THE SPARKLETONES Black Slacks MCA-1553 LP

Back in July of 2002, Indy Mike recommended The Sparkletones LP to me and I was set on a mission... to find a copy of the Joe Bennett and the Sparkletones LP (MCA-1553).

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5006&highlight=sparkletones

The 45 RPM Black Slacks original was NO PROBLEM (eBay has 2 or 3 at any one time usually for $5), but the MCA LP was another story.

Finally, YESTERDAY, I received a sealed copy of this elusive disc ( I hope I don't get sued by the store for using their name), and proceeded to play it at maximum volume.

WOW

Mastered (Compiled and annotated) by Steve Hoffman 20 years ago this baby sounds fantastic. Obviously Steve already knew what he was doing then because the sound is just as amazing as the Buddy Holy transfers 2 or 3 years later. Although the cover states "These performances were mastered from original ABC-Paramount 15 ips session tapes", Steve on that July 2002 thread confessed to using actual 45s for some tracks. Even more mind boggling! Clean perfect vinyl. And the music... AMAZING leads (short but powerful).

I find it somewhat ironic that just a few days ago I was going off about Steve's latest (Hayes' Shaft and the Staples 45s). Here's Steve's work in what clearly was a labor of love 20 years ago sounding as good as he does today.

One trivia question Steve......

The deadwax has a signature.... "KPG/MCA". Could that be Kevin's early signature?

 

i had that Lp at the time!! Wish i still had it. It had a GREAT picture of the guys in their matching jackets as I remember.

 

If you want to learn more about the Sparkletones go here:

http://www.rockabillyhall.com/JoeBennett.html

Mikey, the web site above has the picture used on the cover of the LP.

 

Sparkletones ... Indy Mike and I are looking forward to the upcoming Bear Family CD discussed in this thread .

 

Yepper - I'm awaitin' for that Bear bad boy! I don't think Kevin cut that - seems like I axed Steve about that very thing one time. If Steve hadn't told us there were needle drops, you probably never would have noticed - "Bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb - black slacks make me cool daddio"!!!!!

 

Indy,
I saw the new Sparkletones Bear Family already listed at the Bear web site. I've yet to see it listed here in the States' usual suspects. It should be here any minute now.