Bar Kays Soul Finger

The Bar-Kays were an aggregate born of the same inspiration behind Booker T. & the MG's – performing the double-duty of being a backing combo for the significant canon of vocalists on the Memphis-based Stax and Volt labels, as well as a self-contained unit. The original lineup of James Alexander (bass), Jimmy King (guitar), Ronnie Caldwell (organ), Phalon Jones (sax), Carl Cunningham (drums), and Ben Cauley (trumpet) were only together long enough to have issued this album prior to the tragic loss of everyone sans Alexander and Cauley in the December '67.

The only career-spanning collection we've ever seen on The Bar-Kays – and a set that does a mighty nice job of hitting all the right bases! The group first rose to fame as a funk combo on Stax in the late 60s – then shifted a bit after part of the group was killed in the same plane crash that took the life of Otis Redding – a tragedy that soon saw the group rising from the ashes, and sounding even better than before! Their sound was a huge part of the Stax Records funk sound of the early 70s – and the group took that groove over to Mercury once the decade got going – where they found a very welcome home, and the perfect environment to perfect their ultra-sharp talents.

The most consistently enticing disc in the Rock Instrumental Classics series, this is both a great party and driving record and a window on the rhythms that powered soul music in the '60s (and early '70s, in two cases). In addition to some obvious choices (the four Booker T. & the MG's tracks, the Mar-Keys' "Last Night"), it also offers some left-field picks, such as the varied approaches to Latin music offered by Ray Barretto, Mongo Santamaria, and El Chicano. The stock of virtuoso performances here is all but endless: the bass-and-drums breakdown on Cliff Nobles and Co.'s "The Horse," the glinting guitar solo on the Bar-Kays' "Soul Finger," Hugh Masekela's questing trumpet on "Grazing in the Grass".

The Bar-Kays released their first single "Soul Finger" in April 1967. That same year they were chosen by Otis Redding to play as his backing band. In December Otis and four of the Bar-Kays band members died in an airplane-crash. Trumpeter Ben Cauley, Bassist James Alexander and producer Allen Jones assembled a new lineup and became the Stax house band. The 1978 they released 'Money Talks', in fact an album of unreleased Stax material. 'Money Talks' is the essence of late 70's funk. The title track is the most mainstream cut, but that's just an aperitif for the rest of the album. Two superb versions of their top ten hit-single "Holy Ghost" with a sheer percussive joy held together with prototypical Stratocaster work. 'Money Talks' is for sure a 100% Soul-Funk classic!

Soul music, for its namesake, has one characteristic like no other music genre… A pure, heartfelt warmth that shines through its gospel routes into melodies that defined a generation.