I’m a vinyl record enthusiast, have been since I was a kid. I love the tactile experience of holding a record, flipping it over to play the other side, reading the liner notes or any other “extras” it came with. There’s a pretty famous (among vinyl enthusiasts) New Yorker cartoon by Alex Gregory that hits the nail on the head.
(That inconvenience came into play every time I moved to a new place!)
When I moved to the Southern Tier, one of the first things I looked for was record stores. Luckily, there are three within my immediate area, and I’m sure more I’ll want to discover. So far, I’ve found myself visiting Angry Mom Records in Ithaca, Music City and Sound-Go-Round in Binghamton.
I’ll be sharing some of my finds with you and would love to hear about what you come across or places you recommend to find used vinyl.
This week, I’m sharing some discs I picked up at Angry Mom Records.
I discovered Peggy Lee when I was in college. My radio station friends and I couldn’t get over the ridiculousness of “Is That All There Is,” inspired by the short story “Disillusionment” by Thomas Mann. However, the song about dealing with life’s adversities was really about how resilient Peggy Lee was. She co-wrote over 270 songs, produced over a thousand master recordings, was nominated for 13 Grammy Awards, and appeared in films, including a variety of voice-over characters in Disney’s Lady and the Tramp. After Disney released the cartoon on VHS, Lee successfully sued them for breach of contract for not paying royalties on the video sale. Not only was she resilient, she was pretty bad-ass.
While visiting Angry Mom, I hit the motherload of used Peggy Lee albums, pretty much cleaning out her section. Some of my finds:
Ole ala Lee! – The title says it all! The songs on this 1961 album are styled in a spectacular Latin fashion. This isn’t her first attempt at Latin rhythms, it’s a follow-up to her 1960 disc, “Latin a la Lee!” Here Peggy’s sultry voice comes through on the slower, romantic bolero style songs like “By Myself” and “You Stepped Out of a Dream.” The more pop songs like “Love and Marriage” don’t hold up to the authentic Latin sound.
I Like Men! - Both the album title and Peggy Lee’s sly, knowing smile on the front cover let you know you are about to hear some sexy song delivery on this 1959 record. She opened up the Great American Songbook to find some lesser-known songs like “Charley, My Boy,” and also co-wrote the title track.
Sugar N’ Spice – one of the best things about this 1962 album is the cheesy record cover! One side is the “Sugar” pic of Peggy and the other is her “Spicy” look. This disc has it all – jazz pop versions of Broadway tunes like “I Believe in You,” a cover of Ma Rainey’s “See See Rider,” and even the novelty tune, “Big Bad Bill.” If you’re not that familiar with Peggy Lee, this is the album to get, highlighting her dynamic range of emotions.