Sold Date: November 18, 2018
Start Date: November 13, 2018
Final Price: $100.00 (USD)
Bid Count: 2
Seller Feedback: 5440
Buyer Feedback: 1049
Audio Clips:
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From the collection of New York DJ, Don Fendley:

One-of-a-kind acetate disc containing early working versions of tracks from Sly & The Family Stone's 1974 "Small Talk". It has a nice sound, with crisp highs and good bass response. There is some surface noise throughout -- most evident during the fade-outs. Unfortunately, the first track (Say You Will) and the first 30 seconds of the second track (a second mix of Say You Will) are completely unplayable due to damage of the acetate coating. If you try to play that area, the needle jump right out of the grooves. The record becomes playable about 30 seconds into the second track, Say You Will and then plays very nicely from that point on.

Here'a run-down of what's on the disc:
SAY YOU WILL (partial, 2:45) - a very different, more jagged mix with lead guitar up.
BETTER THEE THAN ME (3:43) - unused guide vocals with different lyrics!
BETTER THEE THAN ME (0:30) - fade-out tag
HOLDIN' ON (3:47) - chunkier organ/drum machine mix with a choir of female voices featured on the "soldier" call-and-response ending (instead of the couple voices you hear on the released version).
LOOSE BOOTY (3:04) - an early construction before the track's length was padded with more "Shadrach" loops at the beginning and end. The female vocals are much more prominent (including a couple of cute mistakes)



These reference mixes were made straight from mixing board to the studio's acetate cutter. It's very likely that many of these elements were eventually wiped from the multi-tracks in favor of better takes -- so this provides a fleeting snapshot of the works-in-progress.

The auction winner will also be provided with a CD transfer of the entire record. We do not hold copyrights for any music contained on this recording. Once this tape has safely reached the buyer, we will relent our sole digital safety copy of this material.

IMPORTANT: Due to the exclusive nature of this one-of-a-kind recording, we will honor bids from SERIOUS bidders only. This sale is final (we are selling this record, we are not loaning it to anyone). Payment must be received within 24 hours of auction's end. If not, the item will be offered to the next highest bidder.

U.S. Media Mail: $5
U.S. bidders only for this item, please.

ABOUT DON FENDLEY

Don Fendley's DJ career began in New York during the late-1960s at a Fire Island botel called The Blue Whale. Fendley had become frustrated with the starting-and-stopping of the botel jukebox, so he suggested to the owners that he could bring along some of his own 45s and a couple turntables. The music quickly became a hit and by 1970 a neighboring restaurant called The Sandpiper reacted by expanding its hours to accomodate late-night dancing. Fendley was hired there, and pretty soon, a MAJOR dance scene developed around his inspired selection of obscure high-energy funk/soul!

We've spoken with several people with first-hand accounts of that earliest period, and they all say (emphatically!) that the New York disco scene did not exist before Don Fendley (and another DJ named Ray Yeates) came along.

And here are a few other comments we discovered online (note: Fendley's name is often mispelled):

DJ Lary Sanders:
"It was like experiencing something supernatural while Don Findlay, the Sandpiper's first disc-jockey, created a musical masterpiece for those of us lucky enough to be on the cutting-edge and inside the most prestigious club on the Island, if not the world! Tom Moulton was there too, debuting his reel to reel tapes that summer for the who's who list of upstart fashion designers, models, socialites, celebrities, entrepreneurs and professionals of all walk. It was under the esoteric influence of Findlay and Moulton that everyone united on this one very special dance floor."

12 West owner Alan Harris:
"I would have to say that Don Finley was God for that period. There was nothing better than seeing everyone sing along to What's Going On and Ain't No Mountain High Enough. He knew when to interject those records to create the maximum sensual effect, and people began to feel comfortable dancing in one another's arms."

DJ Barry Lederer:
"The Sandpiper was really THE place to be. It was a DJ's dream to play there as all the 'right' people went there to dance. I mean designers, record executives, DJs and all else. It's hard to explain, but the Fire Island was what Studio 54 was later on. It was the place to be. Tom Moulton made tapes there. The year prior to Tom was 1971 and a DJ named Don Finlay played the Sandpiper. This wasn't his only year there, but his best! Though many people don't know of him."

As noted, famed remix master Tom Moulton pioneered the use of the mix tape, presenting his first reel to Don Fendley at The Sandpiper in the summer of 1972. The pre-formulated mix tape allowed a DJ to avoid live mistakes by perfecting crossfades, balancing levels, and sometimes extending songs through editing. A DJ would then lend the tape to a club to serve as their "performance." Don Fendley immediately followed suit, committing some epic sequences of killer soul to mix tapes which, 40 years later, now serve as one-of-a-kind snapshots of the era.

Fendley continued at the Sandpiper throughout the early 1970s, but alternated at Manhattan spots like The 10th Floor, Sanctuary and The Continental Baths. During the mid-1970s, he was playing Le Jardin and Hurrah's (there's even a story posted online about his desperate attempt to recover part of his record collection from Studio 54 the morning after it was raided by FBI agents!).

His career took on an added dimension around 1973 when he began creating mix tapes for use at top fashion shows. Fendley would meticulously craft a programme of music to suit the style, mood, and variety of a particular fashion line. He became so expert at this, that virtually every well-known designer hired him for their shows. In addition, he was even moonlighting as a DJ for celebrity parties by Mick Jagger, Jackie Onassis, Joel Schumacher, George-Paul Rosell, Halston and many others. In the mid-1980s, he returned to his Tennessee hometown where, sadly, he passed away in 2012.

In the coming weeks, we will be offering more from his record collection, along with the forementioned reel-to-reel mix tapes. In the meantime, we would welcome any further info regarding Mr. Fendley's career.