Song:Son Of Shaft
Album:The Best of the Bar-Kays
The 1972 single Son Of Shaft was a top ten R&B hit for the reborn version of The Bar-Kays. Of course they were a Stax Records house band and they scored a top 20 pop hit with the 1967 instrumental single Soul Finger. As I am sure fans know, they toured with Otis Redding and several members died in the plane crash that killed Redding. Trumpeter Ben Cauley survived the crash and bassist James Alexander was on another plane. They reformed The Bar-Kays with Harvey Henderson on sax, Michael Toles on guitar, Ronnie Gordon on organ and Willie Hall on drums. This band played on the 1969 classic Isaac Hayes album Hot Buttered Soul. With the help of producer Allen Jones, The Bar-Kays decided to get back into recording their own music and performing. Alexander and Henderson remained and the new members were Larry Dodson of The Temprees on lead vocal, Barry Wilkins on guitar, Winston Stewart on keyboards, Charles "Scoops" Allen on trumpet and Alvin Hunter on drums. They released the 1971 album Black Rock. Son Of Shaft was not on the album but it was released as a single. It looks like Alexander and Jones wanted to do their own version of the Isaac Hayes smash hit Shaft. They got staff songwriters Homer Banks and William Brown to write Son Of Shaft. It reached #10 on the R&B Singles chart. And the Bar-Kays performed Son of Shaft in the 1973 concert film Wattstax. You can get Son Of Shaft on this comp CD. Unfortunately Soul Finger isn't on this CD. Beware of off label Bar-Kays CDs with rerecorded versions of their hits. After Stax closed in 1975, The Bar-Kays moved to Mercury and had a lot of success. Here are The Bar-Kays performing Son Of Shaft in the 1973 concert film Wattstax. The entire film can be streamed on Youtube.
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