second line social: Sept. 4th

To kick things off this week, I'd like to plug a new site that my buddy Mike Hooker and I developed. It is called RnB45.com, and is a site/forum dedicated to promoting, selling, trading, and general chat on the subject of records, in particular, 45s from the 50s through the mid-60s. If you dig what i have on my blog, come check it out.

This week, I've got 4 records that are all more obscure songs done by fairly well-known artists. I have always enjoyed trying to hunt down those lesser-known, outstanding titles by established artists. It's a lot like finding a big Hollywood actor's small, quality art film. Or discovering your favorite restaurant has a delicious non-menu item. It is basically the theory of the "road-less-traveled" side of the road more traveled. Because the artists were all decently popular and have plenty of resources for biography, discography and related info, I am going to take this opportunity to play hookie (sort of) and just share the tunes. I'll offer some links to info on the artists, for those who would like to know more about them.

See y'all next week with more goodies...

The Isley Brothers vs. The Coasters...

Here are two very different versions of an amazing, not-so-known tune, both of which were put out by Atlantic Records. The Isley version was released in February of '61 and the Coasters' version was released exactly 1 year later, in February of '62.