52 Years Ago: July 20, 1969 - Apollo 11 Moon Landing - Historic Record

Today's Vinyl Spin: No Music Just Talk - Relive History

July 20, 1969 - Record Album - "One Small Step"
Narrated by Dr. Wernher von Braun and Chet Huntley

This post is about a record that has no music.

Where were you on July 20, 1969? I along with millions of other people were glued to our TV set watching astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin become the first two people to step on the surface of the moon. The Apollo 11 mission successfully launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida to fulfill President John F. Kennedy's goal of landing a man on the surface of the moon and returning him safely back to Earth. While Armstrong and Aldrin spent several hours on the moon, command module pilot Michael Collins orbited overhead and was there when the lunar module rejoined the Apollo spacecraft to make the safe journey home.

This record issued by RCA Red Seal in 1969 features the narration and commentary by NBC's Chet Huntley and Dr. Werhner von Braun, rocket scientist for NASA on every major phase of the Apollo 11 moon mission. The record also features the recorded voices of the astronauts as they commented on their historic journey including the famous "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" comment. Cool stuff if you remember it all from 1969.

There would be five more successful manned moon landings through the Apollo program that lasted until 1972. After that, no other human far has stepped on the moon.

Apollo 11 brought great pride to the United States at a time when we needed more patriotism and unity to come together as a country amid much turmoil that surrounded the year.
____________________________________

The record is in playable condition. I run it through every few years.

Listen to the record at the link below:

##

Today's Vinyl Spin: Blood Sweat & Tears

 Enter Blood Sweat & Tears (2nd album)

Several years ago I picked up this album by Blood Sweat & Tears. It is the second album by the brassy rock band with a serious mix of jazz thrown in. I consider Blood Sweat & Tears as the second most popular brass accented rock band only to Chicago (earlier knwon as Chicago Transit Authority). This album was released in December 1968 and became a best selling album in 1969 topping the Billboard Top 200 album charts.

At that time Blood Sweat & Tears consisted of the following members:

David Clayton Thomas - Lead vocals

Steve Katz - vocals, guitar

Jim Felder - bass

Dick Halligan - organ, piano, flute, trombone, vocals

Fred Lipsius - piano, alto saxophone

Lew Soloff - trumpet, flugelhorn

Chuck Winfield - trumpet, flugelhorn

Alan Rubin - trumpet on "Spinning Wheel"

Jerry Hyman - trumpet, recorder

Bobby Colomby - drums, percussion, vocals

Several tracks became top 40 hits in 1969 and 1970. From the track list below, their peak chart positions on the Billboard Hot 100 are indicated in parenthesis. Those three hits are my favorites from the album in addition to "More and More".

Side A

1. Variations on a Theme

2. Smiling Phases

3. Sometimes in Winter

4. More and More

5. And When I Die (2)

6. God Bless the Child

Side B

7. Spinning Wheel (2 - Hot 100 1 - AC)

8. You've Made Me So Very Happy (2)

9. Blues – Part II - Interpolating "Sunshine of Your Love", "Spoonful" and "Somethin' Goin' On"

10. Variations on a Theme

The vinyl record itself is in good, playable condition and features the red Columbia eyeball logo theme. The record jacket is in fair condition and features a gatefold that is not shown in this post.

Blood Sweat & Tears have a long history of album releases, concert shows, and membership changes. In fact over the years, the membership in the band has changed more than 150 times. You can look it up in Wikipedia.

If you ever have a chance to pick up this album, get it whether it be on LP, CD or a stream.

Audio: Spinning Wheel (1969 single)
Audio: You Made Me So Very Happy (1969)

Audio: And When I Die (1969 single)

The Classic Top 10 Votes - May 28, 2020

MEL'S TOP 10 OLDIES + ALBUMS

It's Throwback Thursday (#TBT) once more and for this week I have a chart and a couple of videos. Leading off with the video showcase is this 1981 gem by REO Speedwagon. It's called "In Your Letter". It is off their Grammy winning album Hi Infidelity and a modest hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #20.

I think it is a great song, with kind of an early 60s throwback for me. A good rock n roll vibe surrounding what is a "Dear John" type of letter. Watching the video (posted above), check out the ancient IBM Selectric typewriter. You'd think the lady typing the letter was doing it on a computer... but no, it's a typewriter and the screen is a TV showing the video. Simple but good enough for this song. Enjoy.

The weekly top 10 votes are submitted to the Classic Top 30 website for inclusion into his weekly tabulation of oldies.

TOP TEN OLDIES - MAY 28,  2020

1. Just An Old Fashioned Love Song - Three Dog Night
2. In Your Letter - REO Speedwagon
3. Lazy Day -  Spanky & Our Gang
4. Eat At Home - Paul & Linda McCartney
5. Seven Year Ache - Roseanne Cash
6. Hearts - Marty Balin
7. White Bird - It's a Beautiful Day
8. Twistin' USA - Chubby Checker
9. Smiling Islands - Robbie Patton with Stevie Nicks
10. Only the Lucky -Walter Egan

LPs

1. Sticky Fingers - The Rolling Stones
2. FM - Original Soundtrack
3. Tom Tom Club -  Tom Tom Club

Today's Vinyl Spin - Fleetwood Mac

Today's Vinyl Spin goes back to the very successful Fleetwood Mac line-up of Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckinghman, John McVie, Christine McVie and Mick Fleetwood. Fleetwood Mac is the first album to feature the then new line-up of the group.

Fleetwood Mac enjoyed moderate success as a blues band and a mainstream rock group with numerous membership changes. In 1974 after former lead singer and guitarist Bob Welch left the group, the duo of Buckingham-Nicks were recruited to take his place. The two new members proved to be the best thing that happened to Fleetwood Mac in terms of a new music direction and commercial success.

The band paved its way to becoming a major concert draw with Stevie, Lindsey and Christine showcasing various songs while McVie and Fleetwood provided a solid foundation. It is one of the few bands that I personally saw in concert not once, but twice.

Their debut album Fleetwood Mac with the new line-up slowly crawled to the #1 position on the charts by 1976 while its singles garnered more and more radio airplay. These included "Over My Head", "Rhiannon," "Say You Love Me," and "Blue Letter". "Landslide" also became a hit after Fleetwood Mac recorded it again for their 1997 live album, The Dance.

I was first introduced to this album by an old college friend back in the day. I always knew of Fleetwood Mac but never paid much attention to them. I had only one track of theirs in my record collection which was "Stop Messin' Around" that appeared on a compilation LP. I later liked the song "Hypnotized" after hearing it on the radio. Was not enough for me to buy their records at the time (I was a starving high school student when this stuff first came out)....

Over the years I have owned 2 vinyl copies of Fleetwood Mac as well as 2 CDs of this. Made at least two cassette tapes off the vinyl and later the CD for portability before the digital age.

Fleetwood Mac is definitely one of my favorite albums of all time by them. It's an enjoyable, refreshing listen whenever I give it a spin.

The back cover of Fleetwood Mac with track list, group members Nicks, Fleetwood, McVie, Buckingham and McVie.

Fleetwood Mac would be the last of their albums to show up on the Reprise label.

Track List

Side 1

1. Monday Morning
2. Warm Ways
3. Blue Letter
4. Rhiannon
5. Over My Head
6. Crystal

Side 2

1. Say You Love Me
2. Landslide
3. World Turning
4. Sugar Daddy
5. I'm So Afraid

"Rhiannon" was one of 4 singles released from the album. All 4 singles have different mixes from the versions on the album. When Fleetwood Mac was issued in a special edition CD in 2004, the single tracks were included as bonus material. Nice move on Warner / Reprise's part.

"Rhiannon" by Fleetwood Mac....

Today's Vinyl Spin: RCA Model #9-ED-31K 33/45 RPM 2-Speed Suitcase Record Player

Got a piece of retro tech that I found on YouTube. Watch this guy play a couple of old records with an RCA Victor 2-speed suitcase record player from the 1950s. This thing is big and play only 33 1/3 LPs and 45s. Most record players of this vintage used to include 16 and 78 rpm speeds. I would have to think RCA was a little forward thinking with this model in the fact that it only supported the two most popular speeds that are still used for vinyl records today.

The records the presenter plays are a 45, "Love Eyes" by The Duprees and an LP track "Bye Bye Love" by The Everly Brothers. Enjoy!

The YouTube Channel Link: (Seeburgsrock).

Here are his notes about the record player:

Uploaded on Jun 28, 2011

Here's a scarce RCA player (as are all 33/45 varieties of this player) from the mid 50's. This is a 2-speed, 33/45 RPM player that's been rebuilt & features a Sonotone 52T stereo ceramic cartridge bridged for mono playing through a single stage amplifier and feeding a 4" speaker. It has volume control only. The DeLuxe models featured a 2-stage amplifier w/volume AND tone controls feeding a 4"x6" speaker. The mechanism was made by Crescent and used exclusively by the RCA lineup in only 9 of their players. These 2-speed players were only made for a year and not many were sold simply because there was a TON of 4-speed players available at the time this was being merchandised. While 78 RPM records were quickly fading from the scene, there were still a lot of people that had 78's in their collection and, of course, they could not be played on these 2-speed players! As a consequence, very few of these 2-speed players were bought by the public. It's most definitely a strange player! 33 RPM records could only be played as singles - one at a time. NO provision was made for stacking 33 albums on these players. However, 45's could be stacked by a special 45 RPM spindle adapter. The adapters in their own right are collectible! It's not uncommon to spend $50 JUST for an unmolested adapter simply because after being dropped, they broke into pieces and became useless. When these players are found (and that goes for all 9 varieties), the adapter is often missing or broken beyond being usable. These models are eagerly sought after by collectors because they're a simple mechanism, durable, easy to repair & maintain, one of the few with a "neutral" position to avoid drive wheel damage AND...they're scarce! I have 6 of the 9 models made by RCA. I'd like to purchase the three I DON'T have in my collection which are the DeLuxe 3-tube suitcase models w/volume & tone controls and the plastic DeLuxe 3-tube model in Coral/White combination. If you have or know of anyone that has those models and would like sell them, PLEASE contact me! I really hope you can enjoy & appreciate these wonderful pieces of 1950's history!

Today's Vinyl Spin: George Michael - Faith

Gotta have faith, faith, faith.... yes, this was the title track to George Michael's first solo album in 1987 after he broke up with Andrew Ridgeley and the duo known as Wham. The album came out on Columbia Records and yielded several top 10 hits including the number one records "Faith," "One More Try," "Monkey" and "Father Figure". 

Faith is a good album if you like cutting edge pop music with a beat that is typically 1980s. Michael at the time was regarded as a teen idol (especially when he was a part of Wham) as his videos were extensively played on MTV and other music channels of the time.

George Michael tried to break out of that mold with subsequent album releases that proved to be mostly successful.

This particular record was not played very often and is in very good condition. The album jacket is still shrink wrapped showing the original $5.00 price that I paid for it at Froggies Books and Records back in the day. I also owned the album on cassette but never got around to getting it on compact disc.

George Michael passed away on December 25, 2016 allegedly from heart failure. He was 53.

"Father Figure" was one of the #1 singles from Faith.