Slim Whitman - 15th Anniversary Album

I spent 10 years, from 1982 to 1992, in Singapore . Whenever anyone asked me about the most memorable period of my stay in Singapore, I never hesitated to tell him it was my stay in Bukit Batok with my 3 great friends, Tian Chee, Kim Heong and Kean Hin. We spent so much time playing mahjong, hunting for food and doing all sorts of crazy things together.

Tian Chee and I shared the same hobby of music listening. One day, Tian Chee and I went to Bukit Timah Shopping Plaza to shop for CDs. I picked up a CD titled “Slim Whitman - 15th Anniversary album”. I requested the shop owner to play the CD for us. When Slim Whitman yodeled out side A’s 1st song, “Indian Love Call”, Tian Chee laughed at me because it was his first time hearing someone yodeled. Moreover, Slim has such a thin and unique voice. I bought the CD anyway.

I played that CD so frequently that Tian Chee could even yodel Indian Love Call exactly the same way as Slim Whitman did.

Fast forward to July 2006, I found and bought an LP of the same title. It was my first Slim Whitman’s LP. I now have 53 Slim Whitman’s LPs. I even own 3 copies of Slim Whitman’s “Red River Valley” album in my collection.

MacKenna's Gold

MacKenna’s Gold is a film staring Gregory Peck and Omar Sharif. It tells a story of a group of gold hunters who went searching for gold. These men killed each on their way to discover the treasure due to their greed.

When the movie was showed in Malaysia, my uncle brought me to watch the movie twice.

This is an EP record. It has only 1 track per side. Side A contains a song titled Marley Purt Drive. The song on side B, Old Turkey Buzzard, is the song that I love. This song was sung by Jose Feliciano. It was composed and conducted by Quincy Jones.

For A Few Dollars More

My family had this record during the late 60s. Then I had just started schooling in Sungai Petani, Kedah, Malaysia.

My 2 younger brothers and I had so much fun listening to this record. We loved the 1st track at side A, Titoli, very much. We even performed a special ritual while playing this track.

What we did was 2 of us would stand on the sofa chair. The other one would go and move the tonearm/stylus to play track 1, he would then quickly joined the other 2 up at the sofa chair to wait for the track to play. When the number, Titoli, started with a few gun shots, all 3 of us would pretend to be shot and fell from the sofa chair. We would then re-act the same thing all over again and again.

I am listening to this record right now, at 3:40am....

For A Few Dollars More - Song/Music List

Side A
1. Titoli
2. From River Kwai
3. Per Qualche Dollaro In Piu
4. A Man ..... A Story
5. Rifle Theme From " Licensed to Kill"
6. Per Qualche Dollard In Piu
7. You Only Live Twice

Side B
1. For A Few Dollars More
2. Stranger In The Night
3. Coffin For Gunfighter
4. Fistful of Dollars
5. The Hill Run Red
6. Le GHendarme De Saint Tropez
7. Arizona Colt

The Beginning of the Hobby

I started this hobby of collecting vinyl records by coincidence.

One lazy Sunday afternoon in June 2006, I walked into Amcorp Mall at Petaling Jaya, Selangor, with an intention to audition some Hi-fi equipment. As I walked around on the 2nd floor, I bumped into a store selling vinyl records. Although I liked listening to music then, my entire collection of music was in CD format. Collecting vinyl records had never crossed my mind at all. However, I approached the store and casually flipping through the stacks of vinyl records. Then, an album caught my attention.

The album was Pan Wan Ching Greatest 1965 Hits! The singer was Pan Wan Ching, aka Rebecca Pan. It was my late father’s favorite. I could also remember that my family spent many joyous evening listening to the record. Although I did not have a record player, I decided to buy the record for keeping, and to re-lived those happy moments with my family again!

Unknown to me then, it was the point that ignited my craze for collecting vinyl records.