Mary Wells ‘Bye Bye Baby’ – Dusted Off #02

Released in 1960, Charted into 1961

Mary Wells was the first ‘Queen Of Motown’, thanks in large part to hits like ‘You Beat Me To The Punch’ and ‘My Guy’.  My favorite Mary Wells song however was her first single for Motown, released in 1960, ‘Bye Bye Baby’.  This song is a bit of an anomaly in Mary’s catalog- she wrote the song herself and her performance is much grittier and soulful than her soon-to-be classic smooth R&B style on later songs penned by the likes of Smokey Robinson and Holland-Dozier-Holland.  I guess that’s why I like it so much.  It’s always cool to hear the early stages of well-known artists when they are fresh out of the gate.  The story goes that Berry Gordy Jr. (Motown founder and writer of the B-Side to ‘Bye Bye Baby’, ‘Please Forgive Me’) had Mary sing him the song in person in the hallway of a club.  He signed her soon after and when producing this first single got in her face and demanded a raw, emotional, intense delivery for the A-Side track.  Well, he got it and Mary turned in an all-time classic.  Check out the video below of Mary performing ‘Bye Bye Baby’ live in 1962 at the Apollo, featuring The Temptations on backing vocals.  Cool.

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BDR Records – Willing And Label #04

Well, 2013 is upon us and it’s time I get back to postin’.  As I mull through the offerings of early 2013 I thought the first post of the year would be a good opportunity to do a label spotlight that I didn’t get up in 2012.  BDR Records is a fantastic reissue label operating out of St. Louis, MO.  They focus on late 70’s/early 80’s independent KBD punk, new-wave, post-punk and power-pop type bands that called St. Louis home at the time.  I spent the first third of my life down the highway from St. Louis so BDR holds a special place in my heart.  As an offshoot of the legendary Rerun Records (plus some help from Bert Dax Cavalcade Of Stars Records), BDR hit the ground running in 2010 with it’s first release, the ‘Recordings ’79-‘81’ LP by Raymilland.  BDR has also issued recordings from Dear John and Philosophic Collage, but my two faves are courtesy of The Retros and The Welders.  The ‘Inner City Rockers’ LP by The Retros is truly a gem of 1979 KBD punk.  Brash and to the point, The Retros’ sound fits nicely between The Reactions and early Plugz.  The Welders’ brand of charming-with-a-sneer power-pop is on full display via the 4-song 7” EP that BDR has already gone through 2 pressings of.  Folks still make a big deal about all-girl bands now; imagine the commotion these rad ladies caused in the Midwest in 1977.  BDR label head Jason has a busy 2013 planned for the label, which I’m quite excited for.  To get more insight into BDR check out the Q&A Jason was nice enough to participate in.  Many thanks to him!

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Three Random Queries For Jason Of BDR/Rerun Records 
1. Why the focus on reissues? 
“I'm a music fiend, record collector myself. I listen to all kinds of music, but I mainly collect '70s-mid '80s Punk, D.I.Y., indie New Wave, early HC, etc. It's just the time period I've always been into, since first hearing punk in the late '80s. My wife and I even did a radio show here in St. Louis on a non-commercial radio station for about twelve years, playing only music from that era. I had released some contemporary punk records in the early-mid '90s, under a few different label names, when I still lived in Wisconsin. The last label name I used was Rerun Records. I called it Rerun, because my first release under that name was a reissue of the first Boris the Sprinkler 7", a record I had released a few years prior. I didn't start out to release only reissues. In fact, I only did a few other releases in the '90s, and only one of those was a reissue. That was of a local record that had just come out a couple years before I repressed it. I moved to St. Louis in late 1998, and I stopped doing the label, for no good reason. Over the next eight or so years, I helped put together some reissue projects for other labels. One day, I just got the itch to release records again.  Since nobody had done much with the early St. Louis punk/indie bands, my friend Matt Harnish and I started talking about putting together a compilation of old, local bands. We began tracking down band members and got to hear lots of great music in the process. It quickly became evident that we had too much quality material to do a one-song-per-band compilation. We scrapped that idea and decided to do a collection of material by a band called raymilland. We released that to great praise, and the band even played a reunion show to a packed house. That motivated us to do more single band releases from our favorite St. Louis bands of the original punk era. All the St. Louis area releases are under BDR Records. I have Rerun (the R) and Matt's label is Bert Dax Cavalcade of Stars (the BD for Bert Dax). At the same time, I started working on non-local reissues for release on Rerun Records, which I run on my own.” 
2. What is your least favorite thing about doing a record label? 
“Really, I like all the aspects of it, since I do almost everything myself. Some things are truly a pain or more work than you could imagine, but it's very rewarding when a release gets finished. The two things that always disappoint me are projects that fall apart after I've put a lot of time and work into them, and mistakes on the final product. Luckily, I've only had a couple fall apart before getting released, and those are usually over some old band feud or a principle member not being available. The mistakes on the final product are my biggest pet peeve. Nothing major, but I've found a couple typos in liner notes or other small errors. It's not like I don't see the same type of things on even "professional" product, but you still hate to see that when you've proof read everything a few dozen times.” 
3. Do you have any favorite St. Louis bands that are currently playing? 
“I have to admit being somewhat out of touch with most of the current bands. My wife and I have had bands together for a dozen or so years, but we haven't been playing the last year or so. Work and a new baby have squeezed out band time for now. Just because we haven't been playing as many shows, I've not been attending near what I once did. There are a few I really like who are still active and I see every chance I can: Trauma Harness (from the IL side of the river, sorta like early Fall crossed with '70s DIY punk), Shaved Women (early '80s SST-core/Black Flag/Stains worship), and Pillow Talk (Birthday Party crossed with modern HC sounds...I guess that's how I'd put it).”