CONTRIBUTOR: Famous Lee (Love Handle)
ARTIST: Roland Haynes Jr & Phenix
SONG: Mind Games
LABEL: EII Records
YEAR: 1983
This small hole American 45 was a lesson in patience for all you novice internet diggers fiending over some obscure, over-priced joint on the (insert web vinyl depot of your choice here). I first came across it online about six or seven years ago, and fell in love. It’s the winning combination of an insistent two step, a tight rhythm section, with acoustic piano/lead guitar set against an incredible vocal performance by someone named Arndra Argo, who pleads with the object of his affection to check him out cause “brain strain” he can do without. Needless to say, I was intoxicated, and spent the next few years looking for it, and any information about anyone involved. Is it the Roland Haynes of 2nd Wave/Black Jazz Records fame? The Internet points in opposite directions and, as of this write-up, none of the Roland Haynes’ that I’ve contacted on Facebook (3 if we’re not counting the white accountant that I contacted by mistake) have responded to claim this masterpiece. The moral of this story is that if you wait long enough something will pop up on your discogs want list for a fraction of the amount listed 7 years after you began looking for it. Trends come and go, but brain strain we can all do without.
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