The wish list, sort of

After posting here last month that I’d found the record that had been No. 1 on my wish list for 10 years, my friend Jim dropped me a note from across town. We had this exchange on New Year’s Day:

Jim: How cool that you found the Larry Williams & Johnny Watson LP. Glory be. You got the soul, brother. 

Me: Yeah, I finally found that record. What do I do now? Don’t think I’ll quit digging, though. Still a handful of records left on my wish list.

Jim: I would like to see what’s left on your “wish list.” Must be some rather hard-to-find albums. 

So I thought for a while and sent Jim this list toward the end of the evening:

• “Noah” by the Bob Seger System
• “Brand New Morning” by Bob Seger
• “Music from National Football League Films,” Vols. 2, 3 and 4
• “Merry Soul Christmas — George Conedy at the Hammond Organ”
• “Shaft” by Bernard Purdie
• “David (Unreleased LP and More)” by David Ruffin
• “Lady Lea” or “Excuse Me, I Want to Talk To You” by Lea Roberts
• Late ’60s/early ’70s Little Richard: “The Explosive Little Richard,” “Every Hour With Little Richard,” “King of Rock and Roll,” “The Second Coming,” “Right Now!” (Though I have seen a couple of these but passed for budget or quality reasons.)
• Late ’60s/early ’70s Mongo Santamaria: “Soul Bag,” “Workin’ on a Groovy Thing,” “Stone Soul,” “Feelin’ Alright,” “Mongo ’70”
• Anything by black college marching bands with rock/soul/R&B covers

It didn’t take long before I realized the list was incomplete. Also looking for stuff by the Easybeats … another record by the Foundations … another Lionel Hampton record on Brunswick … and, well, you get the idea. It’s a fairly fluid list. That opens up possibilities for finding records I’m not looking for while digging. Which explains why the last three records I bought were:

• “Baby Dynamite” by Carolyn Franklin from 1969.
• “Heart & Soul” by Johnny Adams from 1969.
• “Candy” soundtrack featuring the Byrds, Steppenwolf and Dave Grusin from 1968.

But back to the list I sent to Jim. Why, for example, am I looking for records from black college marching bands? Because “Tiger Time” by the Grambling University Marching Band is one of the coolest records I ever found, and I wasn’t looking for it. Now I’m looking for more, if they exist at all. Here’s why. Dig this!

“Ode To Billie Joe,” the Grambling University Marching Band, from “Tiger Time,” 1971. Yep, a marching band covering Bobbie Gentry.

Check out my original post about finding this record — a $2 record — to hear some cool soul covers. Dig the scintillating action they’re putting down!