Roots Archives Forum

Shot in the dark here but I figure this is as good a place to ask:

I'm currently writing a short piece on Alton Ellis' Mr. Soul of Jamaica LP. One of the songs on there is a cover of Junior Walker and the All-Stars' "What Does It Take."

Herein lies the problem: everything I've seen says that song didn't appear until 1969, on the Home Cookin' LP and Motown only released it on single AFTER the LP dropped. Documentation seems equally universal that Ellis' LP came out in 1967.

Therefore, we have a case where a cover song was recorded two years before the original!

Any insight as to how to reconcile these dates?

i believe it was released in 1973

It's not the date of the album release that is relevant here, but the date when the 7"-single of "What does it take" was recorded and released on the Treasure Isle label and that was in 1970 originally (check RKR database if you like).

The album was compiled from singles and though I don't know the exact date of first release I doubt it was before 1971.