not for a facebook post from Records LA’s head honcho Scott Craig, I never would have had a clue that this record included a track sampled for one of my favorite songs of 2010, Gonajsufi’s “Sheep.” As soon as I saw that I had every intention of getting the record at Records LA, but by the time I got there, it was long gone…my impatience led me to the copy I now own via a dealer in the UK on Ebay. Another copy of Sadma came in later in the year to Records LA. If only I had been a little patient, this would be an unqualified #1 top find for 2011, instead it’s on the list but with an asterisk…
5. Harvey Averne Dozen – Viva Soul – Atlantic [Atomic Records, Burbank]
Harvey Averne Dozen – Free Advice
It’s fairly rare that I see this record, Averne’s first as a leader with his mighty latin soul outfit, The Harvey Averne Dozen. When I ran into it, just sitting pretty on the famed wall of records at Atomic, I couldn’t resist the temptation to take it on home (if only it were quite so easy to track down a coat just like the one Averne is wearing on this cover…sharp!). “You’re No Good” is one of my fave Latin Soul numbers of all time and the version of “The Word” on this album is a solid Latin B-boy number if I ever heard one. At some point this year I’m sure I’ll feature this record in a post of its own, but for now, just dig on “Free Advice.”
4. Ice Water Slim & the Fourth Floor – I Don’t Understand It / Dream On, Dream On – Hawk Sound 7” [Vamp Records, Oakland]
Ice Water Slim & the Fourth Floor – Dream On, Dream On
Scored this in a trade with Sean Sullivan (who runs the excellent Sound Boutique audio blog) at VAMP, a fairly new record store that Sean Boogie can often be found behind the counter, located in Oakland’s Lake Merritt area. Aside from being a Johnny Otis production, which is intriguing enough, “I Don’t Understand It” sounds A LOT like Sly & the Family Stone from this same period. So much so that I wouldn’t be surprised if this was some kind of Sly off shoot. Interestingly enough, I haven’t been able to dig up any information on Ice Water Slim, but I’ve just never heard of Otis and Sly working together so it doesn’t make total sense. I know “Slim” cut at least one other 45, but other than that there doesn’t seem to be any google-able information out there on him. All I can say is this is a pretty cool 45, with the bubbling funk of “Don’t Understand It” and the simply dreamy (though not Sly Stone sounding at all) slow groove of “Dream On, Dream On” on the flipside.
3. The Posse – You Better Come On Out And Play / That’s What Makes Us Happy – E.J.K. 7” [Records LA, Los Angeles]
The Posse – You Better Come On Out And Play
The Posse were a Detroit area group, produced by Eddie Kendricks on his own E.J.K. label. “You Better Come On Out And Play” is so so very good. It grabs you immediately with that great 30+ second introduction, where each instrument gets added into the rhythm before the vocals finally come in and, just as every beat digger would hope, you get a slightly different and totally clean version of that rhythm breakdown at the very end…Simply Breaktastic.
2. David Porter – Victim Of A Joke – Enterprise [As The Record Turns, Hollywood]
David Porter – I’m Afraid The Masquerade Is Over
Already said quite a bit about this LP, though interesting I said very little about it’s signature tune, the otherworldly “I’m Afraid the Masquerade Is Over.” What really trips me out is that it was only when I tracked down this record this past August that I realized that Dale Warren, of 24 Carat Black fame, arranged this monster. From the horns, to the strings, to the drums, bass and piano, Warren’s style is all over this production and his involvement helps to explain why this song sounds like few others in the Stax/Enterprise catalog. A classic above all classics.
1. Clarence Reid – Masterpiece/Down The Road Of Love – Alston 7” [Records LA, Los Angeles]
Speaking of classics, I still can’t believe my good fortune in tracking this down, and getting it for the insane price of $3…I had to cover my mouth just to keep from screaming, ’cause this one’s a Masterpiece!