Gene Pitney ‘Dedicated to My Teen Queens’ (1964)

Well…I guess I should’ve bought this one when I saw it.  If memory serves, though, the wax was a bit too rough-housed and gritty for my tastes – so I kept my dollar and left it in the thrift store bin.

“Gene Pitney?!”, you might ask in disbelief – and thus I urge you to consider this gem of heartbroken pop from an era that defined pop heartbreak, “True Love Never Runs Smooth”:

The good news (for me), however, is that due to a cover art gaff (see the details on this Musicor label retrospective) the album was swiftly re-issued as ‘Gene Pitney Meets the Fair Young Ladies of Folkland’.  I prefer the original title, of course…but at least the re-release makes scoring an original copy of this LP a little more hopeful.

As I often like to point out here on Culture Of None (for you digital folk) ‘…Ladies of Folkland’ is predictably available on Amazon as a wildly over-priced second hand import CD pressing, which also includes his album ‘Blue Gene’.  (I confess with a shudder that I passed up a thrift store LP copy of that one as well, not long ago).

I know you’re dying to hear this record, and you’ll probably do like I will and envision (while you listen) that you’re holding LP cover I photographed above.   I’m back on task, seeking out the vinyl.  Meanwhile, here’s someone’s kind share (in two parts) of those “teen queens”.

Gene Pitney