THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! Oscar Toney, Jr., "Ain't That True Love"

Drawn from previous posts, this is not part of my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1).

An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!

OSCAR TONEY, JR.: Ain't That True Love

Written by Oscar Toney, Jr.

Produced by Papa Don, Cogbill, Emmons, Christman & Young for Papa Don Productions, Inc.

Single (B-side of "For Your Precious Love"), Bell Records, 1967

One of the many truths in our lives as pop fans is that there is always so much more magnificent music awaiting our discovery: New music, of course, and also old music that escaped our attention.

I don't recalI hearing (or hearing of) '60s soul singer Oscar Toney, Jr. until 2022. Even if did hear him pre-pandemic, Toney didn't register with me until a whole lotta later. A chance dive into the CD bins at Sound Garden in Syracuse netted me The Soul Of The Memphis Boys, a compilation CD collecting some Memphis sides by Ben E. King, Elvis Presley, Arthur Conley, James and Bobby Purify, Arthur Alexander, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dusty Springfield, Solomon Burke, Ella Washington, and more. Impulse purchase, come to Poppa!

On this disc, Toney's "Ain't That True Love" freakin' knocked me out. On the radio it went, and it's been a frequent treat on our playlists ever since. This is a bona fide soul classic, even if hardly anyone knows it. Classic.

There's so much out there, waiting for us to open our ears, eyes, and minds and just notice. The hunt continues. 

The hunt eventually led me to a Toney best-of CD called Oscar's Winners, which has enriched some subsequent TIRnRRs with the exquisite "No More Sad Songs, Toney's heavenly take on Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer's stalwart "Moon River" (crossed in style past dreammaker and heartbreaker alike), among others. But, more often than not: "Ain't That True Love."  You know the mantra, mis amigos: Any record you ain't heard is a new record. 

Ain't that...something?

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