BILLY LAMONT, "I'M GONNA TRY" C/W "NOW DARLING," OKEH 7131 (REL. 4/1960)

I refer you to our post of March 21^st: for biographical information. Today we’ll hear the super-scarce second and final Okeh single of Billy La Mont. This was acquired for an absurdly low price—alongside several other rare r&b/soul items that were underpriced by a seller under the influence of a, shall we say, herbal relaxant. When sober, this seller overprices his wares to a bizarre degree. I prefer he price his records in an altered state.

This second release came out in April 1960 and was doomed from the start by Columbia/Okeh’s disinterest in the promotion of their non-pop/jazz/country releases. Why, then, one might ask, did they bother releasing these records? Perhaps it made them look cool and hip. It couldn’t have been a labor of love; these big labels were all business. Such a record might give an unknown performer a calling card for future endeavors (club dates, session work, meetings with new potential labels) but spelled disappointment for all creative parties concerned. Columbia’s accountants added these flops-on-purpose to the red-ink column, and, come tax time, milked them for all they were worth.

So many talented performers were pawns in a rigged game; most who tried may have known the odds were massive. But the lure of success is a powerful pull, and one couldn’t say no to an opportunity.

That Columbia had Lamont back for a follow-up suggests that “Country Boy” did well enough to satisfy them; it might have gone over well on jukeboxes and moved enough retail copies to hit their quota. The singer/composer had a powerful bluesy mover in “I’m Gonna Try.” Gone are the novelty elements of his first record. This is a tough blues in the “I’m A Man” mode, with a stop-start arrangement, blazing guitar by Jimmy Spruill and solid backing by his band.

La Mont delivers a moody performance on this philosophical, no-nonsense treatise on persistence. Its theme was an apt one for this second release. This record did not get to a retail pressing; bootlegs exist that look like the yellow-label stock copies, but I’ve yet to see proof of a legit version. (No copies of any edition are reported on popsike.com, a searchable database of records sold at auction over the past 15 years.) Three dollars was a pittance for this platter.

>>>Hear it HERE!!!<<<

Cash Box, April 9, 1960: "effective wistful."

“Now, Darling” is a crawling ballad with a femme soul chorus, Spruill’s guitar and a pleasing treatment that keeps its pop elements at bay. It’s a forgive-and-forget narrative. “Sometimes I feel like dying/it’s all because of you” is an intense statement in this slow-but-urgent plea that, rendered in strong, essential strokes, carries more oomph than 1,000 similar songs of its day.

>>>Hear it HERE!!!<<<

La Mont made a single with Jimi Hendrix for 20^th-Century Fox Records in 1968. “Sweet Thang” is wanted by many more people than the singer’s earlier, better records, but all command spendy prices and none are common. I’m glad to have three of his singles and perhaps others will come into my orbit.

Tomorrow: the good sides of a pair of unusual teen rockers. The meh Paul Evans delivers a powerful teen anthem on a 1959 Atco Records rarity; then future folkie Fred Neil teams up with a rock ‘n’ roll legend on a perfect li’l rockabilly bopper of the same vintage.