Mickey Lee Lane

 

Greetings all.

I thought we’d get the week started with something unusual.

If you are a mod soul fan, you may already be hip to Mickey Lee Lane’s epic 1965 single ‘Hey Sah-Lo-Ney’, covered the following year in the UK by the Action on the flipside of their cover of the Marvelettes ‘I’ll Keep Holding On’. It was via 1980s reissued of the Action that most of us found our way to Mickey Lee Lane in the first place.

That said, maybe ten years ago someone (I wish I could remember who) told me that there had been an instrumental version of ‘Hey Sah-Lo-Ney’ issued in the late 60s, and that it had some level of popularity on the UK soul scene.

I eventually found out that the record in question had been issued as ‘Tracks To Your Mind’ by the ‘Sounds of Lane’ in 1968 on the Cobblestone label.

As you’ll hear whne you pull down the ones and zeros, ‘Tracks To Your Mind’ is not a straight instrumental dub of ‘Hey Sah-Lo-Ney’, but rather is augmented by echoed guitar and tack piano. The effect is vaguely psychedelic, but as the track’s popularity on dance floors will attest, the propulsive kick of the original is intact.

The record’s release history is strange, including two released on Cobblestone, one a double-a-sided promo, then an appearance on the b-side of a pop 45 by a singer named George McCannon (the copy I have), then at least two bootleg pressings from the 1970s (and another in the 00’s).

The 45 can be quite expensive (though if you wait long enough – like I did – you can find yourself a bargain).

Mickey Lee Lane went on to work as a recording engineer, and passed away in 2011.

I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll see you on Wednesday.

Keep the faith

Larry

 

 

 

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

 

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.