11.12.2006

This Time




Troy Shondell This Time LP (Sunset, 1967)

My "first record" was probably some kid's record that I took a bite out of and promptly got thrown away. I don't remember it so it doesn't count. My real first record was a 45 of Troy Shondell's Girl After Girl. It was one of about 100 of my mom's 45s that made their way one by one into the 5 year old me's bedroom. I would sit in my room dropping the needle on each and every record, carefully creating a pile of stuff I liked and a pile of stuff I didn't. And after a week that pile would become one and I would go through the process once again. The records that appeared in the pile I liked ever time I sorted were the Cheers' Black Leather Jacket & Motorcycle Boots, Duane Eddy's Rebel Rouser, Elvis' Teddy Bear, a 4 song Elvis ep with Crayfish on it, Gene Vincent's Woman Love, and Troy Shodell's Girl After Girl. I can't say any one was a stone favorite but the one that got the most play was Girl After Girl. Credit Shondell's elastic vocal style as the hook. For years, my little brother and I would put the record on and mimic Shondell's "I go from..." and laugh our asses off. I am quite sure that if I was to go to my brother's house and plop this fucker in the turntable, he would get shit giggles upon hearing the open strums and we would devolve to 7 years old aping Shondell once again. I am not sure what became of the Girl After Girl 45 I copped from my mom. I know we broke the Cheers record about the time I turned six. I still have the Elvis records, Gene Vincent, and Duane Eddy (in fact, up until about ten years ago, I had most of the 45s. I did one final sort and tossed the then-extremely scratched batch of stuff I didn't like). When I became a teenage record hound, I would look in oldies sections for Troy Shondell records, wanted to get Girl After Girl. Never found it. Shondell was an East Coast sensation, who was also popular in Chicago and other Midwest cities. Years past and the internet was invented. I did a search on Alta Vista for "Troy Shondell" and "for sale." The search brought up a listing for This Time, a collection of Shondell material from about 1963 to 66. A record dealer in Boston wanted seven bucks post paid for it. So I sent him a money order and I got the record. I dropped needle and on cue mimicked "I go from..." and laughed by ass off. Before I leave you with two songs from the album, I should note that a guy named Tommy James loved Troy Shondell's music so much that he named his band after him. Enjoy Troy Shondell.


Comments:
You ever hear Alex Chilton's version of Girl After Girl on Like Flies On Sherbet. Fucking great!

miller
 
His 45's are available all over - this time/girl after girl, Liberty 55353, Goldcrest 161, London 45-HLG 9432. You could easily obtain the exact version momma had.
 
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