Thrift Store Adventures: April 15, 2007, Pasco, Washington

Tax day, or at least it's the day where Americans are supposed to turn in their tax forms. What do I do? Head to the same old Goodwill I've been going to for years. It gets old, but I keep on looking for the old.

Dr. Murray Banks-How To Live With Yourself Or...What To Do Until The Psychiatrist Comes (Murmil Associates MB-101; 1965)
I bought this assuming it was a comedy album, especially with a title like that. Well, he is a comedian, but he's also a psychiatrist. Or is it a philosopher? Apparently Dr. Banks was known for writing a series of self-help books, and he moved forward to the vinyl realm. Interesting, lots of good elements for sampling purposes.

Don Ho-The Don Ho TV Show (Reprise RS-6367)
If you've followed my Thrift Store Adventures over the years, you know how much I'm a fan of Don Ho and his music, and how I go out of my way to hunt down and archive Hawaiian records of any kind, good or bad. Unfortunately, Don Ho passed away yesterday at the age of 76, and as the unofficial "ambassador of Hawai'i", he was the one many people wanted to see when they traveled to Hawai'i.

The funny thing was, before I went to Goodwill, I actually wondered if I would somehow find a Don Ho album, and here it is. This is from the late 60's, released after Reprise came out with his Greatest Hits album, when Mr. Ho had his own television variety show. His version of "Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In" is pretty cool, and the rest of the album shows why he was one of the biggest entertainers of the 1960's. Sad to know he'll no longer be with us, but he left behind a lot of good music and fans who cared for him. r.i.p.

Trackers of the world, I have not been picking up any 8-track tapes because of... I really don't have a reason. I've passed up a number of jazz titles, and one day they were gone. These two, however, were there:

The Modern Jazz Quartet-The Best Of... (Atlantic M-81546)
Atlantic had released a series of jazz compilations at the same time, and since MJQ were one of the label's more popular jazz groups, they received one. On here, "Fontessa" is divided in two.

Jazz Super Hits (Atlatnic 1528)
Two, two, two Atlantic jazz 8-tracks in one day. This album features Ray Charles, The Modern Jazz Quartet witjh Laurindo Almeida, Herbie Mann, Eddie Harris, and John Coltrane. Unfortunately, Coltrane's take of "My Favorite Things" is split in two, along with MJQ/Almedia's take of "One Note Samba".

I also found a 45 on the Mal label by a group called The Spins. The song s were "Spin No. 1" and "Spin No. 2". Mal had an address in Oak Park, Illinois, so there was a good chance that this wasn't country music. Could it be some rare soul or funk? Some Illinois gospel? The Spins didn't sound like a rock or psychedelic band, and I was thinking more along the lines of a radio DJ spinning the records.

Brought it home, and it leans more towards the Motown sound, but not quite full-on soul. It's pretty cool, I wonder if the group recorded any more spins.

(The Spins-Spin No. 1 (3mb))