Monday, July 01, 2013

The SOUND of Puget Sound!



Earlier this week, I spent a wonderful day with my best pal Stu, with whom I've also shared a love of, and a passion for collecting, song-poems. We dug through my unshared s-p records, as well as the pile of records I haven't even had a chance to listen to. From this latter pile came one of our choices for an upcoming offering, and I chose to make it today's record. It's from the Pacific Northwest.

Bremerton, Washington, is just a 55 minute ferry ride from Seattle across the Puget Sound, and is the home to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. It seems at least likely that this town of 40,000 (today - it was closer to 30,000 in the '60's) was home to Henry Ward, who just as likely was the proprietor of Puget Sound Records. 

This is the only record I've ever seen on Puget Sound records, but the label number (503) leads me to believe that there were at least three others. For at least this record, Ward contracted to have Lee Hudson work  his magic with his lyrics, and this resulted in the lovely voice of Cara Stewart singing the plaintive song of frustration, "I Got Gypped In My Love". And as with most of Cara's records, it's a lovely thing to hear. 

I'd also like to point out the audible dips heard during part of the guitar solo, where it sounds like someone put a finger on the turntable, repeatedly. Those moments are part of the record - I played that section three times, on two turntables, and it played like that every time. 

Play:  

The flip side (actually, this is the A-side, but I liked "Gypped" a bit better), also written by Henry Ward, is a nice one, too. This has the same groove, same sound and same style of vocal - Lee Hudson's styles were somewhat limited, although they are such winning sounds that I hardly mind hearing them over and over again. I hope it's the same for you. 

Download: Cara Stewart with the Gold Coast Boys - I'm Right Back Where I Started
Play:  




4 comments:

Sammy Reed said...

My gosh - What can I say? After all the nagging I kept doing to you - "Soandso song isn't working now", "You forgot to put soandso in your tags", etc. - you're finally paying me back what I deserve.
Actually, it's a lot more than I deserve, and I can't thank you enough for the good word!
Granted, the 1st show back didn't go exactly like I wanted it to (As much as I wanted to avoid saying "the U-word", there they were. But I think there were less "uh's" than I said on my first online show in '08. I said "Because of YouTube" when I meant "Because of E-Bay", and there were other things I was rusty at), but I'll try to improve.
I'm gonna raise the bitrate a notch for the next mp3, because this one was still a little "rumbly".
I got some interesting stuff at a yard sale and a thrift store this past Saturday, which I hope to play some of on the next show.
Thanks again, Bob, for everything, and keep up the good work!

Sammy Reed said...

I'll have to say, though, that I can't be near the "most frequent commenter". Such listeners as Darryl and Stu I'm sure have made more comments than me. I've had a few points about songs every once in a while, but these other folks have something of substance in nearly all their comments. I don't wanna act like they don't exist.

Stu Shea said...

I really like this record. She has a great mix of passion and reserve; too good for a lot of these songs, really.

Timmy said...

Both AOK!