Comets - Mercy, Mercy (CD) - Hoax Or The Real McCoy?
I got this CD recently and it all looks like a hoax to me. Collectables wouldn't be the first ones to try and drum up support for a non-existent band, apparently lost in time and then thirty years later a stack of tracks were found for an abandonded LP project. Well, queue up, Collectables, you're not the first ones.
For a start, the information is extremely thin on the ground. Whatever is available on the www seems to be copied from another source, that has in turn been copied from somewhere else and so the story ends. Apparently six kids got together in 1963 at Hill Junior High School in Winston-Salem, Carolina and formed a "musical group" and called their outfit Comets. This isn't Bill Haley's Comets. Just saying.
The members were:
Tim Pepper - Bass (age 14)
Mike Russel - Vocals (age 14)
Joe Stonestreet - Sax (age 14)
Alan Denny - Guitar & Keyboards (age 12)
Mike Hall - Drums (age 10)
Buddy Hobgood - Lead Guitar (age 12)
This fabricated story is also unclear about the "members" ages, as to when the stated years were relevant. Was it in 1963 or at the time of recording (1966). Usually the latter is claimed. But this is already the first benchmark and I honestly doubt that kids between the age of 10 to 14 can produce such a record (or between 13 to 17). This is much too professional and proficient.
These musicians know their trade, there's not a false tone in sight (at least as much as I can tell). Just too sophisticated. This is considering the 1963 date or the 1966 one, it doesn't matter. And the singer's voice is not that of a 14-year old (or 17). This is the voice of a late 20s or even a decade later singer. And the guy is schooled in Soul, Blues and knows exactly what he's doing. It seems like Collectables couldn't even get a fake story straight. The recordings were apparently made for Justice Recording Co, which seems to have been a contract label for everyone in need of a vinyl or tape release.
The tracklist:
1 Mercy, Mercy - Written-By – Covay, Miller
2 What You've Done - Written-By – Denny, Russell
3 The Last Time - Written-By – Jagger-Richards
4 Hi Heel Sneakers - Written-By – Higgenbotham
5 Johnny B. Good - Written-By – Chuck Berry
6 In The Midnight Hour - Written-By – Cropper, Pickett
7 Mr. Pitiful - Written-By – Redding, Cropper
8 Someday You'll See - Written-By – Denny, Russell
9 Memphis - Written-By – Chuck Berry
10 Do You Remember? - Written-By – Denny, Russell
11 I Got You (I Feel Good) - Written-By – James Brown
12 Talking 'Bout You - Written-By – Chuck Berry
The CD (it was released in 1997 - Collectables – COL-0620) is mostly made up of covers (as is to be expected considering the time it was supposed to be recorded and the place all this happened, or so they said. The one thing (amongst many others) that bothers me the most, is the three original songs on offer here. In itself, that wouldn't be cause for suspicion, but it all falls somehow into place. As mentioned above, there's not a whole lot that can be found on the internet. The whole three sentences turned over and over again. If one tries to find traces of the members, you're dead in the water. I did have some luck with AI, but there's no way I can establish accuracy.
The description of their music goes from Garage to Rock to Funk and Soul. A big chunk is actually Soul. As a CD, this works quite well. I even doubt that this was recorded in 1966, by whomever. I'd go for 90s date but I'm still baffled at the reasoning behind this. There's not much money to be made, except when you try to establich your credentials to the next step. And don't let yourself be fooled into the 1966 date because of some imperfections in the sound. This can all be reproduced nowadays.
If it doesn't matter to you wether the band was hiding in a chicken shack or took the world by storm, I can recommend this CD. In the end this is fun, well played and at least yours truly can't find a fault with it. Except that I want to get to the bottom of the story. If anyone reading this has listened to the 12 songs or has further information, please leave a message below. Thanks a bunch.
Cheers
Roland
OK Roland, lets get down to the facts. I am Tim Pepper and I played bass on this album. I am now 77. At the time, Mike Russell, Joe Stonestreat, and I were around 18 years old. Alan Denny and Buddy Hobgood were about 16 and Mike Hall about 13 or 14. Everyone gets this wrong. The album was recorded at the Justice studio here in Winston-Salem in 1965 or 1966. I can't be sure. It took 5 hours to record. We were not Bill Haley and the Comets and never claimed to be. We were just a simple local band called The Comets. It is a long story why it did not get released until 1997. Here is the short story. Justice went out of business and we never got the tapes. But we did get our money back. The tapes were forgotten and left behind in an old desk in the same building for 30 years. They were found by a friend of Mike Russell who was working in that building. It was by then a carpet store. The sad part was we had told everyone that we knew that we had a record coming out and when it didn't happen they thought we had lied about the whole thing. But Mike had done a lot of business with Collectables and knew some people there. He noticed that Collectables had put out a number of albums by similar artists like we were. So they got together and made the release possible-30 years late. Mike Hall and myself and maybe Joe Stonestreat are the only ones left. But the album is no hoax. We had complete control over what we did on the record and the Justice technicians were very nice. And Collectables recorded the album exactly as it was on the tapes. No funny businness here. That picture on the cover was taken by a professional photographer in black and white. They colorized it but Mike's jacket was not dark blue or dark grey. It was gold. Except for Mike Hall who wore white, the rest of us wore light blue formals. Top row L to R, Tim Pepper, Mike Russell, Joe Stonestreat. Bottom row L to R Alan Denny, Mike Hall, Buddy Hobgood. I hope this clears the air a bit. This album was recorded by professionals, not 6 kids with a tape recordeer. It is the real thing. You can e-mail me at k4jtp@yahoo.com if you would like more info. Thank you for the plus comments. After 50 years it's nice to hear someone thought it was OK.
ReplyDeleteJohn Timothy Pepper.