Billy Ward and His Dominoes ft. Clyde McPhatter:

Have Mercy Baby (1952) - some say this record was the first inclination of what became "soul music" due to the mixture of R&B (or rock and roll) with gospel elements, written by band leader Billy Ward and Rose Marks (though it's alleged Clyde McPhatter actually wrote it and was snuffed out of the credits:

The Bells (1953) - a ballad version of "Have Mercy Baby" basically; it also features the crying pattern Clyde had used on Have Mercy:

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The James Brown covers of these two songs:

(Recording dates are fishy with when he record this, I'm not sure if this is the same version that briefly charted for James on the pop chart (at a dismal #68) but it was later included in his "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" album probably as a filler track; but Brown was sometimes known to re-record the same song 20 times)

(Obviously an attempt to cash in on his then recent success with "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" and "I Feel Good"; probably due to Brown purposely trying to flood the market with his releases as he was starting to do around this time, this record only got to #95 before crashing after one dismal week)

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Personally I prefer the originals. Clyde McPhatter had one of the greatest soulful voices in music history, particularly in rock and roll. James? Well he shouted well on Have Mercy (though it didn't really need it) and he was okay on his version of "The Bells".

But what y'all think?

[Edited 7/10/12 13:29pm]

Clyde's versions are better. I do like JB's version of Have Mercy Baby though.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Clyde's versions are better. I do like JB's version of Have Mercy Baby though.

Some of James' covers of other songs are very interesting and some I can do without. His version of "The Bells" had me :zzzz: but "Have Mercy" had a new energy but I get why people didn't really gravitate to it. His 1970s and 1980s covers are grating though.

Timmy84 said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Clyde's versions are better. I do like JB's version of Have Mercy Baby though.

Some of James' covers of other songs are very interesting and some I can do without. His version of "The Bells" had me :zzzz: but "Have Mercy" had a new energy but I get why people didn't really gravitate to it. His 1970s and 1980s covers are grating though.

I like quite a bit of his covers. Little Willie John's Heartbreak and Talk To Me are fav covers from him.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Timmy84 said:

Some of James' covers of other songs are very interesting and some I can do without. His version of "The Bells" had me :zzzz: but "Have Mercy" had a new energy but I get why people didn't really gravitate to it. His 1970s and 1980s covers are grating though.

I like quite a bit of his covers. Little Willie John's Heartbreak and Talk To Me are fav covers from him.

I like this cover:

Probably the only post-1960s cover James did that I dug... even George Harrison gave him props for it.

Let me correct myself, there were TWO great covers he did in the '70s, this was the other one:

I dig a lot of James' covers, particularly circa 1966-1969. It was a bit of a revelation buying the Singles double disc sets and hearing him sing "I Loves You Porgy" and "If I Ruled the World," that's not the type of material I associate with James Brown! I was really excited to hear him tackle songs like "Jimmy Mack" and "Little Green Apples" but they turned out to be instrumentals.

Hopefully there are more reissues coming, it's criminal that so much of his material is out of print, particularly the pre eighties material.

rialb said:

I dig a lot of James' covers, particularly circa 1966-1969. It was a bit of a revelation buying the Singles double disc sets and hearing him sing "I Loves You Porgy" and "If I Ruled the World," that's not the type of material I associate with James Brown! I was really excited to hear him tackle songs like "Jimmy Mack" and "Little Green Apples" but they turned out to be instrumentals.

Hopefully there are more reissues coming, it's criminal that so much of his material is out of print, particularly the pre eighties material.

I like the instrumental cover of "Every Beat of My Heart" where he just lets the organ wail.