Like most people who bought records at thrift stores in the golden age of pre-ebay thrifting, before everything got picked over, I accumulated a bunch of cheap 45s of bands I've never heard of. Most were bought for one of two reasons. The name of the band or the title of the song. It was usually the song title, and there's a higher percentage of instrumental records with good song titles than there are with non-instrumentals. Two reasons: one is that, because there are no lyrics, you can name the song virtually anything. You can go with the obvious, or something way out, or dark. The possibilities are endless. And the other reason that instrumentals have to have a good name is because it has to be memorable, there are no lyrics that repeat the title. That title better be badass and the tune itself better back it up. So, yeah, a bunch of instrumentals are socked away in the hall closet of curiosities.
I really didn't play them with any regularity after a while. My brother was about the only person I knew who appreciated the oddballness of them like I did, and since he passed away in '97, I haven't dug them out very often. As my trips to the thrift stores dwindled, so did the serendipitous scores. They slowly drifted to the back of the stack, and that's where the genre stayed for me, for a good ten years. Then came a chance visit to a graphic designer's website. Patrick Broderick's Rotodesign used to have a song playing in the background, an oddball instrumental that I found myself going back to his site to listen to. At one point I found it silly to go to a website just to hear a song, so I sent him an email asking what the song was. The answer, "Panic Button" by Edgar Alan and the Po' Boys. There you go, an attractive title right there. Turned out that Broderick had found it on one of the Las Vegas Grind compilations. Talk about a can of worms. That series is oddball instrumental gold. My interest was back. Soon fortified by a surge in "(fill in the blank) shakers" interest on blogs, particularly the great Beware of the Blog and Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban, both products of WFMU in New York. In the ensuing years, I've found the oddball instrumental pot is bottomless. You will never come close to hearing even half of them. It seems that every group with four or more members was on that bandwagon in the fifties and early sixties. They were simple, easy, and cheap to record. Hell, as much as I like them, they're not Mozart. Any seventeen year old kid could play them, and most did. They served as entry level records for young recording artists as well as cash-ins for lounge bands that would never get their full due, and studio musicians looking for a quick novelty buck.
Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban is still riding on the "Instrumental 45 of the Week" series, and that's where I go if I need a fix, which I do, at least once a week.
~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:Edgar Alan and the Po' Boys - Panic Button mp3 at Probe is Turning-On the People
The Jaguars - Drive-In mp3 at Plastik Props
The Gee Cees - Buzzsaw Twist mp3 at Rocky 52 Glen Campbell '61
More:
Instrumental 45 of the Week at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Las Vegas Grind (streaming) at YouTube
Las Vegas Grind, Vol 2 (streaming) at YouTube
Las Vegas Grind, Vol 3 (streaming) at YouTube
Las Vegas Grind, Vol 4 (streaming) at YouTube
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