Original released on LP Atlantic 8104
(US, 1964)
In late 1964, Don Covay (1936, March 24 > 2015, January 31), then fronting Don Covay & the Goodtimers, scored a Top 40 hit with "Mercy Mercy." He and the record label decided to capitalize on the unexpected crossover success with this LP, one of the finest soul albums ever to come out of Atlantic Records. Given their first chance to stretch out on ten new tracks at once, Covay and his group (including keyboard man and songwriting collaborator Horace Ott) rose to the occasion and delivered an LP's worth of cuts that were as good as the single they were tied to. In addition to the hit, a gospel-blues amalgam of soulful vocals and bluesy lead guitar (which may be better known today to many listeners by way of the Rolling Stones' version from "Out of Our Heads"), "Mercy!" is filled with tracks that are never less than good and mostly a lot better than that: "I'll Be Satisfied," with its memorably passionate singing and crunchy guitar; the thumping dance number "Come on In" - which, true to its origins, features a compendium of dance step references and nods to then-current hit songs; the gorgeous, falsetto-dominated "Can't Stay Away"; and the mournful, wrenchingly beautiful "You're Good for Me," which is too great a performance by Covay and all concerned to be buried at the end of an LP side. "Can't Fight It Baby" is a lost hit, a spellbindingly beautiful, exciting, and memorable cut that ought to have been a single, if not for Covay and company, then in a version by the 1965-vintage Drifters, who were probably working just down the hall in another studio when this side was cut.
Side two is just as good as side one and, indeed, starts out as virtually a repeat of the latter, with "Take This Hurt Off Me" replicating "Mercy Mercy," though it has an unexpected crop of lost singles - Covay's soaring "Come See About Me," which he'd previously recorded early in 1964 for the Landa label, with its epic-scale lyrical passion, dominates the side, though "You Must Believe Me" and "Daddy Loves Baby" could also certainly have rated a place on a 45-rpm platter. Given the currents rippling out to the Rolling Stones as well as serious soul fans, this record is obviously capable of striking resonant chords 40 years later, but fans of Jimi Hendrix may also want to make special note of "Mercy!" - Hendrix played on a number of Covay sessions, and although the records are sketchy, was likely one of the guitarists on "Mercy Mercy" and possibly one or two other songs (the other guitarists present on the album, for the record, were Bob Bushnell, Wally Richardson, Harry Jensen, and Ronald Miller). It's no more significant in relation to Hendrix's later sound than the guitarist's work with the Isley Brothers from the same period, but it is great music that he happened to play on. (Bruce Eder in AllMusic)
Original released on LP Atlantic 8120
(US, 1966)
Don Covay... the man who was being funky when funk still was a bad word. The pleasantly crazy Wildman of Soul, the inventor of dozens of the genre's classics and an ecclectic, spellbinding guitarist who recorded some of the rawest, least polished slabs of down and dirty Soul. No matching suits here, nor synchronized dance steps. This Don's second Atlantic LP, "See Saw", is a masterpiece pure and simple. While not a huge hit upon its release, the LP has rightfully been reappraised since. Wacky as ever, Covay struts through "See-Saw" providing his own - hilarious, full-throttled, turky-like - backing vocals. Aretha Franklin's cover, recorded two years later, may have been the big hit, but it's Covay's original version that you'll want to check out first. The title-track is followed by the sped-up, fastpaced dance hall favorite "The Boomerang", another perky 'n' quirky Covay original that starts out with the 'is it a bird, is it a plane?' catchline and is gradually immersed in thick layers of Chi-sounding brassy goodness (also, two verses of Martha & the Vandellas huge "Dancing in the Street" are snuck in, heh!)...
Maintaining a mid-tempo, loping beat on the funky and fierce "Everything's Gonna Be Everything" (that tambourine is hittin' something nasty), Covay launches into another high-energy soul romp with "Fat Man", namechecking one of his heroes, Fats Domino, in mid-song. Donning the balladeer's hat, Covay gets sweet 'n' sensitive Percy Sledge-style on the slow-grinding "Precious You", featuring his snappy guitar pluckings, only to put the mood into a decidedly bossa-nova by way of Stax Studios groove with the smouldering "Iron Out the Rough Spots". Hard sockin' tambourines, punishing horns and a relentless backbeat provide another funky background for the Don on "Please Do Something", after which he dips into one of his most beautiful ballads, "I Never Get Enough of Your Love", co-written with Steve Cropper, whose inimitable guitar style is all over the tune. Country-esque guitar noodling accompany Covay next on the all-out belter "The Usual Place", while "A Woman's Love" probably is the most sophisticated ballad here. The Don goes out on a rawkus, however... Aside the "Mercy, Mercy" classic, his first hit that was added here for good measure, it's the fiery, stompin' gutbucket proto-funk of "Sookie Sookie" that musta raised quite a few eyebrows back in '66. I mean seriously, that tune is just outta there... (in RateYourMusic)