Breaak-Aaa-Waaaay

Irma Thomas - Break-A-Way
Irma Thomas - Break-A-Way 33rpm

Irma Thomas, a successful New Orleans soul queen, recorded a bunch of great records throughout the 60s and worked with local luminaries including Allan Toussaint. Although I'm not fortunate enough to have seen her perform (yet), I believe she tours regularly and is still going strong. Break-A-Way was released as a b-side, but eventually ended up eclipsing the a-side in popularity – a phenomenon I have been blogging a lot of late, for no particular reason. Although the a-side, Wish Someone Would Care, charted reasonably highly in 1964, Break-A-Way was seemingly ignored by the radio DJs at the time. However, with such a breakneck-speed beat, I imagine that in time it became a popular spin on the Northern Soul scene. I’m only speculating, but this may have led to it being chosen as a good song to be covered in 1983 by British actress/comedian/television-presenter, Tracey Ullman. All you really need to know, is that it’s a cracking tune, one that you surely won’t regret adding to your mp3 collection.

This morning, when I went about the process of ripping this recording from vinyl, it begun playing with the speed on the wrong setting. This reminded me about a slightly alcohol fueled conversation I had on Friday about running a whole night playing 45rpm records at 33. I reckon it’s a concept that's got potential. Here (here and here) are some other candidates. Any fresh suggestions would be most welcome.