Vinyl Obscurities 9 - Charity shop finds

As regular readers will know, I make regular visits to car boot sales and charity shops on the look out for rare vinyl. Today was one of my better days, with three interesting, and fairly collectable LPs, turning up in three different charity shops in Andover. Here they are:

1. Johnny Otis - The Johnny Otis Show. Released in 1958 on Capitol T940. Mint value - 100 Pounds.

This is a fitting tribute to the great Johnny Otis, who died a couple of weeks ago. The cover is a bit tatty but the record is very good. This was Johnny's only UK LP release in his heyday and features Ma (He's Making Eyes At Me) and its B side Romance In The Dark, along with some other Otis greats including Shake It Lucy Baby, A Story Untold, Good Golly and Hum Ding A Ling. It's classic doowop and rock and roll from beginning to end and a great example of the Johnny Otis sound, with vocals by Marie Adams, Mel Williams and Jeannie Sterling, as well as Johnny himself.

2. Gary Lewis & the Playboys - Just Our Style. Released in 1966 on Liberty LBY 1322. Mint value - 30 pounds.

Gary Lewis - son of comedian Jerry Lewis - had quite a bit of success in the US with his rather middle of the road pop sounds in the mid 60s. This features several of their hits, including Green Grass, She's Just My Style, Count Me In and Save Your Heart for Me, plus covers of Everly Brothers songs and others by Bobby Goldsboro, Bobby Lewis and Bobby Vee. It's a decent album which demonstrates that Gary and his band didn't just trade on daddy's name.

3 Red Red Wine, Volume 2. Compilation LP released in 1970 on Downtown TBL-116.

Trojan and its Downtown affiliate (productions by Dandy Livingstone) issued quite a few compilations of reggae songs in the late 60s and early 70s. This one features melodic, if undemanding, reggae interpretations by Dandy, Audrey, Desmond Riley, Gene Rondo, Tony Tribe, Lyndon Johns, Blossom Johnson, Music Doctors and the Israelites.