Rare Stamps

by Eddie Floyd

Product Description:

Personnel: Eddie Floyd, Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Donald "Duck" Dunn, Al Jackson Jr., Wayne Jackson, Andrew Love, Ben Cauley, Joe Arnold, Ed Logan.

RARE STAMPS brings together selections from veteran soul singer Eddie Floyd's I'VE NEVER FOUND A GIRL and CHRONICLE: GREATEST HITS albums. Floyd had made a name for himself as an ace songwriter on prior work but this collection reveals his skills as a vocalist. His actual vocal style is more laid back and a little smoother than that of his Stax peers.

The album was written for his deceased labelmate, Otis Redding. Floyd and the band turn the lament into an ominous cry. There is menace to the music, heartbreak turned inward and transformed into something far darker.

The Stax house band, Booker T. and the MG's, provides a flawless canvas for Floyd. The loping bass pulse that introduces "Bring it on to Me" provides a background that's ideal for Floyd's voice. The band pumps up for the rollicking "Hobo," an insistent tune that pushes Floyd further than he's usually accustomed to going. "Big Bird" takes things even further. The mighty Mavis Staples (the earth-moving voice behind the Staple Singers' "I'll Take You There") even shows up near the end of the collection for two tunes.