GIMME SHELTER - Merry Clayton - 1970 LP ODE SP-77001 1st Pressing VG+/VG+/EX

$

33

Merry Clayton (born December 25, 1948) is an American soul and gospel singer. She contributed vocals to numerous tracks and worked with many major recording artists for decades. Clayton's voice as a backing singer can be heard on songs by Pearl Bailey, Phil Ochs, Burt Bacharach, Tom Jones, Joe Cocker, Linda Ronstadt, Carole King, Tori Amos and on several tracks from Neil Young's debut album. She is also credited as having recorded with Elvis Presley, but her name does not appear in Elvis's sessionographies.

FUN FACT: She was named “Merry” because she was born on Christmas. [Duh!]

Clayton is best known for her 1969 duet with Mick Jagger on the Rolling Stones song "Gimme Shelter" (on some releases her name is misspelled as "Mary"). According to Jagger, the collaboration happened partially by chance: Jagger stated that the band thought "it'd be great to have a woman come do the...chorus." They called Clayton "randomly" in the middle of the night in Los Angeles, and she showed up to the studio "in curlers" and contributed her parts in a few takes, which Jagger remarked was "pretty amazing." Clayton performed her parts while pregnant, soon afterward suffering a miscarriage. Clayton was the band's second choice for the part: The Stones had asked Bonnie Bramlett to sing on the song, but Bramlett's husband Delaney Bramlett refused to let her perform with the Stones.

In 1970, Clayton recorded her own version of "Gimme Shelter", and it became the title track of her debut solo album [offered here], released that year. Her solo version peaked at No. 73 on the pop charts. Her version was the first of five singles under her name to enter the Billboard Hot 100.

THIS COPY is a 1st Terre Haute pressing from 1970 on Ode Records (see Notes, below).

The vinyl has a couple of marks, but per a test listen, none that affect playback. Some background static may be heard in places. Overall, the vinyl is in Very Good Plus [VG+] condition.

The original cover has ring wear and general rubbing from before it was put in a poly cover. Other than that, it is in overall Very Good Plus [VG+] condition.

The original inner sleeve, with identical sides showing a large Ode Records logo, has no splits or other flaws. It is in Excellent [EX] condition.

Notes

Tracks A4 and A5 are swapped from the label to the rear cover.
Track B1 does not list the track time on the rear cover.
Track B6 does not appear on the rear cover.

Barcode and Other Identifiers

Recognizable through different font and letter placement on record labels, different runout variation.

Matrix / Runout (A-side runout etching): T 1 ODE 77001(RE-1)-T1 B2

Matrix / Runout (B-side runout etching): T 1 ODE 77002(RE-1)-T1 A3

ENJOY!