Lost In Soft Shadows With The Monotones (1958)

It's time again for Raf's thrift store find of the week!

I am a Long-Play collector, but occasionally while sifting through albums at various venues I come across some fun 45 singles. I only buy them if I find an artist or a label that I really like (Anything with a Motown or Apple Records label I must get).

Often my 45's just end up in a box, and rarely get played. There they sit, waiting for the day I can get my own classic jukebox in my home, and load it up with my great finds from over the years. This last week I found a winner amongst many old Andy Williams albums, a 45 single with the famous 'Chess Records' logo.

Chess Records was a Chicago based R&B label that appeared in the 1950's. It was the label that first gave us artists like Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, and my favorite, Bo Diddley.

The record label was also the basis for last year's film 'Cadillac Records' which really should have been called 'Chess Records'. The label was nicknamed "Cadillac" because the founders would often gift new cars to its artists when their albums went gold (with the money coming out of the artist's share of the royalties, of course).

When I found the single with the Chess label, I just had to pay the thrift store price of 50 cents. It is from the Doo-Wop group The Monotones, and the single was their one-hit-wonder song "The Book Of Love" from 1958.

But on this blog, we always ask, "What's on the flip side?" Well, the b-side is the track "Soft Shadows" which also highlights the great early R&B sound of that era. This song demonstrates that maybe the group shouldn't have had only one hit.

Anyway, click the link below to get lost in some soft shadows.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?yo0mw0km1mt