Very pleased to have this come through for review. The Bar Kays will always have a special place in my heart for several reasons. Firstly their anthem ‘Soul Finger’ was the first promotional 45 I ever received (can’t believe that was 50 years plus ago!) and secondly was used by fellow DJ the great late Stuart Henry as his ‘theme intro’ im sure those of you with long memories will remember and whenever I here it my thoughts return to him and his shows on Radio 1 and Luxembourg (latterly with his wife Ollie) much missed but not forgotten. The history of the Bar Kays is a long and illustrious one from their early soul and r’n’b in the 60’s and 70’s moving into the ultimate funk band in the 80’s. The booklet with this 3CD is a comprehensive and hugely informative read. This release is the first time their recordings have encompassed all the best tracks from Stax, Volt, Mercury, and Warner Bros labels, covering the period from 1967 to 1989. Kicking off on Disc 1 naturally enough with ‘Soul Finger’ released in April 1967 a hit both in the USA, the UK and worldwide, SF was and is a joyous slice of soul and has been covered hundreds of times and used in many movies and still sounds fresh today. The BK’s were Otis Reddings backing band and together a dynamite act. Then in December (10th) 1967 came the terrible tragedy when the plane carrying Otis and 5 members of the band went down killing Otis and 4 members with only the trumpet player Ben Cauley surviving. Ben along with bassist James Alexander (who was travelling on a separate plane) bravely rebuilt the band with later Larry Dodson on lead vocals who stayed fronting the band from 1970 until his retirement in 2017. The BK’s were the ‘house band’ for so many of Stax/Volt artists of the day. For me their greatest contribution in that form was backing Isaac Hayes on his seminal 1969 album ‘Hot Buttered Soul’ which is my all time favourite soul album and one I still listen to regularly to this day. As aforementioned Disc 1 covers this early period and contains some classics ‘Son Of Shaft’ ‘Don’t Stop Dancing’ ‘Money Talks’ and Shut The Funk Up’ are just some of the highlights. The fat bassline on ‘Six O’clock News’ is just sublime. Disc 2 gets more into a funk mood with the opener ‘Give it Up’ an irresistible groove which sets the tone for classics like ‘Move Your Boogie Body”Get Up’N Do It’ (giving James Brown more than a run for the money] ‘Boogie Body Land’ ‘Traffic Jammer’ and ‘Night Cruising’ are just a few more of the highlights, but there’s truly not a weak track to be found. The final Disk 3 is even funkier (if that’s possible!) kicking off with ‘She Talks To Me With Her Body’ ‘Sexomatic’ ‘Freakshow On The Dance Floor’ ‘Dirty Dancer’ and ‘Do It’ are just some of the featured tracks that make you just wan’t to get up and dance, if you’re not feeling it you better check your pulse! Many of the tracks were hits in the USA if not so readily known here (only getting airtime on specialist shows). To sum up this is a stellar collection of 46 tracks with some truly outstanding music created by truly outstanding musicians. Five stars all the way and well done Robinsongs label for getting this out there. Release date is 8th March. Enjoy.
For more information go to https://www.cherryred.co.uk
Til next time……..Colin