THE FIVE KEYS, "BIMBO" C/W "VALLEY OF LOVE," KING 45-5398 (REL. 10/1960)

 

A welcome sight to any record hound is the dollar bin--golden vessel of indifference used by overwhelmed stores and sellers to rid themselves of stock. It's not worth their time and trouble to go through each little seven-inch record, look them up, assess their condition and price them; they've got other pressing issues that take first place.

Most of what one finds in a dollar bin is only worth a buck. But... 

There are exceptions to every rule. For the next week, we'll enjoy some dollar bin doozies--great (and sometimes rare) records that got chunked in with the usual suspects and fly under everyone's radar but my own. Such finds, always unpredictable and surprising, are what makes collecting 45-rpm records such fun. 

To start our lineup is a 1960 single by The Five Keys. After they left Capitol Records, where they'd enjoyed top-dog status for most of the 1950s (along with an earlier stay on Aladdin Records), the group moved to Cincinnati's King Records--home to The "5" Royales, Hank Ballard & The Midnighters, James Brown, et al. King was a good place for a Black vocal group to be. Whether a record charted or not, King got their singles into jukeboxes and other Black establishments where they were heard and liked.

The Five Keys' King singles are some of their best. Capitol forced some grating pop arrangements on the group; they didn't go for that in Cincinnati. "Bimbo," co-written by Don Covay and John Berry, who penned a slew of r&b songs in the early 1960s, is as rockin' as this fine group ever got. This is doo-wop with great energy, solid harmony vocals and the irresistible "be-bop-ba-bop-bop" hook at the end of each verse.

Add a strange sax solo to the mix and you've got a goofball gem that shoulda been the single's A-side. I'd wager this side got the most jukebox plays.

A mediocre but well-performed A-side hid the prurient charms of

"Bimbo," a hit that might've been in 1960 r&b.

The nominal A-side is a rewrite of the public domain song "Down in the Valley," of which there are a stack of similar versions. Gregory Carroll, songwriting partner of Doris Payne (BKA Doris Troy). Lead vocal by Thomas Threat, the record label informs us. I don't hear any substantial difference; Rudy West was the group's usual front-man, but for this well-performed and arranged toss-off, I suppose a thinly veiled Threat was allowed.

Though Cash Box decreed "sound could prove important," it stood in the manic shadow of "Bimbo." None of the group's King singles charted; they'd enjoyed their last minor hit with 1956's "Let There Be You." 

The fruits of The Five Keys' time at King can be heard in the long-deleted 1991 Charly Records CD Dream On, which gathers all 24 tracks they cut for the label. I'm surprised these tracks haven't been re-reissued since then. The title track is heard on our current Mini-Pod and is a masterpiece of atmospheric r&b balladry.

Tomorrow: The Rue-Teens deliver a tuff spin on the typical white vocal group stuff with a one-off release for the ultra-obscure Louis Records label. This 1964 deck was both au courant and old-fashioned sounding but has a certain fascination.