Rachelle M’s Collection
Every now and again, while I’m out “diving” I run across something out of the ordinary. The ordinary being LP’s and 45’s stacked in milk crates and boxes (usually on the floor) at an antique store or thrift shop. Sometimes there will be one of those 45 carrying cases, either the circular ones made of plastic or the square ones made out of hardboard. Many times they contain some 45’s and the dealer may price them to be sold together. I have purchased several of these over the years when they contained titles that I needed for my collection. A couple were actually pretty cool in a retro sort of way. One of the first ones I bought was a Hot Pink circular carrier designed to carry about 50 45’s stacked on a spindle inside. It cleaned up nicely and looked almost brand new. I gave it to my niece, who is into vinyl, with some 45’s as a birthday present. She thought it was so cool and “old school”. I have two nieces (Hope and Julia) that are into vintage vinyl and I really enjoy sharing with them. Other unusual items I have run across include picture discs, 45’s whose sleeves open up to become posters, colored vinyl and the like. However one of the most unique purchases I’ve made didn’t seem so at the time I bought it. I call this purchase “Rachelle M’s Collection . . . “.
The Find . . .
One day, in the late spring of 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States, I decided to check out a new shop in Honesdale, PA called the Dagawom Shoppe that was recommended to me by a co-worker. This shop is advertised as having items for your “‘Metaphysical’ needs, antiques, vinyl records and more.” My co-worker had visited the shop and sent me a picture of the large amount of 45 records they had for sale. When I entered the shop I was struck by it’s eclectic charm. There were indeed unusual antiques, mystic items and vinyl records. In the front room was a large table of 45’s and I immediately began to look through them. There were a lot of good titles, many of them in picture sleeves and very reasonably priced from 50 cents to a dollar. As I was amassing a large number of titles I needed, one of the proprietors came up to me and said “I can see that you’re into vintage vinyl, the back room has a lot more.” I thanked her and said I would be sure to check it out.
As I continued to sort through the 45’s in the front room, the woman went toward the back and began a conversation with a man who I assumed was also one of the owners. They talked about a bunch of records that he had bought at an estate sale and they conversed about bands they had seen live and argued about the importance of certain artists and their work. At one point the woman said something about me and my interest in vinyl to the gentleman and I couldn’t help but wonder if their whole conversation was aimed at piquing my interest in the “back room”. At one point, she came over to me and said “Be sure to see the man in back, he has some thing’s you might be interested in.” I started to get that strange feeling like I was about to get scammed and I became concerned about visiting the “back room”! However, my desire to obtain more vinyl records greatly outweighed my anxiety, and I headed to the back.
I took my time getting there. I didn’t want to seem too eager so I pretended to be interested in the mood crystals, dragon figurines and other fantastical items that were on display. When I finally got to the “back room” I met an older man who was sorting through and pricing some vinyl albums. I mumbled “Hello”, tried not to make eye contact and slid past him into the room. Unlike the front room that contained mostly 45’s, this room was predominately LP’s. They were neatly displayed in bins on tables (thankfully not on the floor). There were a lot of good titles and all were in very good condition. And the prices were reasonable too! Most were in the $5.00 to $10.00 range for very desirable records. My trepidation about the “back room” began to ease and the man pricing records struck up a conversation with me. He asked what kind of music I liked, whether I was more into LP’s or 45’s and other general music questions. Overall he seemed very knowledgeable about all things vinyl. I told him about my collection, and my project to collect the top 100 45’s from each year of the rock era and his eyes lit up and he said “I think I have something here that you would be interested in!” He reached under the table he was working at and lifted up a large 45 carrying case. He said “I just obtained this from a local estate sale, it has about 100 45’s in it. I was going to pull them out and price them individually, but maybe you would be interested in the entire package.”
The case was larger than any I had seen previously. It had a 1950’s look to it with a pink lid and beige body and was in very good shape. I opened the lid and there was a collection of 45’s with numbered divider’s between each disc and two “indexes” with handwriting listing the titles and artists of each record. I began to get that feeling again that I was about to be “taken” so I nonchalantly began shuffling through them and tried not to seem too interested. However as I looked at them I started to get a little excited. The records were in very good shape. The carrier was designed to hold 100 records and there were only a couple of empty slots. Then I started noticing some of the artists: The Del-Vikings, The Drifters, The Platters, The Mills Brothers, The Diamonds, The Coasters, Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Fats Domino to name just a few! And the songs: “In the Still of the Night”, “My Prayer”, “Cool Shake”, “Party Doll”, “I’m Walkin'”, “Diana”, “(Let Me Be) Your Teddy Bear”, “Come Go With Me” all classic 50’s songs! Again, I was trying to not show any excitement and began to try and determine how much I would be willing to pay.
“What do you think?” the man asked, interrupting my thought process.
“Oh, I don’t know”, I said. “There seem to be some good records here, but I’m not sure.” I was trying to downplay what could really be a significant addition to my collection.
He said, “Are you into Elvis?, cause there are a few of his records in there.”
“Here we go”, I thought. “He’s pushing Elvis as a way to get the price up.” Don’t get me wrong, Elvis is one of the most important and influential artists in Rock & Roll. He’s the King! But, he sold millions and millions of records and they can be found just about anywhere. But, because of his popularity, anyone with an Elvis record thinks they have a goldmine!
“Yeah, Elvis is okay and I might need some of those titles, but . . . . How much are we talking about here?”, thinking I was about to be hit with a price close to $100.00 or more, which could probably be justified at $1.00 per record plus the case.
“Well, I’d be willing to let you pick out the ones you want for somewhere around a buck a piece” he said.
“I knew it!” I thought.
He could see my reaction was not too favorable and he quickly said “Would you be willing to pay $40.00 for the entire case?”
“Bingo!” (I said on the inside). “Um . . . sure.” (I said on the outside). Again, trying to be cool.
Actually, I feel this was a really good price, less than 50 cents per record and the case to boot! So my worry about the “anterior chamber” was unfounded and I left the shop with the case, about twenty five 45’s from the front of the shop and a couple of LP’s, all for around $80.00!
I highly recommend the Dagawom Shoppe!
Discovery . . .
When I got home with my purchases I immediately began to catalog the records and place them in my storage boxes. I started with the loose singles I purchased from the front of the shop, which took several days of after-work hours to complete. My intention from the beginning was to split up the records in the case and meld them in to my main collection, and that’s what I started doing.
As I mentioned before the case had numbered dividers, 1-100, one for each record. I began at #1 one and was working my way through each record in order to determine which ones I needed for my collection. When I got to #4, the record had a piece of cloth tape on the label with the name Rachelle M. written on it. This is nothing unusual. A lot of the 45’s I buy have names or initials written on them, as a way to identify the owner when lending a record out or attending a “listening party” where friends bring records of their own to play. I remember thinking that the name Rachelle was kind of unique and wondered if it was pronounced like Rachel or like Ra-shell. Any way I continued.
Record #6 was one of Elvis’ biggest hits “All Shook Up” which went to #1 on the Billboard chart on April 13, 1957 and stayed there for 8 weeks. According to Wikipedia – “It also topped the Billboard R&B chart for four weeks, becoming Presley’s second single to do so, and peaked at No. 1 on the country chart as well. It is certified 2× platinum by the RIAA. It was ranked #352 on Rolling Stone‘s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.” The record was in a picture sleeve, which was in decent shape and I needed it for my collection! I began to feel even better about buying this case of 45’s.
Record #7 was also in a picture sleeve. It was a recording by Harry Belafonte entitled “Don’t Ever Love Me” as the A-side and “Mama Look At Bubu” as the B-side. It was the B-side of this record that actually charted, as sometimes happens. When a record was released as a single the A-side was usually the recording that the record company felt would be the song that would be popular and “sell” the most. However, the record executives weren’t always right and sometimes the B-Side became more of a hit with DJ’s and the public. Depending on how popular the B-side became, sometimes subsequent pressings and releases would designate the former B-side as an A-side to help drive more sales. This was the case with “Mama Look at Bubu” which peaked at #11 on the Billboard chart in 1957.
I always clean and listen to all of the records I buy to be certain that there are no skips or other defects on the disc, and I just like listening to them as well. Well, when I played “Mama Look at Bubu” I couldn’t help but think “WTF!” “How did this song become popular?” This song is about a man who is so ugly that even his own kids torment him and he has to threaten them with his belt to get them to stop. The recording has lines like “Shut your mouth, go away!” all to a Calypso Beat. I can’t imagine this song ever getting released today, but I guess we have to take into consideration the time and era in which it was popular.
Disc #12 – “It’s Not For Me To Say”, was a #5 chart hit for Johnny Mathis in 1957. Hmm . . . starting to notice a pattern here. It had a piece of cloth tape on the label with the name “Shelly M.” on it. Okay, so maybe Rachelle is pronounced Ra-shell . . . “Shelly” for short. In all, 8 more discs had tape on the label identifying “Rachelle, Rachelle M. or Shelly M. as the owner. None of the discs gave any clue as to what Rachelle’s last name was other than the initial “M”.
As I said at the beginning of this article, This case of records had numbered dividers and two “Index Cards” listing the titles of the records in the case. I noticed the handwriting on the index cards was the same as on the cloth tape on some of the records. Okay, this seems to be one individual’s collection, not a bunch of titles thrown into a case by the antique dealer to make it more interesting. And all of the titles seem to be from 1957. (As it turns out after inspecting all of the records, they were all from 1956 or 1957, but the majority were from 1957). Then it dawned on me . . . I shouldn’t break this collection up and “meld” the discs into my main collection. I should keep this collection together, in it’s case, and let it continue to be the “time capsule” that it is.
I also began to wonder who “Shelly M.” was and the how she assembled this “collection.” . . . . (To be continued).
In the next segment of this story we discover more interesting details about this collection. So, be sure to check back with us. Also Check out our Facebook page “Vinyl Crate Diver” where we’ll feature facts about each of Rachelle M’s 45’s.