The rules of Scratch Ticket Radio are simple. During a trip to a record store, I put aside $10 to specifically spend on a few used 45s. The $10 limit is firm, so I end up with different amounts of records depending on their prices. Consistent with the gambling analogy, I do not listen to them in the store before I buy them, and I cannot select 45s by artists that I already know or that contain songs that I am already familiar with. Then, once I have them home, as if taking a quarter to a scratch ticket, I listen to each song to determine its quality. If I come out with more keepers than duds, the ticket as a whole can be considered a winner.
The Junkpile: Middleboro Antiques Co-Op
January 2026
For the last few years, I have been checking out antique stores I come across in a search for photos of people reading or writing and for interesting postcards (for collecting and sending). The places I frequent are not high-end vintage furniture shops, but junkpiles filled with every sort of ephemera you can imagine. They often have used records, but they are typically things in terrible shape and are usually overpriced. I’m not sure who pays $15 for a beat-up copy of Blood Sweat and Tears’ Greatest Hits. Maybe nobody does, and these records are stuck there in purgatory. Because of this, I was quite surprised that the Middleboro (MA) Antiques Co-Op had a section with 45s, all cleaned up and $1 a piece. I didn’t find any photos that trip, but I got several funky postcards and $10 worth of singles.
Brooklyn, Bronx and Queens (BB+Q) (Cool Tempo/1986)
BB+Q was led by a man named Jacques Fred Petrus. He was a DJ that played up-scale clubs around the world and also released studio-based projects under different names. This iteration ended up having a run of minor hits. Sadly, it ended when Petrus was murdered. The odd connection for me is that on the final album they were joined by a former member of an R&B band called Breakwater. That band always shows up in searches when I’m looking for information about the Canadian band Breakwater (currently one of my favorite bands, despite the fact that they only released one single back in the 1990s).
Dreamer: Unfortunately, this sounds like the music in the background of an ad that plays while you are at the bank that features people engaged in quotidian tasks that make them smile. It sound likes Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens from the world of Friends.
The Controllers (Juana/1978)
They started out as a high school gospel group called the Soul Controllers, but over time moved into R&B. This single is the follow up to their huge hit,Somebody’s Gotta Win, Somebody’s Gotta Lose. It also did well, but it wasn’t a smash. Throughout the 80’s they were a workman-like band, releasing material and appearing on Soul Train multiple times, even if they were not big stars. I was attracted to this by the over-the-top logo for the producer, Frederick Knight, who turned out to be the head of Juana records. Knight had one hit of his own on Stax before the label fell apart, and he was also the producer for Anita Ward’s Ring My Bell. I loved that song as a kid. He also wrote a song called Be For Real that was covered by Leonard Cohen.
Heaven Is Only One Step Away: Lackluster slow-jam. Maybe it would work more with the scented candles lit, the wine poured and the kids at their grandma’s house.
Sho’ Nuff a Blessin’: Preferable to the A-Side, and I dig the backing vocals and the added percussion (cow bell?). No great shakes, but serviceable. I mean, it is clear that they are solid musicians, it is just not that exciting.
Ral Donner (Gone/1962)
Donner had one big hit – You Don’t Know What You’ve Got (Until You Lose It)– and a few minor ones. This wasn’t one of them. People thought he sounded like Elvis, though he claimed he didn’t do it on purpose. It doesn’t help his case that he released several singles of tunes Elvis had cut, and released an LP with snippets of 50 different Elvis songs. Later on, he did the voice-over as Elvis for the film This Is Elvis. So, yeah. He ended up suing Gone records for unpaid royalties, an unfortunately common experience. I was simultaneously repulsed and fascinated by their logo. That is a singer leaning so far back that we can see up his nose, right?
Sweetheart: He’s right – he doesn’t sing like Elvis. He sings like Elvis on codeine. Oh, wait, maybe that’s the same thing?
To Love: Here he sounds like a bunch of singers from the early 60’s. Off the top of my head I came up with Bobby Vinton, Bobby Vee, Neil Sedaka, Paul Anka, and Bobby Darin. Any other suggestions? No more Bobbys, please.
Los Melódicos (Discolando/1976)
Holy cow, this Venezuelan band has released 100 LPs! My guess is that many of the covers look like the image below. Imagine going to a show with the absurd hope that they will play that deep cut from album #44 that you love so much. Imagine how it would feel if they actually played it!
El Lestolan Fu Man Chu: Despite my best efforts, I could not figure out the title of this song on my own. Lestolan is not in any Spanish dictionary that I had access to. I turned to a Spanish-speaking friend of mine who clued me in. Turns out that lestolan is supposed to be how a Chinese speaker who has trouble with articulating the r sound would pronounce restaurant. Har de har har. That tracks with the “Chinese” sprinkled throughout the song. In addition, she thought the Fu Man Chu part could be referencing regional slang for pot smokers (whose eyes, you know…). 100 LPs and they choose this as a single? Yikes.
Calipso Del Brujo: I actually don’t want to know more about this one. I’m a bit worried about some the lyrics that I can understand.
The Peels (Karate/1966)
Perhaps not surprisingly, I got this because of the record label. I was kind of in a “Just how offensive can they get?” frame of mind (see above). With that faux-Asian font and the title of the A-Side, I figured it would get pretty bad. The copy I got was in a generic white sleeve. If I had seen the original picture sleeve, I’m not sure I would have been able to actually go through with picking it up.
Juanita Banana: This song about a banana-farmer’s daughter who wants to sing opera is a mix-up of a Mexican-coded tune (complete with slightly accented singing) and an aria from Verdi. It was so aurally offensive I couldn’t even really process the racism. This is truly one of the worst songs I have ever heard. Somehow it became a minor hit.
Fun: I’m not sure what this is, other than a challenge – Can you stick around for the whole song? I had to because of my OCD. Oh, my gosh – maybe this a simple screening device for OCD!
Sandy Posey (MGM/1968)
Posey was a singer whose work has been associated with the countrypolitan sounds of the 60’s. She started as a session singer, and notably sang back-up on Percy Sledge’s When a Man Loves a Woman. She had four hit singles as a solo act, but never broke through to Dusty Springfield-like success. This single was not a hit. Posey become a born-again Christian in the 1970’s and married a man who was both an evangelical minister and an Elvis impersonator (no, not Ral Donner). That’s almost as cool as her ‘do in this picture.
Rabbit hole not taken: She appears on a Bill Cosby Radio Program single produced by Coca Cola.
Your Conception of Love: Doc Pomus co-wrote this song, and it certainly not one of his better efforts. I’m not sure what is more awkward, the rhyme scheme of the verses or the titular chorus.
All Hung Up in Your Green Eyes: This has that gothic soap opera feel, and I kind of dig it. I can easily see it playing during a montage in a low-budget movie about a woman involved with a guy who may or may not be on the level. Lots of shots of the woman walking through the woods, with the filter rendering the background slightly out of focus. Then maybe a quick stroll along a deserted cobblestone lane. At any rate, she wrote this herself, which makes me wonder how often she got to perform her own songs, and how that affected the trajectory of her career.
Raffy Rodriguez y Su Orquesta (Discolando/1976)
It was a risk to get two 45s from Discolando before I had a sense of the label’s sound, but it turned out to be fine. This record is perfectly competent, and since I don’t know much about the genre I can’t say much more. However, it is very interesting that on Discogs a seller from the US wants $4, and a seller from Colombia wants $48. Clearly, there are some people out there that can hear something in this song that I don’t. I wish I could give away my copy to somebody in Colombia.
El Gran Arquitecto: Not just any great architect, but the great architect of the universe. It would certainly spice up Sunday services if it was added to the playlist.
Preciosa, Preciosa: If it came on the radio I wouldn’t turn the dial. That sounds colder than I want it to.
The Satellites (Cupid/1958)
This Satellites (there are a number of bands with the name) only cut two singles and were a band for a very short time, cycling through multiple members at the behest of their manager. They were all teenagers, and one of the guys’ dads was stationed at an Air Force base in New Hampshire. When he got transferred to Saudi Arabia the band was more or less over. It doesn’t appear than any of them went on to have a career in music.
Linda Jean: The singer sounds like a Buddy Holly impersonator who is getting ready for a rumble in which he’ll get his ass kicked.
Rockateen: Unbelievably repetitive and derivative, but I’ll give it some points for tempo. “Well, Dick, it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it…”
Sleeping Lions (CBS/1982)
I have no idea why, but during this era of British music there were a lot bands that were meant to be concepts – think Adam and the Ants, Dexys Midnight Runners and Tenpole Tudor. This band consisted of three siblings, and from what I gather the sister was a harp player. I don’t know what is going on with their outfits – perhaps they were going for a Middle Earth version of the New Romantic look?
Wonderful You Are: I mean, I have no words.
i) Out of the Darkness, ii) Into the Sun: Parts of a suite? Near the end, it kind of sounds like Diamanda Galás was in the next studio yelling at them to shut the fuck up.
Street (Traffic/1969)
Fronted by Anya Cohen and a band put together by her manager. At times, they were called Anya’s Street. Their manager wrote some of the songs, and seemed to have a big hand in the band’s work. They recorded a mix of blues-adjacent covers and original rock songs. They released one LP and this was their last single. Their outfits on the back cover are so period specific they look like 21st century 60’s revivalists.
Apollo…Amen: I had to buy this one, as it is advertised as including actual voices of Apollo astronauts. I was not prepared. It starts as a generic rock song, and then adds the astronauts up front in the mix. They are reading from the book of Genesis. Then it shifts into a cover of He’s Got The Whole World in His Hands, while the Genesis reading continues. A third shift into few choruses of Amen ends the song. The Sleeping Lions track made more sense than this. What the actual fuck?
Why Concern Yourself: This is a rather traditional folk-inflected rock song. It brought to mind Joan Baez. In a normal context, it might have been OK but forgettable. Here, as the flip side to whatever that is on the a-side, the normality somehow adds to my confusion.
Los Melódicos // The Peels // Sleeping Lions // Street
Brooklyn, Bronx and Queens // The Controllers // Ral Donner // Raffy Rodriguez y Su Orquesta
Sandy Posey // The Satellites
If not for the Posey and Satellites b-sides, this would have been a total wash. That fact does bring to mind stories I hear about iconic songs that were b-sides and destined for obscurity until a DJ decided to flip the record over to see what was there (e.g., Bill Withers Ain’t No Sunshine). What if that had happened for them?
Listening Station Eight 