Don Covay - Razor and Tie question (Hendrix content)

As many Hendrix aficionados know a young Jimi played the KILLER short solo on Don Covay's 1964 hit Mercy, Mercy and Steve mastered this track his (now OOP) Don Covay comp The Definitive Don Covay on Razor and Tie. Does anyone know if Steve's mastering of Mercy, Mercy has appeared anywhere else? I'm thinking of picking up the below Don Covay twofer because it contains the b-side of the Mercy, Mercy 45, Can't Stay Away. Jimi plays on the b-side as well.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...0898859/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-5183287-7175902

If anyone is interested in pre-London Hendrix recordings the below site is amazing. It is really the only accurate info I've ever come across about Jimi's pre JHE discography. I'm working on a homeade CDR comp of the best of Jimi's pre JHE recordings. If you ignore all of the hundreds of intentionally misleading, semi-legal, gray area Lonnie Youngblood and Curtis Knight comps you are left with a CD or 2 of killer stuff....

Mercy, Mercy session info

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...104-5183287-7175902?v=glance&s=music&n=507846

I've seen the above CD in several mainstream music stores and want to report that is is RIP OFF. Despite claims to the contrary most of the tracks still have posthumous sax, guitar and/or vocal overdubs and are heavily no-noised. At least one of the tracks is a one channel of a stereo mix. Lonnie Youngblood is not even the featured artist on most of these tracks although he did play on them as a session musician (Jimi only appeared on 4 tracks that feature Youngblood as the featured artist) As far as I know the original 45's are the only place to obtain the original unfutzed with mixes. Check out the below link for info on checkered history and background of all of the dubious Lonnie Youngblood releases...BTW, I have a crappy needle drop of the original The Iceman's She's a Fox and Jimi's playing is just amazing. It sounds just like Castles Made of Sand...

 

You may be right...apparently the b-side, Can't Stay Away, was recorded at a different session the week before Mercy, Mercy was recorded. The guitar on the b-side isn't as recognizable as Jimi compared to Mercy, Mercy but it could be him. Did you by chance find any alternate versions of Can't Stay Away when compiling the Covay comp for Razor and Tie? Also, the JHE played Mercy, Mercy live several times in 1967. There are a few AUD tapes of them playing it VERY fast

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...104-5183287-7175902?v=glance&s=music&n=507846

Since my thread is rapidly falling off the board I'll try to widen the topic some Does anyone have the above disc? Jimi is featured on Ray Sharpe's Help Me parts 1 and 2. Speaking of Ray Sharpe's Help Me...the backing track of this tune with Jimi's guitar wiped was used for Aretha Franklin's Save Me with new overdubs and lyrics.

Any opinions on the Isley Brothers remixes on the In the Beginning LP? Have these mixes ever turned up on CD? I've never heard the original mixes - my main interest in the material is to hear the young Jimi - Move Over and Let Me Dance has some pretty slick guitar work for 1965

 

I believe Steven Roby first had the hard evidence that it was Hendrix playing on Mercy, Mercy. In his book, "BLACK GOLD, the Lost Archives of Jimi Hendrix", he waits until he talks to background singer George "King" Clemons and finally Don Covay who was recovering from a stroke before concluding that it was Hendrix.

Roby also tells of a Jayne Mansfield session with Hendrix playing bass and later adding a guitar track. Cool, or what?

Tony

 

I was stunned the first time I head the Razor + Tie Don Covay disc. I understand about influences (and homages), but he took everything. Ahh, well... feet of clay.

 

It's so cool that the young James Marshall Hendrix played on a top 40 hit in 1964

Is anyone familiar with an ultra obscure 45 My Diary/Utee on Revis Records? My Diary was written by Arthur Lee and Lee recruited Jimi to play on it because he was looking for a Curtis Mayfield guitar sound for the track- Hendrix plays magnificent Mayfield inspired licks on this! The song is really, really great. AFIAK this track has never been officially released on CD and all copies doing the round come from old syndicated FM broadcasts of Jimi documentaries and sound pretty rough. Allegedly it was recorded at Gold Star - I wonder what the original 45 sounds like? I've never even seen one. Check out the link for more info and scans of the label.

http://www.earlyhendrix.com/disco/brooks.htm

http://www.earlyhendrix.com/artists/brooks/rec.htm