Well, here's a doozy of an album cover! My friends, Dan and Bradley, gave me this record this past Christmas, and they said they chose it because it was such a weird cover. They know me too well. I have to admit I was a little afraid to play this record for fear that it would be absolutely awful, but today I decided to record it for the blog and it's not as bad as I thought. I'm not saying it's wonderful - I'm just saying it's not as bad as I feared. But the cover makes up for it! Who the heck thought up this cover??? You can tell that Sharlene is pasted in there - she's not really sitting on that horse! And what's with the jousting outfit on the horse? Poor thing looks like he's one of the horses at Medieval Times. It's a pretty funky cover, all right - I'll be framing it and hanging it in my entryway - I'm serious!
I have absolutely no idea who Sharlene Sharp is (I'm assuming she's still with us), and I could find no information about her on the internet. But I did find out that Sonny Look had a famous restaurant in Houston called the Sir Loin Restaurant and Club, and that he died in 2003. I figure that Sharlene must've been an entertainer at his restaurant and he thought she was just wonderful so he had her record this album. The only other information I have on this album is that the liner notes were written by Mel Arvin (must've been a local Houston celebrity), and that the album was recorded by ACA Recording Studios in Houston. I don't know what year it was recorded but I'm thinking the late 60s, since "Sunny" was a Top-40 hit in 1966. If anyone has any info they can share about Sharlene and/or Sonny, please post a comment!
So, give old Sharlene a listen. Maybe (if she's still with us) we can track her down and convince her to come out of retirement and record another album.
Track listing for Sharlene Sharp - Rare and Well Done:
Side 1:
1. Your Nobody Till Somebody Loves You - (notice the misspelling of "you're" - but I put it the way it's on the album)
2. Where Are You?
3. Meditation
4. Might as Well Be Spring
5. Since I Fell for You
6. Hey Look Me Over
Side 2:
1. Born to Lose
2. Your Gonna Hear from Me - (again, "you're" is misspelled)
3. Masquerade is Over
4. Trolly Song - ("trolley" is misspelled)
5. There's a Tree in the Meadow
6. Sunny
4 comments:
Sonny Look had the most awesome restuarant in Houston! My family went there a couple of times in the late sixties. Look's Sirloin Inn was at the corner of South Main and what is now the South Loop. We were treated like royalty! There were 4 or 5 waiters for our table. They served us kids red fruit juice from a "wine" bottle which they opened at the table and poured into our stemmed "wine" glasses. We saved the bottle and it still sits on a shelf at my mom's. They gave us toys which included a mask of an astronaut helmet. I could go on and on about the experience there, I have such a vivid memory of it. Now I will tell you about that horse. On Friday and Saturday night if you passed by there you would see a knight in full armour sitting on this horse with a joust from which hung a velvet coat of arms with the name of the restaurant. The restaurant was a tudor design and the inside was like a castle. I'm afraid there will never be such a place again. The neighborhood went downhill and they lost customers. I went back there in the late eighties when they were on there last leg and it was really sad. I guess they finally tore it down in the nineties.
Hi, Catherine!
Thanks so much for your memories of Sonny Look's restaurant! I was dying to hear from someone who could tell me something about him. I only visited Houston once when I was a little kid, but we didn't go to his restaurant - wish we had! Thanks for visiting!
Esther
He had a restaurant on Westheimer where The Palm restaurant is now, and they did the same thing with the horse, only the guy rode out into the middle of the road. At night.
The one on Westheimer was the good one, which is why The Palm bought it. It was so good. They had four flavored butters: cheese, garlic, orange and something else. The also had a wonderful avocado salad dressing...not green goddess, it was like whipped avocado. Gosh,what I would give for some of that.
Their steaks were incredible too!
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