Is this record what I think it is???

This Is My Story b/w More Peanuts (La Vienteunica)

The Valentines - San Antonio, TX 1965/66

King Bee K-103

    For about 3-4 years, "This Is My Story" by The Valentines was at the TOP of my want list. I searched high and low and just a week and a half ago I was able to get my very own copy of this EXTREMELY RARE record! Why the caps??? Because, the rarity of this is RIDICULOUS. Why is it so rare? Well first, let's learn a bit about this record.

    

FIRST OF ALL!!!! This is NOT Richard Barrett's group from NYC who were signed to Rama records.

    Released around the year 1965/66, this record is virtually unknown to most people. Like myself when I first heard the song, many people don't even know it exists as a vinyl record! From the get-go, I thought to myself: "It must be an unreleased acetate!" The way the recording of the song sounded was much like that of a deteriorating acetate record. An acetate is a pre-production record meant to either be a one off recording of a group for fun, OR to test the sound quality before it is actually pressed onto the initial release on vinyl. The acetate itself is a metal disc with a layer of nail polish like material (the acetate.) The playing surface of the acetate is very fragile and brittle; meaning - it cannot be played over and over like a normal record on vinyl. After so many plays, the sound quality begins to deteriorate badly; and the playing surface may even begin to flake or chip off!

    Upon receiving the legit 45 RPM issue, I set the stylus down on the spinning record, watching the grooves spiral inwards towards the musical portion of the vinyl. As the stylus rested down on the record I heard the normal crackles, pops and whirrs... and then the song begins. Immediately, I noticed that it is a Lo-Fi recording - and I eventually noticed the song is noisy like an acetate, JUST like the way I first heard this song. Given that this record is so rare, I know only one person who has this record. I asked him to play his Near Mint Condition copy to see if his copy also played with the background noise... it did. 

    My point? When the label put this record out, they used a noisy acetate disc as the source of audio for the initial release! The group itself sounds like high school teenagers; likely a 17 year old and his band from school. It is highly probable that they got a hold of some sort of recording service to cut their performance of "This Is My Story" onto an acetate record. Maybe they took the acetate around and showed it to family and friends... playing it over and over again - eventually making it's way to King Bee records. Likely, they didn't have lots of money to put together for the release of this record, maybe not enough money to rent the recording studio. I believe they turned in this noisy acetate and the record label went ahead and slapped it on as the "B" side of the record! 

    The "A" side is a conjunto instrumental with an odd name. It is called "More Peanuts (La Vienteunica)." There is another local San Antonio group called The Sunglows who had a HUGE hit with their song called "Peanuts," also a conjunto instrumental. I speculated that maybe the kids decided to remake "Peanuts," again I was quite surprised to hear what La Vienteunica really was. When the music began to play, I was SHOCKED to hear "Popcorn" by The Sunglows! An utter BOOTLEG! The label itself has no writer credits to the song, I think only very very few copies were ever made, only enough for family and friends. Who knows how many exist now??? With the knowledge that La Vienteunica is a total bootleg of an already existing song, this record had to have been kept under the radar to avoid legal trouble; hence why copies are so very hard to come by. 

    All in all, this is an AMAZING addition to any collection in ANY condition. Fortunately, I have a clean playing copy. See the scans of it down below 

(My copy of "This Is My Story." Click here to listen to it)

(My copy of "More Peanuts(La Vienteunica.)" Click here to listen to it)