Listen: Soulful Drop / Seleno Clarke
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Listen: Memphis Boogaloo / Seleno Clarke
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
I almost didn’t go to an annual rummage sale this afternoon, one that I haven’t missed in about ten years. It was probably in ‘04, during a nasty and freak blizzard, that the empty synagogue basement was bursting with hundreds of unplayed promo singles from the 60’s, all in their original sleeves. I went into sweat and panic mode – worried someone would come along to challenge part of my find. Record junkies get very perverted very quickly. I can’t begin to tell you about the scores on that beautiful winter day, besides it would be cruel.
Today’s piece count was nowhere near as vast, but the scores were ieye poppers. Top of my list: Seleno Clarke ‘Soulful Drop’ / ‘Memphis Boogaloo’ on Hi Records’ subsidiary M.O.C. (pick up anything on either label – you can’t go wrong). I’d always wanted this single, and bowed out of bidding at around $30 a year or two back. Worth the wait given today’s $.50 price tag. Turns out Seleno Clarke plays every Sunday in Harlem, with genuine ‘home cooking’ as part of admission. I can give him the money rather than some dealer. Tomorrow is now planned.
If I didn’t already have a copy, this would have barreled in as today’s top find – and in many ways, it probably was, given it’s habit of clocking in between $400 – $800 on ebay. What a sleeve.
Tags: Hi Records, London, M.O.C. Records, Seleno Clarke, The Rolling Stones