Hell's Belles

Vintage sounds, dusty grooves, and 21st-century freaks.

Various house moves and the general stingy sizes of any affordable flats within the M25 have pretty much decimated my vinyl collection, so my quest to replace my favourite tunes on vinyl continues.  This time round I’ve been going for  45s rather than albums.  Not the most economical way to go about it, but a hell of a lot easier to carry.  So rock and roll.

I’ve always loved “The Magic Touch” by The Bobby Fuller Four (him of “I Fought The Law” fame) but this stripped-down cover by Melba Moore just kills it.  I always get that eye-tingling prickle of happy tears when the chorus kicks in.  Then again, I cry when I hear “Good Vibrations” by the Beach Boys, so make of that what you will.

I just got this 45 this week (reissue) and am looking forward to playing it out next weekend on vinyl for the first time.  It always seems to get some bums shaking on the dancefloor at the end of the early-doors part of the evening, even amongst the “play something we know the words to” types.

Melba Moore – The Magic Touch by hells-belles

The Magic Touch

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Mad Men enthusiasts looking for a musical equivalent of Betty Draper need look no further than Julie London.  She’s probably best known for lounge-tastic numbers like the mid-50s “Cry Me A River”, but she’d become decidedly slinkier by the time she recorded her 29th- and  final – album for Liberty Records in 1969.

“Yummy, Yummy, Yummy” is one of my favourite Julie tracks.  As a kid, I’d always loved the original bubblegum version by The Ohio Express (the one 8-track (!) tape my grandma had that wasn’t Barry Manilow), but Julie’s version, with her languid vocals and louche string arrangements, twists the sickly-sweet original into a super-saucy gem.

I first came across this track via the bootleg Lux ‘n Ivy’s Favourites compilation series.  As far as I know, it’s only been re-issued as a Japanese import in 1995.  The prices have since come down, but it looks like it may be out of print again (Amazon has only 2 copies and the rest are private sellers) so if you like what you hear, snap this one up quick.

Julie London – Yummy, Yummy, Yummy by hells-belles

MP3: Julie London – Yummy, Yummy, Yummy

Julie London on eMusic

At least for the US.  Can’t find any UK listings for the Runaways film yet.  Is it any surprise that all of Tits of Death are dying to see it?

MP3: The Runways – Cherry Bomb

(Of course.)

And here’s the film trailer.

Marva Whitney, along with Lyn Collins and Vicki Anderson, was one of the singers with the James Brown Revue.  She’s one hell of a belter in her own right, and released a string of stormin’ 45s, including this funkity-ass slice of funk in 1969.

MP3: Marva Whitney – Things Got To Get Better