Greetings, seekers of the rare, the unusual, the putatively worthless! I come before you once again with a pair of fine, obscure tunes — both from the same, excellent single — collected at a garage sale I chanced upon a few weeks ago.

I make no claims about the catalog depth of the Shangri-Las, a girl group most famous for their mega-smash hit, “Leader Of the Pack.” But I can say that all the Sharngri-Las material I have found in my thrifty peregrinations has provided excellent entertainment, and Mrs. Bakshi concurs. This single is no different. The A-side, “Love You More Than Yesterday,” is catchy and hook-laden, and features just enough — how shall I say it? — girlish naivete to amuse.

01 Love You More Than Yesterday

The B-side, however, was a real WTF moment for me. And I mean that in a good way! As you’ll hear, “Past, Present & Future” isn’t really a “song” at all. It’s a spoken word piece, about… uh… about the emotional impact of being raped, as far as I can tell. Seriously.

01 Past, Present and Future

The first time I heard it, I had a hard time getting past the melodrama, and I suspect you’ll have the same reaction. But if you have it pop up on CD mixes in the car for a month as I did, you may find yourself appreciating its subtler charms. I cannot tell a lie; I love the extreme girly drama of it. As I get older, I find myself losing patience with the supposed drama of the gang-banger, the beer-drinker, the hell-raiser, and I enjoy the simple charm (if you can call it that) of a girl’s lament, ca. 1965. And as far as girl’s laments go, this one is a corker. See what you think.

As always, I look forward to your responses.

HVB

Aint_No_Big_Thing

Greetings, fellow seekers of the rare, the unusual, and the mostly worthless! I come before you today bearing a new musical gift, scavenged from a thrift store, flea market, garage sale, or garbage can in or around our nation’s capitol. Today and henceforth, my goal will be simple: to brighten your day with a worthy slab of dusty, scratchy vinyl — hopefully one you haven’t heard before. I’ll try to do this every few days, one song at a time, so I can keep this up as long as my dusty stack of vinyl will let me.

Before we begin, a few words about why I do this.

We’re all familiar with the way people discover “new” music these days: the internet (shudder). The internet promises so much. It coils around our brains, whispering sweet nothings into our ears like “people who bought (X) also bought (Y),” and “you might also like (Z),” in an attempt to part us from our money as efficiently as possible.

Unfortunately, pursuing these recommendations usually leads us into sub-sub-genre ghettos where qualities diminish with every off-ramp we take. Furthermore… well, how can the internet possibly suggest a voice because it soothes me, or a guitar solo because it makes my spine tingle, or the vigorous shaking of a pair of maracas because they make a final outchorus jump to life? No, I have decided that the internet is a trap, my friends, and I shun it.

Instead, when I want more music, I don my burlap robe, cinched at the waist with a frayed length of rope, and — shepherd’s crook in hand — I strike out to find music where it’s been abandoned, discarded, and cast aside as garbage. Humble places are where I find my richest treasures.

I select my music because the song title appeals to me, or because the record label looks cool, or because the band is named after an obscure body part. The rewards are deep and lasting. I fall in love with songs because they amuse me, delight me, or astonish me, or force me to listen to things in a new way — not because they sound as much as possible like the last album I bought, which I bought because it sounded like the 10 albums that preceded it. I am not lying when I say that my musical life has become much more enjoyable since I’ve mostly stopped buying “new” music in digital format. I invite you to join me in my travels.

Today’s offering is “Ain’t No Big Thing,” by the Radiants. I chose this chune in special tribute to Mr. Moderator, who got browbeat a few days back for asking some tough questions. I just want to remind him that all that is said and done in the Hall is offered in good fun and done with the best of intentions. Like the song says, it ain’t no big thing.

I love the lyric in this song. I can’t remember the last time I heard a song that made a point of telling me not to worry, or tried to convince me not to get upset about something. Why aren’t we tired of music that exists just to get us het up and bothered?

Anyhow, this one’s for you, Moddie. We love you just the way you are.

I look forward to your responses.

HVB