Ladies and Gentlemen, mesdames et monsieurs, Damen und Herren, welcome to another episode of Vinyl-O-Matic. We are venturing into our second episode of the Mid-Season Replacement Series in which we venture through a box of 45s generously supplied by the proprietor of the late great West County Herb Shop. Let's get things going with a band that was name-checked as not being the ones to sing the revolution's theme song in Gil Scott Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised".

That's right, we just heard Sly and the Family Stone with their, well really I mean Sly's, single "Family Affair" from 1971 on Epic Records. This would be their last number-one single. All of the instruments are played by Sly, except for keys that are handled by the always excellent Billy Preston and supporting vocals by Sly's sister Rose. Before that, we heard a song that actually started off with a timpani bounce. That was Gary Lewis & the Playboys with "Jill" from 1967 on Liberty Records. I have to say, once you know that Gary Lewis is the son of Jerry Lewis, you kind of can't not hear it in the vocals. In a more somber tone, we had The Rolling Stones with their 1966 smash hit "Paint It Black" on London Records. And we got things started off with Rare Earth and their 1969 single "Get Ready" on... wait for it... Rare Earth records. Moving right along, we have not one but two, two singles produced by Chips Moman.

Bleu, bleu, l'amour est bleu... oh hey, I didn't see you there. Uh, that was Mssr. Paul Mauriat and his Orchestra bringing us the instrumental version of a song he composed as Luxembourg's 1967 entry for Eurovision "Love Is Blue", performed by Vicky on the broadcast and ended up placing 4th in the contest. I am definitely digging that 60s pop style harpsichord, as you may tell from the backing track in this episode of Vinyl-O-Matic. Before that, we had Shorty Long's Laugh-In inspired single from 1968, "Here Comes the Judge" which was released exactly two weeks before I was born and made it all the way up to number 8. We also heard a single that is not in the greatest condition, but as you know, if it plays, I'll play it. "I Take It Back" is the name of the song performed Sandy Posey on MGM Records from 1967. One of the two aforementioned Chips Moman produced records. This one made it to number 12. That last set started off with Merilee Rush and the Turnabouts with the Chips Moman produced "Angel of the Morning" on Bell Records from 1968. This version made it to number 7 on the Hot 100. For comparison, Juice Newton's 1981 version of the same song made it to number 4. And now, a little something from New Orleans from the man who would later start a label called Jim Gem.

Hey there, welcome back. We kicked off that last set with Jimmy Jules and his 1961 New Orleans romper "Talk About You" on Atlantic Records. We followed that up with another Sly & the Family Stone number from 1973 called "If You Want to Stay". That fine groove of a bassline was handled by Larry Graham's hand-picked replacement Rustee Allen. This would be the last Top 20 outing from Sly, reaching number 12 on the pop charts. We heard the unmistakeable double-clutching performance of Bill Kirchen with Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen speeding along with their 1972 hit "Hot Rod Lincoln" on Paramount Records. Finally, we heard the always amazing Bobbie Gentry with her groundbreaking single "Ode to Billie Joe" from 1967 on Capitol Records. If you are a Bobbie Gentry fan and have not read the 33 1/3 series book on her first album Ode to Billie Joe, I can highly recommend it. I'll drop a link to the book in this episode's show notes, which can be found by pointing your browser in the direction of vinylomatic.com/midseason02. Into the last set of the show we go, with a song for A Girl Named Liz.

Next time I am on the dance floor, I am definitely doing the boomerang. We just heard Jr. Walker and the All-Stars with their hot skronkin' 1965 single "Do the Boomerang". That jam made it to number 36 on the hot 100 and number 10 on the r&b charts. Prior to that, we had Otis Redding's classic "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay". That copy is in waaaaay better shape than the copy we heard not too long ago in Season 4 of Vinyl-O-Matic. If you're like me, you probably said something along the lines of 'oh yeah... that song' when I played Gallery's 1972 hit "Nice to Be with You" on Sussex Records. That was some nice jaunty country-pop from some Detroit folks. Topping off the set, we had songwriter Merle Kilgore with the Merry Melody Singers on a 1962 Mercury Records single called "A Girl Like Liz". Mr. Kilgore would later go on to become Hank Williams Jr's manager. Who knew? If you have any questions or comments about what you have heard, you can always drop me a line: will(at)vinylomatic(dot)com or leave a comment when you visit the show notes for this episode. Speaking of which, you can always find show notes, archived episodes, RSS feeds, and podcast platform at vinylomatic.com. We have at least one, if not two, more episodes that we'll put together from this collection, so join me... won't you?