Check out that great picture at Amazon.com! LOL. It's put there by someone selling on Amazon, of course, since it's just an old 45 and someone's selling it. Nice quality photo, huh? (By the way, the seller there thinks it's an "LP." And nothing's stated as to its condition.)This is a post about the 45 rpm record called "Telstar" by The Tornadoes. I'm thinking of this record tonight because I saw it on top of a stack in my room here and decided to listen to it. For anyone who's not up on my recent record purchases, which would be anyone who didn't read this post, a copy of "Telstar" was in the mess there. I think I already had a copy of it, probably somewhere in my 45s in the basement. But I hear it on the radio maybe once or twice a year and that's good enough.
But tonight there it was, top of the stack! (Stacks get moved around from time to time.) Really nasty looking condition, really dirty. I played it through dirty once, thinking to myself, this is the song that goes, "Waaaa, waa wah," some nasty dirty organ sound, that sounds something like a warbling alien death beam. And sure enough it was. Played dirty, it didn't sound too bad. This is a 45 that was in a sleeve, but the sleeve is open on all sides by one, so it's not a good one.
I took a rag and some water and cleaned it for a couple minutes and it doesn't look new by any means, but not as terrible as I figured it would. It's worn but still plays sort of clean. But it helps that the song is so dense, thick, and generally dirty sounding. It masks what would have to be vinyl problems, like if there were some really soft parts.
The song starts off with some rocket sounds, distortion, like an aborted take-off. But then it builds in that weird wacky organ thing, with such a memorable melody. (I'm listening to it again here.) It doesn't sound extremely clean. But it doesn't really matter. Simple tune, with a space age flavor. Then a guitar takes over in the middle, and it has a spritelier feel. Now back to the organic madness. I'm definitely hearing some wear on the record, now that I'm really paying attention. The guitar tops it off after the organ. And we're up in the upper stratosphere, hobnobbing and conferring with our brother satellites. I hear some "ahhs" being sung. At the end, it does this building thing, then gets sort of stuck, like a breakdown, with a bunch of rocket distortion rounding off the record.
The other side is "Jungle Fever," which I never heard till tonight. Of course it plays cleaner. Some jungle growling and noises, and an African kind of vibe, with a pipe in there. African space age? Simple little melody with the pipe. The growling tiger noises are cool. Now there's a voice sounding like an organ, the same little melody. We're bopping along. Nothing too great here, not like "Telstar." But it takes up side B and probably was a good payday for "Goddard."
This record is London 45-LON 9561. "Telstar" (3:14) is written by Meek. "Jungle Fever" (2:10) written by Goddard.
