Rocks In The Attic #133: The Honeydrippers - ‘The Honeydrippers: Volume One’ (1984)

Imagine a band with Robert Plant on vocals, and Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Nile Rodgers all on guitar. That’s who The Honeydrippers are. Put together in the early ‘80s by Atlantic Records president Ahmet Ertegün, this is a very short (17 minutes) collection of five ‘50s R&B covers.

As a standalone album, it’s pretty poor. It suffers from a mid-‘80s production, which takes away any of the smoky ‘50s atmosphere they were aiming for, and replaces it with a crystal-clear sound reminiscent of throwback records of the time. It might have gone down a little better if it had been released a year later, in the wake of the ‘50s nostalgia stemming from 1985’s Back To The Future, but other than a very successful single (Sea Of Love), it seems to have faded into history.

For a Zeppelin fan, it’s a nice little curio - Plant and Page reunited on record for the first time since the death of John Bonham, with Page’s fellow Yardbird Jeff Beck thrown in for good measure. Rounding out the ‘supergroup’ is Nile Rodgers on guitar (and production duties) and Blues Brother Paul Shaffer on keys.

It’s a shame this project was never repeated. I’d have been interested to hear volumes two, three and four. Although maybe they wouldn’t have given the fourth one a title.

Hit: Sea Of Love

Hidden Gem: Rockin’ At Midnight

Rocks In The Attic #29: The Bar-Kays - ‘Soul Finger’ (1967)

Thanks to my Dad, I have this in my collection - an original version of The Bar-Kays’ debut on Volt Records - Stax’s sister label - with the cover held together with a couple of strategically placed pieces of sellotape.

Soul Finger is a great soul record, drawing comparisons to label-mates Booker T. & The M.G.’s, mainly as they’re both organ-driven instrumental groups. The Bar-Keys are a little less organ-heavy compared to the earlier group, but with a brassier sound due to their compliment of saxophone and trumpet.

The band was cut down in its prime as a result of being picked up by Otis Redding as his backing band. Four of the six original members died in the same 1967 plane crash that took his life (only the trumpeter survived the crash, and the bass player was on another flight). The Bar-Kays were then repopulated with replacements, and went on to back many other Stax artists - most notably playing on Isaac Hayes’ Hot Buttered Soul album - and released records all the way into the 1980s.

The Blues Brothers play a great version of the song Soul Finger, as the opening to their Made In America live LP. It’s fitting that Cropper and Dunn play that version, as the M.G.’s were instrumental (no pun intended) in cultivating The Bar-Kays through the ranks at Stax / Volt.

Soul Finger and one of The Bar-Kays’ later songs, Too Hot To Stop, also feature on the soundtrack to 2007’s Superbad.

Hit: Soul Finger

Hidden Gem: Pearl High

Rocks In The Attic #12: Sam & Dave - ‘Star-Collection’ (1974)

Stax, without a doubt, has to be my favourite record label. And Sam & Dave are my favourite Stax artists - although depending on what mood I’m in, it could be Otis or Booker T & The MGs.


This album, a collection of their singles, is a German release - and from what I can see on the internet, it has the tracklisting as 1969’s The Best Of Sam & Dave, although the songs are presented in order.


I think that that album - the 1969 collection - is what Jake and Elwood are listening to in the Bluesmobile, on an 8-track cartridge, when they first get pulled over by the police in The Blues Brothers (1982). It’s a shame Sam & Dave didn’t feature in that film - it would have been fitting for them to have been backed by Cropper and Dunn, from the Stax backing band - but they were just about to give up touring and would never speak to each other again.


The vast majority of the songs here are written by Isaac Hayes, and his Stax writing partner David Porter - just a few years before Hayes became a household name in his own right. I have the DVD of them performing on the Stax / Volt tour of Europe back in 1967, and it’s clear that they were the hardest-working act on the label, leaving a puddle of sweat on the stage, only for Otis to add to it during his headlining slot.


Hit: Soul Man


Hidden Gem: You Don’t Know Like I Know