Welcome to a new regular column by Brett Rosenberg, Yankee transplant and guitar virtuoso, wherein he prowls the cheap vinyl bins around Nashville and reports back to us with the best of his discoveries. (editor’s note: I currently don’t have the means to rip audio from vinyl. In future we hope to post samples of Brett’s finds.)
Pepper Sound Studios
Commercial Categories and Image Ideas
Purchased at The Groove, East Nashville
Price: 99 cents, each
Hey, these two platters contain nothing but a bunch of jaunty, mid-sixties radio jingles recorded in Memphis! The formula: nice, clean vocal harmony group sings the catchphrase with gusto (for instance: “We’re makin’ waves/we’re gettin’ raves!” on the barnburner “We’re Making Waves”), some hot Memphis cats tear it up while the announcer presumably does his spiel, the singers reprise the theme a couple more times, and OUT! Cut-rate, ready-made radio spot magic.
Purchased at The Groove, East Nashville
Price: 99 cents, each
Hey, these two platters contain nothing but a bunch of jaunty, mid-sixties radio jingles recorded in Memphis! The formula: nice, clean vocal harmony group sings the catchphrase with gusto (for instance: “We’re makin’ waves/we’re gettin’ raves!” on the barnburner “We’re Making Waves”), some hot Memphis cats tear it up while the announcer presumably does his spiel, the singers reprise the theme a couple more times, and OUT! Cut-rate, ready-made radio spot magic.
Image Ideas is the more progressive of the pair, featuring vague, conceptual pieces like “Play it Cool, Baby” (nice b3 here) and “Put a Little Change in Your Life” with its lovely, lilting harmonica solo.
Its sister, Commercial Categories, has a less sophisticated label design, and a more literal, square approach, placing it a couple years earlier–I’m guessing ’64? There are some gems here, though. Check the lyrics to the lively conga, “Music Store”: “Music can soothe the savage breast [sic] / And to prove it, we suggest / Your music store is best.” I’ve listened a dozen times. The choir, all of it, clearly sings “breast.” or maybe “pressed,” but that would make even less sense, right? But there it is, whatever it means.
A tipsy-sounding, young female takes the lead on “Storage,” offering potential radio audiences this wisdom: “Let your dry cleaner store your clothes / Storage is a thing he knows / He knows how to care for what you wear.” Duly noted, cupcake!
What a sweet, regional nostalgia find. I’ll say this: Commercial Categories is the only album I own with a locked groove in between every track.
Learn more about Pepper Sound Studios.
