#589 (Week of 11/1/08 - 11/7/08)

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"Possessive Love"/"I've Got To Have You Baby"
by The Pretenders
Featuring Jimmy Jones
on Rama RR-198
released in 1956

Above: Photo of The Pretenders. (Top) Jimmy Jones (lead tenor), (Bottom L-R) Irving Lee Gail (bass), William "Red" Walker (first tenor), Bobby Moore (second tenor), and Melvin Walton (baritone). Walker and Walton had been with The Vocaleers on Red Robin. The actual line-up on Rama RR-198 did not include Gail, but had Walton singing bass.

Click HERE to view an article about Jimmy Jones by Marv Goldberg. (Will open in a separate window)

[Above image courtesy of Galen Gart.]

Above: July 1956 Clipping. In June it is announced that "Rama will issue two new singles introducing two new names. Mabel King's "I'm Gonna Change" and "Alabama Rock 'n Roll"; and The Pretenders' "I Gotta Have You Baby" [sic] and "Possessive Love." A new "name" only, as The Pretenders had already been introduced as The Savoys on the Savoy label earlier in the year.

[The above right 45-rpm label image provided by Dave Saviet.]

Above: Label images for Rama RR-198 recorded on 5/2/56 and issued that same month. This was The Pretenders' first of two records on Rama (1956). They also had releases on Savoy (as The Savoys, 1956), Whirlin Disc (1957), Arrow (as The Jones Boys, 1957), Holiday (1958), Central (1958), and Apt (1958).

Note that Sunny Gale collaborated in writing "Possessive Love" and, on the flip side, Jimmy Jones shared writing credit with Rama's Goldner.

Listen to this week's selections by The Pretenders on Rama RR-198 from 1956:
[Audio restoration by Dave Saviet.]

A. Stream RealAudio (DO NOT USE...LISTEN USING DOWNLOAD REALAUDIO)...          Possessive Love        I've Got To Have You Baby          BOTH SONGS played in sequence   B. Download RealAudio...          Possessive Love        I've Got To Have You Baby     C. Stream/Download Media Player...          Possessive Love        I've Got To Have You Baby

    [To download audio files, right-click on link and then select "Save (Link) Target As..."]

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