Mickey And Sylvia, "Love Is A Treasure" c/w "Let's Have A Picnic," Vik 4X-0290 (rel. 8/1957)
Any collector will tell you: there's nothing quite as pleasing as filling in a gap in a series. Whether it's stamps, comic books, barbed wire or Barbie dolls, the knowledge that X exists (and should be in-between W and Y) but doesn't show up is a constant low-key nag. W and Y may exist in plentitude; they mock you each time you encounter them in your travels. And then, one day, X avails itself. No fanfare: it's just there.
In that moment, a strange disbelief clouds one's thoughts. Don't I already have this? I don't think I have this...? I have put paid to this dilemma by logging my collection on 45cat.com. Unless there's something to block my internet connection, I can run a search on my holdings and prevent the purchase of a second, third or fourth copy of a record I already have.
When I encountered today's single in a store I visit once a year, it proved to be the lone item missing from my collection of Mickey and Sylvia's six singles for Vik Records. They'd debuted on RCA-Victor's wonderful Groove imprint with 1956's killer-thriller-diller "No Good Lover," followed by the one Groove single you see everywhere--the million-selling "Love is Strange."
After their sixth Vik release (Vik being a catch-all imprint that mostly skewed white pop), Mickey Baker and Sylvia Vanderport were allowed on the main label, which now included a democratic mix of styles, artists and cultures. Not since the 1920s had Victor been so all-inclusive. When Depression-era racists complained, Victor developed a honeycomb of sub-series; everything from Serbian music to Black blues had its own catalog-within-a-catalog. It's a nightmare for those who collect 78-rpm records and it continued until 1958, when it at last made sense to combine all music with possible pop appeal under one simple label.
But I digress. Mickey and Sylvia's recordings come in two variations: captivating and icky-sweet. The latter seems a willful, devilish satire of cutesy. One can feel invisible fingers force themselves into the listener's throat. Those moments are in the minority, but it's hard to tell by the song titles. Thus, I approached today's single with caution. Yes, it was the only one I needed to complete a run, but...would it be one of those Mickey and Sylvia singles?
In that moment, a strange disbelief clouds one's thoughts. Don't I already have this? I don't think I have this...? I have put paid to this dilemma by logging my collection on 45cat.com. Unless there's something to block my internet connection, I can run a search on my holdings and prevent the purchase of a second, third or fourth copy of a record I already have.
When I encountered today's single in a store I visit once a year, it proved to be the lone item missing from my collection of Mickey and Sylvia's six singles for Vik Records. They'd debuted on RCA-Victor's wonderful Groove imprint with 1956's killer-thriller-diller "No Good Lover," followed by the one Groove single you see everywhere--the million-selling "Love is Strange."
After their sixth Vik release (Vik being a catch-all imprint that mostly skewed white pop), Mickey Baker and Sylvia Vanderport were allowed on the main label, which now included a democratic mix of styles, artists and cultures. Not since the 1920s had Victor been so all-inclusive. When Depression-era racists complained, Victor developed a honeycomb of sub-series; everything from Serbian music to Black blues had its own catalog-within-a-catalog. It's a nightmare for those who collect 78-rpm records and it continued until 1958, when it at last made sense to combine all music with possible pop appeal under one simple label.
But I digress. Mickey and Sylvia's recordings come in two variations: captivating and icky-sweet. The latter seems a willful, devilish satire of cutesy. One can feel invisible fingers force themselves into the listener's throat. Those moments are in the minority, but it's hard to tell by the song titles. Thus, I approached today's single with caution. Yes, it was the only one I needed to complete a run, but...would it be one of those Mickey and Sylvia singles?
The answer is an emphatic NO! Here are two great songs bolstered by guitar wizard Mickey Baker's breath-taking six-string action. An in-demand session musician, Baker could play in any style and enjoyed experimentation. His records with Sylvia Davenport (soon to be Robbins) gave him a playground for new sounds, and this summer 1957 release revels in that playful glee.
Thanks to the session information in Bear Family's two-CD set of this duo's classic works, Love is Strange, the A-side, "Love is a Treasure," was taped on July 17, 1957 after an unissued first take five days earlier. Chuck Wayne plays a third guitar (after Baker's lead and Sylvia's acoustic rhythm); bassist Abie "Available" Baker and drummer David "Panama" Francis are also in the room.
Thanks to the session information in Bear Family's two-CD set of this duo's classic works, Love is Strange, the A-side, "Love is a Treasure," was taped on July 17, 1957 after an unissued first take five days earlier. Chuck Wayne plays a third guitar (after Baker's lead and Sylvia's acoustic rhythm); bassist Abie "Available" Baker and drummer David "Panama" Francis are also in the room.
The basic track is a sort of quasi-hard rock at a crawling tempo with big, forceful guitars at its center. A moody Elvis wanna-be might have sung over this creeping, majestic mass of sound. Instead, the clear, heartful harmonies of two musicians who couldn't stand each other in real life make like they're the best of friends on a philosophical item co-written by Sylvia and Carmen Taylor. I believe this is the stroll tempo, and it's a superb example; the sound suggests tension and drama as the song expresses hope and good vibes.
A weird new-wave 1981-style image accompanies this Cash Box spotlight review. "A very rhythmic picnic suggestion" is a phrase I hope to use in a sentence someday.
"Let's Have a Picnic" was the title that worried me. To my delight/relief, this side rocks with a smoldering fire. From one of Baker's wildest guitar solos to a r&b hoe-down fusion, with bassist Everett Barksdale sawin' on his acoustic stand-up like he's subbing at a square dance, the sum of this song is much more than the gentle PDA narrative offered in harmony by our two vocalists.
Again co-written by Sylvia (under the pseudonym 'S. Gibson'), it touches the hem of cutesy but doesn't commit, and the result is sweet and salty all at once. That guitar solo is a thing of raw beauty. Worth hearing twice just for that reason!
And, just because it never gets old, here is "No Good Lover," a perennial in my Top 10 all-time favorites.
Tomorrow: one-record wonder Black girl group The Patterns deliver two slices of delight via a seldom-seen ABC-Paramount disc from 1962. Another recent 50-cent find!
Three cools songs! Love how Baker teases his guitar, threatening but never breaking out to rock on "Love Is A Treasure." His guitar talent really shines on the "Yakety Yak"-ish "Let's Have A Picnic" and their full rocker "No Good Lover."
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