The Joy of 45 Collecting: Lost 45 Tunes Not Available from iTunes, Spotify, or Similar Services
Jukebox "Snippet" 45s: Chronological List of Site Additions
As I add 45s to our inventory, I pick select 45s to highlight with mp3 "snippets" so you can hear the music yourself. I only record "snippets" of tunes I particularly like, ones I think have been under-played and under-appreciated, or ones that are so rare and wonderful I'll never hear them otherwise. For myself, I keep an iTunes playlist of these "snippets," and that playlist is one I listen to most often. These pages chronicle the mp3 "snippets" I've added to our online "jukebox" in reverse chronological order. You can browse the pages to see what was added and when. Click on the blue "Play" button to play the snippet, or click on a song's title to load the page. Many of these 45 records are still for sale, though just as many have been sold. I hope you enjoy perusing these pages as much as I have enjoyed putting them together!
This single is an interesting case — as well as having great music! These tunes were first released on Harvest 5175 in late 1982, and then re-released in 1983 on Capitol, when "Rio" hit #14p in April. What's particularly interesting is that the two singles had two different mixes/edits of each song! The Harvest single had "Hold Back The Rain" on the A side in a shorter edit than the one here (and on the album), and the case for "Rio" was the reverse, with the single an edited version of the 5:33 album track. No matter... both songs represent the best of this U.K. group's early material. IMHO, "Hold Back The Rain" is superior to "Rio," hence the mp3 nugget in the Classic 45's jukebox.
Besides having one of this group's best-loved hits on the A side ("Happy Together"), I also treasure this single for the lovely, tender, and unexpected folk number on the flip, which by the way is an early songwriting credit for a young Warren Zevon, who had recorded the song in 1966 under the pseudonym "Lyme" as part of "Lyme & Cybelle." This is the rare first pressing of the group's first — and only — #1 hit single, which has the dark blue White Whale label.
This classic single features one of the all-time greatest screams in rock 'n' roll. This is a major, terrific edit (3:37) from the 8-plus minutes on the "Who's Next" album. There are times when you want to hear the whole thing, but the single really does capture the song's essence in a much more compact form.
With this song, Roy Orbison announced that a major new talent had hit the big time. And not only would he knock us dead, he would do it with a voice that simply blew away the competition. It's hard to listen to Orbison without feeling simple awe at his vocal talent. Anyway, I realized I had nothing by him in the Classic 45s jukebox, so this being one of my personal favorites, I've taken advantage of this copy's great audio to remedy that error.