Pet Sounds • Rather Rare Records

a few faverave albums of the cut-out era

Last Updated on: April 10, 2021 by Neal Umphred

THIS ARTICLE addresses the first few years in which deleted record albums flooded retail stores across the country. Stores that had never contemplated a bargain bin in their record department started one and record-buying was never the same. But these records should have had a huge impact on the early record collectors price guides, but did not. [Continue reading]

talking with ken barnes on his career as a rock journalist

Last Updated on: March 21, 2020 by Neal Umphred

A FEW WEEKS AGO, I received an invitation from a young musician in England to make a connection on the LinkedIn site, the “world’s largest professional network.” Reluctantly I accepted it, despite the fact that I have yet to meet anyone who has actually benefited professionally from any of their LinkedIn connections. [Continue reading]

1,661 words on del shannon and his connections to the british invasion

Last Updated on: May 5, 2021 by Neal Umphred

A FEW DAYS AGO, I posted a piece titled “tears are falling and I feel the pain” in which I offered a few words on Del Shannon and the briefest of introductions to his music by including links to YouTube to hear a sampling of his recordings. In the article, I mentioned a “song he wrote and arranged as a nod to the British Invasion: I Go To Pieces, which was an international hit for Peter & Gordon. [Continue reading]

whose response to whom with the stones-beatles-beach boys connection

Last Updated on: September 2, 2022 by Neal Umphred

EARLIER THIS YEAR, I posted my first Amazon review, this one of the Rolling Stones’ album THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST. It had the over-long and grammatically cumbersome title of “Clearly their answer to PET SOUNDS—or at least Good Vibrations—SGT. PEPPER is actually as disparate an artifact as REVOLVER.” [Continue reading]