Zero to 180 – Three Minute Magic

Discoveries of a Pop Music Archaeologist

Category: King Records

Bobby Byrd
Zeroto180

Birth of The JB’s @ King Records

The two-volume King Labels recording sessions discography (i.e., “the red books“) compiled by Michael Ruppli with assistance from Bill Daniels, can be frustratingly incomplete, especially with regard to musician credits.  Although this reference source is a great starting point, scholars of James Brown funk are forced to do quite a bit of digging on

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"Hip Cat's Weddin'"
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Grandpa Jones & His Swingin’ Grandchildren’s Sole 45

Grandpa Jones‘ toe-tappin’ countrypolitan “Hip Cat’s Weddin’” is one of Zero to 180’s recent discoveries: “Hip Cat’s Weddin’” Grandpa Jones & His Swingin’ Grandchildren Recorded November 1960 Too little has been written about Boudleaux Bryant‘s clever composition and its fetching arrangement — virtually nothing, in fact.  “I Don’t Love Nobody”

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Henry Glover
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King Records Trivia: Maxi-Tweets

Fun Facts & Trivia —  Top Tweets from King Records Month 2018 As with the previous piece (“King’s Jazz Legacy“), it seems pointless to keep all this rich history from last year’s King 75th Birthday Celebration (a wide-ranging musical extravaganza organized by Brian Powers of Cincinnati Public Libraries) tucked away

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Bethlehem Records
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King’s Jazz Legacy: Maxi-Tweets

I am liberating a special series of “maxi-tweets” tied to King Records‘ lesser known jazz legacy that were otherwise buried in a PDF file attachment — part of 2018’s King 75th Birthday Celebration so wonderfully organized by Brian Powers of Cincinnati Public Libraries.  The following research was conducted primarily by

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50s/60s rockabilly bop +/- boogie
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Summer Beach Read – Fun Fluff

Breezy, offbeat, trashy, yet intermittently illuminating – and just in time! Zero to 180’s curated highlights from 1983’s Rolling Stone Rock Almanac humbly serves as your Summer Beach Read!  These carefully selected bits of humor and offbeat information have been lavished with picture sleeves from around the world, streaming audio,

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Chris Blackwell
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Trojan Records History Highlights

It always helps to have streaming audio within arm’s reach to make music history more of a ‘multimedia’ experience. From reading Young Gifted and Black:  The Story of Trojan Records by Michael de Koningh and Laurence Cane-Honeysett, for example, I have picked up a number of helpful listening tips and

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"Bad Girl"
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Bobby Smith’s King Productions 1963-1965

[This piece updated with new content in 2024] LINK to companion piece – Bobby Smith’s King Productions 1966-1973 Ruppli‘s King Labels discography is a 2-volume reference set that can be hard to make sense of initially, given all the subsidiary labels and various quirks in its numbering systems, among other things.

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"Dry Bones Twist"
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King Records — April 12, 1962

This King twist number – “Dry Bones Twist” by The Drivers – was recorded in Cincinnati on the day my brother, Dean, was born — April 12, 1962: “Dry Bones Twist” The Drivers (1962) <click on all song titles below for streaming audio> Both sides of this King single were penned by

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"Darling (I Miss You So)"
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Bernard Purdie at King Records

Zero to 180 is thrilled to learn that two titans of funk who both recorded for King – Bernard ‘Pretty‘ Purdie and William ‘Bootsy‘ Collins – are teaming up for a set of new recordings.  In accordance with this event’s historical significance, the Mayor of Cincinnati, John Cranley, recently paid tribute to

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Afro-Cuban +/- Latin jazz
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Lord Thunder: Final Deluxe 45?

Browsing DeLuxe releases in chronological order in Discog’s database, Lord Thunder‘s “Thunder” from 1975 appears to be the last gasp of Starday-King: “Thunder” Lord Thunder (1975) But wait:  1975 sounds much too late in the post-Syd Nathan saga for a new production to come out of the Starday-King studios, especially

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