In search of the girl from U.N.C.L.E.

A couple of thoughts in the wake of Record Store Day 2013.

Have we come full circle?

On the local hard-rock FM radio station last week, they were making a big deal about playing a vinyl record with Record Store Day approaching. They said they’d gotten the record from the attic. It was Phantom, Rocker and Slick doing “Men Without Shame.” Had to look that up. It was from late 1985, early 1986.

One day long ago, as we drove into Milwaukee in the earliest ’90s, we were listening to another hard-rock FM radio station. They were making a big deal about going digital, playing nothing but CDs. I don’t remember the song, but I vividly remember thinking it was the end of an era.

Funny how that’s worked out.

And am I just a square?

Record Store Day carries a certain vibe, a certain energy. People dig it. It’s good for the folks behind the counter. Yet it seems as if it disrupts the familiar rhythms of the laid-back record store. I’m left with the lingering feeling that Record Store Day is somehow not for me. It seems a bit like Amateur Night.

From that long list of special Record Store Day releases, my wish list was short. (I know, I know. I’m not in the record labels’ target demographic.) I’d hoped to find “The Girl from U.N.C.L.E” soundtrack re-release, but no.

Tempted by a Shuggie Otis comp (some of the songs I already have) and by the bright yellow vinyl of a Joan Jett re-release but working on a limited budget, this is what came home.

“Never My Love,” Donny Hathaway, from the Atco 7-inch, a Record Store Day release. This Donny Hathaway fan blog guesses it’s from the mid- to late ’70s.

This is a gospel-tinged cover of the soft, gentle song that was written by the Addrisi Brothers and a hit for The Association in 1967. The flip side is “Memory Of Our Love,” a nice bit of sophisticated ’70s soul written by Hathaway.

Please visit our other blog, The Midnight Tracker, for more vintage vinyl, one side at a time.