Mother-in-Law/ Wanted, $10,000.00 Reward

This is a beautiful first-pressing copy on the orange Minit label (plays normally, at 45 rpm; collector nerd alert: a rare mis-pressing plays at 33 rpm) from the Louise Neal 45 Collection. Yes, "Mother-in-Law" deserves to be on Dave Marsh's list of the 1,001 greatest singles, and it's one of the late, great New Orleans musical genius Allen Toussaint's biggest hits as a songwriter (he produced it as well, but it's not credited on the record). But have a listen to the B side... over time, I gave it 5 stars in my iTunes library, where "Mother-in-Law", I see, has only 4 stars. It's a catchy song that swings more than "Mother" and veers toward the sort of proto-Soul Lloyd Price was doing at the time.* Note: This beautiful copy has labels that are so close to flawless I'm grading them Mint: no notable flaws here! This 45 is among those in the Neal collection that she may have actually played, and which likely spent some of their life outside a protective sleeve. As a result, the vinyl exhibits some light storage wear that makes it a weak Near Mint (I think this record would reward additional cleanings.). I'm able to grade the A side audio Near Mint, but it is likewise on the weak side of that grade, reflecting persistent but occasional and faint surface noise beneath otherwise clear and undistorted sound. The B side is a strong Near Mint, as I heard hardly any surface noise at all during the track. The audio seems so much better than a previous (very nice) one I had made that I was compelled to capture it in an mp3 snippet for our "jukebox"... so have a listen!

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* A 5-star rating in my iTunes library translates to a 2-star recommendation from us (yes, my wife gets to weigh in, too. :-) on Classic 45s; a 4-star, to a 1-star. Of course, our recommendations only show on a record's detailed page or in a search list for 45s that aren't already on one of the other lists we maintain — Dave Marsh, Kev Roberts, and Rolling Stone. Let's face it, fans, there are simply way more than 500 or 1,001 greatest singles in the history of RnB, Country, Rock'n'Roll, Soul, Funk, Power Pop, Hard Rock, Garage Rock, Girl Groups, Bubblegum, Sunshine Pop, Country Rock, Folk Rock, Folk, Psychedelic, Reggae, Techno/Synth Pop, Rap, Grunge, Punk, Rockabilly, etc! We honor those 1- and 2-star 45s that somehow failed to make the other guys' lists (because their lists are too short!). And yeah, I like lists. Maybe one day I'll make one. :-