Jim Messina & His Jesters - The Dragsters (1964)

Most people are only familiar with Jim Messina as one half of a very musical and eclectic middle of the road duo, Loggins and Messina, who were incredibly popular in the first half of the 1970s. Some readers may remember that before L&M rose to stardom Messina helped Richie Furay organize Poco after they both completed a stint with the marvelous Buffalo Springfield.

Messina's recording career began at age sixteen while he was still in high school as the lead guitarist for His Jesters, a totally instrumental, rock n' roll sextet. The other members were Ron House and Bill Beckman on rhythm guitars, Jim Sholstedt on bass, drummer Larry Cundieff and saxman Dave Archuleta.

Despite their ages, the group secured a recording contract and released an LP, The Dragsters, on Audio Fidelity Records in 1964. While the music they played is surf-rock, the album's theme centers around the related West Coast car culture. The record has two cars on the front cover and five of the titles - "No Name Dragster," "Masatlan Rally," "High Voltage," "Suspense Run," and "Tamale Wagon" - include sports car racing sounds.

Despite the number of songs on the twelve-inch, it is very short. Ten of the fourteen entries clock in at two minutes or less and only one hits the three-minute mark. Your entire listening experience is over in less than a half hour.

The Dragsters is a fun, reverb drenched listen. Your Mama can dance to it, and your Daddy will definitely want to rock 'n roll. Messina co-wrote ten of the tunes.

You can listen to the majority of every track at Sundazed Records' website where you can purchase The Dragsters on CD with a handful of bonus tracks. A blue vinyl version was released in 2021 but is now sold out. You can also download it from iTunes.

I took a chance and bought The Dragsters unheard in a Canadian record store while driving to Montreal on my honeymoon way back in prehistoric times. I've probably only given it a spin a couple of times: when I got home from the trip and again just a few days ago to re-acquaint myself with it for this post.

Comments

Post a Comment

All-Time Popular Posts

Slower Than Slow: 16 RPM Records

Image
Have you ever heard of a long forgotten vinyl format, the 16 2/3 RPM record? They were half the speed of the 33 1/3 RPM albums that were the traditional standard for recorded music. Most record players in the 1950s and 1960s came with a speed setting to play these long forgotten discs that were considered novelties even during the years they were available. Because most, but not all, 16s had big holes and were 7" in diameter many of them were mistaken for 45 RPMs and at that size the speed allowed for up to 20 minutes of playing time per side. However, there was no true standard size and they were also manufactured to be 9, 10, or 12 inches in diameter, and these larger records played even longer. Just like the other speeds and formats 16s could be played one record at a time or stacked on a changer for continuous play. Radio stations often used the discs for pre-recorded radio shows containing interviews, dramas, and documentaries. More frequen...
Read more

Why Do 45 RPM Records Have Big Holes?

Image
Today we're going to find out why 45 RPM records have much larger holes than 78s and 33s. Believe it or not I often wondered about this burning question when I was collecting hundreds of these little seven inch gems back the 1960s. According to several websites, including Answerbag , the reason for the large hole used by 45s was simple. It was difficult for the old 78s, with their smaller holes, to find their way onto jukebox spindles. The large hole effectively eliminated that problem. Strangely, seven inch 45s were often pressed with the smaller holes used for LPs in many countries outside the United States, especially in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. Overseas the inserts (commonly know as spiders) were manufactured into the large holes at the factories but they could be punched out if desired. The Beatles' British single of "Love Me Do," pictured here, is a typical example. Why were the spiders built into English 45s? I was unable to fi...
Read more

10 Great Beatles Songs You May Have Never Heard

Image
I recently paid a visit to a blog that I read regularly published by my British cyber-buddy, Martin Warminger. At his site, Music Obsessive , he just listed what are, in his opinion, the worst Beatles songs of all time . It's an idea I wanted to steal, and I could come up with a short but bad list, but for the sake of originality I decided to do something completely different instead. So, here is a list of ten songs by my all-time favorite band that deserve a better place in the annals of Beatles history. Most of them are only known by their hardcore fans. Here they are in chronological order. You can listen to a few of the rarer ones below. 1. I'll Be On My Way The only known recorded version of this very early, 1963, Lennon-McCartney ditty appears on Live at The BBC . The Beatles never put it on vinyl. Yes, it's simplistic and the lyrics even have the audacity to rhyme the word "moon" with "June." However, the song has one of those undeni...
Read more