Listen: Black Woman / Don Covay & The Jefferson Lemon Blues Band
Black Woman / Don Covay & The Jefferson Lemon Blues Band

I don’t believe this story is uncommon amongst vinyl collectors.

Once an artist strikes that magic nerve in the system, you kind of need all of their records, or certainly the ones specific to the time period before they morphed into something way different.

This is exactly the case with Don Covay and me. I had many of those Atlantic singles, instinctively picking them up through the years based on an initial name introduction via early albums by The Rolling Stones. At any given moment, one of them hits you, all the rest get pulled out, examined and played. Then boom. The process begins. Regardless of day, time or convenience, a plot to complete the catalog materializes.

Ebay has made this so easy. A lot of my collector friends hate ebay, all cranky that it takes away from the back aching digs through boxes in record shops and rummage sales and things. I don’t get that, those moments will never go away. Ebay is like getting take-out food delivered. No different. Doesn’t mean you’ll never cook for yourself again. What’s the problem?

In an effort to complete the Don Covay Atlantic releases, I dig up a discography and think, the one that has forever eluded me is ‘Black Woman’ from ’69. It doesn’t sound familiar at all and I would’ve certainly remembered the Jefferson Lemon Blues Band bit. From the song title alone, it sounded very in tune with the times, black power fisted slants on records from Miles Davis to Jefferson Airplane being ever present then. ‘Black Woman’ had to be a great one.

So today I go digging through some .50¢ boxes at Academy Records in Williamsburg, and what do I find? Yep, the final component to having a complete Don Covay Atlantic singles library right here in the comfort of my own home.

I love that shop. Similar to most, the 45′s are second fiddle at best. Probably they don’t sell many, and great ones aren’t exactly walking through the door often. But the staff, as nice as they are, just don’t seem to have a consistent grasp on values or importance when it comes to Soul / Rnb / Northern / Jazz 7′s.

Perfect.

So now the follow-up punch line to my first sentence: I get home, clean the record up, give it a few plays and once totally satisfied, decide to file it away.

And what do I find? I already own a copy.

Well, one can always use a safety.

Listen: Stop Arguing Over Me / Big Lucky
Stop

Levester Carter, a native of Choctaw County, Mississippi, became Big Lucky in ’68 when local Memphis disc jockey A.C.’Moonah’ Williams put Big Lucky Carter, his then stage moniker, in touch with Hi Records boss Willie Mitchell, who demo’d him at the Hi studios.

Liking the result, he coupled ‘Miss Betty Green’ and ‘Stop Arguin’ Over Me’ as the first of two singles for the label’s subsidiary M.O.C. (MOC 670), released April 7, 1969, according to an old production schedule from Hi/M.O.C.’s parent label, London Records, that I have poured over for many hours through the years

His ‘I’ve Been Hurt’ (MOC 673) followed as an A Side on Dec 8, 1969. Local airplay limited both records’ reach, resulting in very few pressings, sales and available copies nowadays.

Therefore a rewarding find last week at Academy’s moving sale. Love that place.

Listen: The Party / Henry Mancini & His Orchestra
The

From the fairly obscure Peter Sellers film, THE PARTY. Henry Mancini & His Orchestra must have been the film industry’s go to during this period of the 60′s. It’s pretty hard to top his Pink Panther theme, but this one comes close. I had no idea there was even a soundtrack, but should have figured as much. An unexpected 50¢ discovery last week at Academy’s moving clearnace sale in Williamsburg.

Not sure if I laughed harder at any movie scene more than the bathroom episode below.

Listen: Yeh-Yeh! / Mongo Santamaria Orchestra
Yeh-Yeh!

Mongo Santamaria’s early to mid-60′s singles are all really worth picking up if you stumble across them. He’s cited for creating the Boogaloo scene, whatever that is. Still it sounds inviting to me. Basically those latinesque leaning singles spilled into the hipster bachelor pad column easily, and I admittedly liked it all, or should I say dug it all.

‘Yeh-Yeh!’ escaped me for years. And as it nudged it’s way up to the $25-$35 mark, I just refused to grab one. Like ‘Sunny, I’ll take any version of the song at any time. And so with great patience, I finally found a copy at my favorite place in New York. Academy Records in Williamsburg. I love their $1.00 boxes on the floor under the higher priced items in the racks. I love those boxes almost as much as I love the BROOKLYN VEGAN obsessed clerks filling them.

Listen: Ob La Di, Ob La Da / Joyce Bond
Ob La Di, Ob La Da / Joyce Bond

Found yet another gem at Academy Records in Brooklyn, hysterically sitting peacefully amongst the 50¢ boxes: Joyce Bond’s version of ‘Ob La Di, Ob La Da’. A song seemingly written for the natural Caribbean bounce, it further validates the lightweight value of The Beatles. Again, I preferred The New Vaudeville Band when comparing equals.

To be honest, I had no idea this even got a Stateside release, so I admit needing to be more humble in my criticisms of the local vendors. But hey, Steel Pulse singles on MCA are not worth $10 guys.

Listen: Robin Hood Rides Again / The Joyce Bond Review
Robin Hood Rides Again / The Joyce Bond Review

Nonetheless, way more fascinating is the B side here. Policy usually meant a straight up instrumental of the single’s A side was the norm, or as the mid 70′s evolved, a dub version. Not so this time. A completely new track, instrumental, and clearly nothing to do with Joyce Bond in any way other than her label copy credit.

Produced by B. Lee. Was it Byron or Bunny? Seems Joyce Bond had musical affiliations with both.

If ever there were an expert on Ska/Rock Steady/Reggae/Dub, it’s Duane Sherwood. He’s the go to on this stuff for all things not previously grooved into my gray matter. Inconveniently in this case though, he’s not big on the pop end of the genres. Add to that, the records recorded in the UK as opposed to down the yard, of which this is one don’t grab his attention. But given, as he pointed out, Bunny Lee produced a version of Otis Redding’s ‘Mr. Pitiful’, released by Joyce Bond and Little John in ’69, one year after this issue, Duane guessed B. Lee to be the Bunny man himself.

A fun, sonically out of place on Decca or any other major label at the time, single. I can only imagine how few were pressed, not to mention, sold.