Thurston Harris, "Goddess Of Angels" c/w "Quiet As It's Kept," Dot 45-16415 (rel. 12/1962)
Born in 1931, Harris was part of the South Central Los Angeles Black music scene. He first appeared on record as a member of The Lamplighters, where he sang and wrote several songs for the group's Federal Records releases of 1953-56. The group also recorded as The Tenderfoots and The Sharps; under that last name, they backed him on his early solo sides for Aladdin Records, from 1957 until its demise in early 1961. Harris was on the label's final release.
It's possible his two Dot singles were leftover Aladdin masters; both were produced by Eddie Messner, the former owner of that label. In-between Aladdin and Dot was a one-off release on MGM's Cub imprint, with a song by Otis Blackwell; yet another single I need to find.
That Cub release sounds nothing like Thurston's Aladdin or Dot material, which share a tight, crisp sound. "Goddess of Angels'" title suggests a soppy ballad; not the case! Low-down piano kicks off this seductive mover. Harris is backed by a sassy Black femme chorus, raunchy sax and a powerful rhythm section. It sports a compelling melody that's a little bit early Motown; easy to imagine Marvin Gaye doing this number early in his career.
This is a superb piece of LA r&b, with impressive sound quality. Every element of this recording is ideally balanced and carries weight and presence. Harris' vocals sound so much better than on most of his Aladdin releases; their sound is hampered by the cheapest styrene the law allowed. Dot used styrene as well, but this record is on good quality vinyl and has the full range of high fidelity monaural sound.
Like a duck takes to water!
"Quiet as It's Kept" continues this seductive mid-tempo groove. On this song, Thurston encounters a dance party and gets in on the action. "I don't like to jump and shout," he confesses; "I like to play it cool." Yet he can't resist and dances until the sun rises the next morning.
The song's title was an attractive phrase to cleffer Pat Walker; it doesn't mean anything but it sings well. The vibe of these two sides is perfect and I'm surprised this single isn't better known. Any soul DJ could work a room with this single in his playbox!
Harris made a second single for Dot, "Poop-a-loop," which is also seldom encountered, and recorded for Imperial and Reprise. His recording career ended as The Beatles' explosion rocked America in February 1964. His later years were quiet; he died in his sleep in 1990. There's yet to be a definitive CD collection of his work that isn't a bootleg or low-quality release. Harris deserves a good retrospective--perhaps with his Lamplighters sides included.
Tomorrow: Pacific Northwest beat-garage with Sir Walter Raleigh, from a scarce Tower Records platter of 1965. It has a Buffalo Springfield connection among its many charms!
Both of these pleased this teener. To my ears "Goddess of Angels" borrows heavily the music of the Hollywood Argyle's "Alley Oop" from 1960 and "Quiet As It's Kept" certainly steals some beats of "Twist And Shout." I wondered how the word whammy was used in "Goddess of Angels" and here's what the interweb says: The word whammy was popularized in the 1950s by the cartoonist Al Capp in the comic strip Li'l Abner. The character Evil-Eye Fleegle could paralyze someone with the sheer power of his gaze. The single whammy was a look with one eye, and the fearsome double whammy used both eyes. Love how in our pop culture music and art are sparks for one another.
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