Soul
fans have known Eddie Floyd for six decades. Co-founder
of The Falcons, a Detroit
vocal group that paved the way for
The Temptations and
The Four Tops, Floyd and
the group recorded what is considered one of the first
Soul records, "You're So Fine". Later, they recruited
Wilson Pickett and scored again with "I Found a Love".
In the early sixties, Floyd moved to Memphis and signed
as a songwriter with Stax Records. He had immediate
successes with artists Carla
Thomas, Sam & Dave, and old mate Pickett, but it
was a song he wrote for Otis Redding that Stax decided
to release on Floyd himself that changed everything for
Eddie. "Knock On Wood", co-written with guitarist
Steve Cropper, quickly became one of the biggest hits of
1966 and has been a Soul staple ever since. It has been
covered by over 150 different artists including
Count Basie,
David Bowie, Eric
Clapton, and Amii Stewart,
whose global mega-smash in 1979 defines the Disco
era.
Floyd's former publisher at Stax, Tim Whitsett, hooked
him up with British producer Barry Murray and mixer Mark
Taylor to record a new millennium version of Knock On
Wood. So here, with the writer and original
performer Eddie Floyd in
wonderful form, are four superb new dance mixes of a
classic dance floor favorite.