"Doing It To Death" is billed as Fred Wesley And The J.B.'s, but it's basically a James Brown song from 1973. I first heard it on the great James Brown compilation CD Of JB. I didn't realize at the time that the CD Of JB version tacked the great spoken intro of the LP version onto the 45 version of the song.
The oldest CD I have with the 45 version is Rhino's Billboard Top R&B Hits 1973 (1990). It's presented in mono here, but seems to be a mono tape played on a stereo machine. The left and right channels aren't exactly the same, but there's no perceptible stereo separation for anything in the soundstage. The sound on this disc is nice - excellent source tapes, great dynamic range, no evidence of noise reduction, and a fairly warm EQ. There are digital clones on:- Rhino's Didn't It Blow Your Mind Vol. 11 (1991) - digitally identical
- Rhino's In Yo' Face Vol. 1 (1993) - digitally identical
- Time-Life's Solid Gold Soul Vol. 8 1973 (1996) - digitally exactly 1.401 dB quieter
The database lists a few of the Rhino discs as being "E", rather than true mono. I believe these should all be "M". (If you invert one channel and sum to mono, you get a reduced-level version of the song, with no EQ difference or other artifacts.)
There are different analog transfers on Star Time (runs longer than the above discs) and The Singles Volume Eight 1972-1973. Both of these have a more harsh EQ than Billboard. Both are also mastered too loud and clip quite a bit.
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