Jim Jones & The Legendary Stardust Cowboy

The Legendary Stardust Cowboy's three Mercury 45s along with some Ohio obscurities that the discerning and deceased Jones squirreled away for me long long ago at the Record Rendezvous on Prospect in downtown Cleveland. Both Johnny Angel and Tom Claire were local lounge Sinatras, the former liable to scare off even the wildest divorcée with his deranged BANG! BANG! BANG! scatting. Bluesman Travis 'Moonchild' Haddix moved to Cleveland when he got out of the U.S. Army in 1959, joining Ernest & D.L. Rocco's band that same year. Around 1988, after decades in local joints, he signed with Ichiban and began a successful career while continuing to work full time for the U.S. Postal Service to support his family. The Ohio State Penitentiary's 511 Jazz Ensemble, named for the prison's PO box, was inspired by a program the Columbus Jazz Society prepared for Ohio State's FM station called Jazz Roundtable, a brief but welcome jailhouse respite from the prevailing Country and Rock in a city surrounded by farms. Alan Zahorchak on the other hand maintains an orbit of his own. Total WHAT, Jones?! That phrase was absorbed by all who knew another departed soul, Brian Kinchy aka Brian Sands aka Brian Biddulph, who introduced me to Jones on one of my many drives from Fostoria to be guided to Cleveland's secret promo bins, troves of forgotten 45s in shops all over town and of course the bargain bins in the big box stores, where one might find Shadows Of Knight picture sleeves for 2¢ or Nico's Marble Index 3/$1.00. Total WHAT?! can be used to express disbelief ranging from enchantment to exasperation. And if any kind soul happens to have files of Ernest & D.L.'s other single Billy's Bagg/How To Keep Your Man they'd be willing to share, I'd be eternally grateful!

01 Paralyzed     1968
02 Who's Knocking At My Door     1968
03 I Took A Trip On A Gemini Spaceship     1968
04 Down In The Wrecking Yard     1968
05 Kiss And Run     1969
06 Everything's Getting Bigger But Our Love     1969
07 Cleveland's A Winner! - Tom Claire     1981
08 Singles - Johnny Angel     circa 1979
09 Night Time Girl - Johnny Angel     circa 1979
10 I Wake Up And It Rains - Alan Zahorchak     1977
11 End Up Losing - Alan Zahorchak     1977

12 Moon Child - Ernest & D.L. Rocco     1984
13 Count Terry Devine - Ernest & D.L. Rocco     1984

14 Counterry Bosa Davan - 511 Jazz Ensemble     1971

lossless

Don Covay - The REAL Mick Jagger

Although Don Covay is best known as the composer of numerous R&B standards, his voice should be familiar to almost everyone on Earth since a Rolling Stone has been using it for nearly two hundred years. Here is yet another exhaustive singles compilation to satisfy a persistent personal need, this one covering two decades. In that time Little Richard's one-time chauffeur went from doo-wop to black rockabilly to dance craze novelty to classic Atlantic R&B to sixties revival blues to slick Philly disco to Ohio Players funk. Selections have been scrounged from vinyl and CD as well as numerous YouTube posts with bitrates likely to drive sensitive listeners crazy. In addition to early singles as Pretty Boy (Penniman's term of endearment) and stuff released under Covay's own name; here are covers by Little Richard, Gladys Knight, Wanda Jackson, Wilson Pickett, Gene Vincent, Joe Tex, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Otis Clay, The Staple Singers, Small Faces, Shirelles, Capitols and many others. Still missing is Landa 704 b-side Truth Of The Light. Jimi Hendrix appears on both sides of Rosemart 801 as well as Little Richard's amazing I Don't Know What You've Got (But It's Got Me) while Wilson Pickett's I'm Gonna Cry features Ohio Untouchables' Robert Ward and his watery Magnatone. It's a shame that an exhaustive anthology with pages of notes and rare photos wasn't released before Covay's death on January 30, 2015. This 2020 quarantine edition adds a couple dozen files and upgrades others to lossless. DC3 consists of stuff I wasn't crazy about although your mileage may differ. DC2b has been blessed with a better rip of Soul Stirrer as of 01/09/21.

The REAL Mick Jagger - Don Covay @ 45Tours 1957-76
01 [Pretty Boy] Bip Bop Bip (Covay/Pedas/Perri) - Atlantic 1147a 1957
02 [Pretty Boy] Paper Dollar (Covay/Pedas/Perri) - Atlantic 1147b 1957

03 [Pretty Boy] Rockin' The Mule (Prosen) - Big 617b 1958

04 Ooh My Soul (Penniman) [alt]

05 [Pretty Boy] Mary (Ting-A-Ling) (Covay) - Norton EP-118 2004

06 [Pretty Boy] Switchen In The Kitchen (Covay) - Big 617a 1958
07 Believe It Or Not (Randolph/Murray) - Sue 709a 1958
08 Betty Jean (Randolph) - Sue 709b 1958

09 Ooh My Soul (Penniman) - Firefly 313b 1958
10 Wanda Jackson - There's A Party Goin' On (Covay/Berry) 1958

11 I'm Lonely Too (Holloway/Summers) - Blaze 350b 1959

12 Lillian Briggs - Diddy Boppers (Covay/Berry) 1959

13 Jimmy Jones - I Just Go For You (Covay) 1960

14 Sheiks - Please Don't Take Away The Girl I Love (Covay/Berry) 1960

15 Gene Vincent - Big Fat Saturday Night (Covay/Berry/Dixon) 1960
16 Comin' Down With The Blues (Covay) - Big Top 3060b 1960
17 Pony Time (Covay/Berry) - Arnold 1002a 1961

18 Hank Ballard - The Continental Walk (Conrad/Covay/Ballard/Berry) 1961
19 [Big Charlie & His Lemon Twisters] - Twist It Up (Berry/Covay) 1961
20 Every Which A-Way (Covay/Berry) - Columbia 41981b 1961

21 Wanda Jackson - Tongue-Tied (Covay/Berry/Lewis) 1961
22 Shake Wid The Shake (Covay/Berry) - Columbia 41981a 1961

23 See About Me (Covay/Porter) - Columbia 42058a 1961

24 Mary Ann Fisher - Give (Covay/Berry) 1961

25 Teen Life Swag (Randolph) - Columbia 42197b 1961
26 Where Are You (Now That I Need You) (Loesser) - Columbia 42197a 1961
27 Gladys Knight & The Pips - A Letter Full Of Tears (Covay) 1961

28 Stereos - Big Knock (Covay/Blackwell/Berry) 1961
29 Twistin' Train (Covay/Berry) - Epic 9484b 1961

30 Soldier Boys - You Picked Me (Covay/Spencer) 1962
31 Solomon Burke - I'm Hanging Up My Heart (Covay/Berry) 1962

32 Wade Flemons - Welcome Stranger (Covay/Berry) 1962

33 Gerri Granger - Castle In The Sky (Covay/Berry) 1962
34 Sam Cooke - Hold On (Covay/Berry) 1962

35 Jerry Butler - You Can Run (But You Can't Hide) (Covay/Dennison) 1962

36 One Little Boy Had Money (Mann/Appell) - Cameo 239b 1962

37 Gladys Knight & The Pips - Come See About Me (Covay/Porter) 1963

38 Do The Bug (Mann/Appell) - Cameo 251b 1963
39 Did You Hear (Covay) [demo] 1963

40 Marie Knight - I Was Born Again (Ott/Covay) 1963

41 Sandy Selsie - Don't Destroy Me (Covay) 1963

42 Bertha Colbert - Teardrop Avenue (Ott/Covay) 1963
43 Dee Clark - I'm Goin' Home (Covay) 1963

44 Turn It On (Jackson/Covay/Wisner) - Parkway 910b 1964

45 Three Time Loser (Covay/Miller) [demo] - Versatile NED 1123 c.1964
46 Your Love Has Got To Me (Covay) [demo] - Versatile NED 1123 c.1964

47 Bette Boothe - Teardrop Avenue (Ott/Covay) 1964
48 Tommy Tucker - Long Tall Shorty (Covay/Abramson) 1964

49 Shirelles - Doomsday (Covay/Abramson) 1964

50 Meridians - Blue Victory (Ott/Covay) 1964
51 Wilson Pickett - I'm Gonna Cry (Covay/Pickett) 1964

52 You're Good For Me (Covay/Ott) - Landa 704a 1964
53 Mercy Mercy (Covay/Miller) - Rosemart 801a 1964
54 Can't Stay Away (Covay/Ott) - Rosemart 801b 1964

55 Please Don't Let Me Know (Terry/Smith) - Rosemart 802b 1964
56 Take This Hurt Off Me (Covay/Miller) - Rosemart 802a 1964
57 Come See About Me (Covay/Porter) - Atlantic SD 8104 1965 
58 Can't Fight It Baby (Covay/Ott) - Atlantic SD 8104 1965

59 You Must Believe Me (Curtis Mayfield) - Atlantic SD 8104 1965
60 You're Good For Me (Covay/Ott) - Atlantic SD 8104 1965
61 Please Do Something (Covay/Miller) - Atlantic 2286a 1965

62 Little Richard - I Don't Know What You've Got (But It's Got Me) (Covay) 1965

63 I Never Get Enough Of Your Love (Covay/Cropper) - Atlantic 2301b 1965

64 See-Saw (Covay/Cropper) - Atlantic 2301a 1965
65 Everything Gonna Be Everything (Covay/Miller) - Atlantic SD 8120 1966

66 Sookie Sookie (Covay/Cropper) - Atlantic 2323a 1966

67 Watching The Late Late Show (Covay) - Atlantic 2323b 1966
68 Ben E. King - Don't Drive Me Away (Covay/Ott) 1966

69 Solomon Burke - Tonight's The Night (Covay/Burke) 1966
70 Iron Out The Rough Spots (Jones/Porter/Cropper) - Atlantic 2340b 1966
71 You Put Something On Me (Covay) - Atlantic 2340a 1966
72 Wilson Pickett - Mercy Mercy (Covay/Miller) 1966

73 Percy Sledge - I'm Hanging Up My Heart For You (Covay/Berry) 1966
74 Somebody's Got To Love You (Covay) - Atlantic 2357a 1966
75 Temptation Was Too Strong (Covay) - Atlantic 2357b 1966

76 Wilson Pickett - Three Time Loser (Covay/Miller) 1966

77 40 Days 40 Nights (Covay) - Atlantic 2407a 1967
78 The Usual Place (Covay/Randolph) - Atlantic 2407b 1967

79 Small Faces - Take This Hurt Off Me (Covay/Miller) 1967

80 Percy Milem - I Don't Know What You've Got (But It's Got Me) 1967
81 You've Got Me On The Critical List (Covay) - Atlantic 2440a 1967
82 Never Had No Love (Covay) - Atlantic 2440b 1967
83 Otis Redding - Demonstration (Covay/Redding) 1967
84 Otis Redding - Think About It (Covay/Redding) 1967
85 Aretha Franklin - Chain Of Fools (Covay) 1967
86 Little Richard - Try Some Of Mine (Covay) 1968

87 Etta James - I'm Gonna Take What He's Got (Covay) 1968

89 Gladys Knight & The Pips - Letter Full Of Tears (Covay) 1968
90 Otis Clay - That Kind Of Lovin' (Covay) 1968

91 It's In The Wind (Covay) - Atlantic 2494b 1968
92 Gonna Send You Back To Your Mama (Covay) - Atlantic 2521a 1968
93 House On The Corner (Covay) - Atlantic 2521b 1968
94 Soul Clan - Soul Meeting (Covay) - Atlantic 2530a 1968
95 Soul Clan - That's How It Feels (Covay/Womack) - Atlantic 2530b 1968

96 I Stole Some Love (Covay) - Atlantic 2565a 1968

97 Snake In The Grass (Redd/Martin) - Atlantic 2565b 1968

98 Aretha Franklin - See-Saw (Covay/Cropper) 1968
99 Etta James - You Got It (Covay) 1968

100 Sweet Inspirations - Watch The One Who Brings You The News (Covay) 1968

101 Capitols - Up On Top Now (Covay) 1968
102 Sweet Pea (Covay) - Atlantic 2609a 1969
103 Mad Dog Blues (Covay/Richardson) - Atlantic SD 8237 1969
104 Lou Johnson - I Can't Change (Covay) 1969
105 Wilson Pickett - Night Owl (Covay) 1969
106 Joe Tex - She Said Yeah (Covay/Nash/Pickett/Stevenson) 1969
107 Everything I Do Goin' Be Funky (Allen Toussaint) - Atlantic 2725a 1969

108 Soul Stirrer (Covay/Whyce) - Atlantic 2742b 1970

109 Brook Benton & Dixie Flyers - Shoes (Covay/Soule) 1970
110 Sweet Thang (Covay) - Janus 164a 1971
111 Standing In The Grits Line (Covay) - Janus 164b 1971

112 If There's A Will There's A Way (Covay/Hathaway) - Janus 3038 1972
113 Staple Singers - This Old Town (Covay/Pickett/Stevenson) 1972

114 King Floyd - Think About It (Covay/Redding) 1973
115 I Was Checkin' Out, She Was Checkin' In (Covay) - Mercury 73385a 1973
116 Money (That's What I Want) (Barrett Strong) - Mercury 73385b 1973
117 Somebody's Been Enjoying My Home (Scott/Darby) - Mercury 73430a 1973
118 Bad Mouthing (E. Darby/N. Jean) - Mercury 73430b 1973
119 We Can't Make It No More (Covay/Von) - Mercury 73468b 1975
120 Travelin' In Heavy Traffic (Covay/Wansel) - Philadelphia Intl. 3602a 1976
121 Once You Have It (Covay) - Philadelphia Intl. 3602b 1976

DC1 '57-65

DC2a '66-8

DC2b '69-76

DC3

I thought I would get it
From a missile flying through the sky
I thought it would be a hundred years
Before I turned over and died
Surely the end will come
I thought it would be an atomic bomb
But if you take your love away
Doomsday
Sha-la-la-la-la