Dad’s 45s, Part 5: The EPs

For a few years at the beginning of the rock era, extended play 45s were a reasonably popular item. A quick jaunt through the Billboard archives at worldradiohistory.com indicates that for just about exactly three years (October 1957-October 1960, as best I can tell without heavy digging), they published a list of the Top 10 Selling Pop EPs. My father apparently was not immune to the charms of this format; let’s take a tour of the four I discovered in his collection.

Here’s Little Richard, Part 1

The twelve tracks on Richard Penniman’s debut album were also broken up into three EPs, SEP-400, -401, and -402. The same photo appears on the cover of each, with orange, yellow, and red backgrounds, respectively. This one contains his biggest hit, the #6-peaking “Long Tall Sally,” along with “Miss Ann” ( the B-side to “Jenny, Jenny”), “She’s Got It,” and “Can’t Believe You Wanna Leave.”

Dave “Baby” Cortez, The Happy Organ

We had an organ not entirely unlike the one pictured above, though I never heard either of my parents give it a whirl. Forced to guess, I’d say my father was responsible for its presence; maybe Cortez’s #1 hit was the inspiration?

“Love Me As I Love You” was the B-side of the original 45, which had been released on Clock Records.

The Kingston Trio At Large, Part 1

This one was on the Pop EP chart in the final months of its publication. “M.T.A.” had reached #15 the year before. “All My Sorrows” was the B-side then–perhaps it was a standard practice to supplement the original single with two extra tracks?

I think I have vague memories of my father singing (along with) the chorus of “M.T.A.”

Elvis Presley, A Touch of Gold Volume 1

My dad liked early Elvis plenty (rockin’ edition, anyway), so perhaps it’s a little surprising this will be our only encounter with the King in this series. Presley released a slew of EPs at the beginning of his career, but neither volume entitled A Touch of Gold charted. Two of these songs hit #1–not bad for approximately $1.29 (that’s the price I found on the backs of the Cortez and Kingston Trio jackets). I’m going to embed the one he almost certainly enjoyed less.