The Honeydrippers - Volume One E.P (1984)

 (U.S 1984 - 1985)

Originally formed in Worcestershire by Robert Plant, the Honeydrippers was also composed of fellow former Led Zeppelin member Jimmy Page; Jeff Beck (a former Yardbirds member like Page); close friend Robbie Blunt and others.

The band released only one recording, a 12" E.P entitled 'The Honeydrippers: Volume One', on the 12th November 1984. They performed in a concert at Keele University in 1981. The Honeydrippers peaked at number 3 in early 1985 on the Billboard Hot 100 with a remake of the Phil Phillips' tune "Sea of Love", and hit number 25 with "Rockin' at Midnight", originally a Roy Brown recording and a rewrite of "Good Rockin' Tonight."

With the 12" EP's success, Plant stated that a full album would be recorded, but it never was. The band appeared on Saturday Night Live on 15 December 1984, performing "Rockin' at Midnight" and "Santa Claus Is Back in Town." The band featured Brian Setzer and George Wadenius on guitar, Tom Barney on bass, Paul Shaffer on piano, Buddy Williams on drums, Michael Brecker, Lou Marini, and Ronnie Cuber on saxophones, Jon Faddis on trumpet and Tom Malone on trombone.On 23 December 2006, Plant performed a charity show at Kidderminster Town Hall under the title 'The Return of the Honeydrippers' to raise money for his neighbour Jackie Jennings, who was undergoing treatment for a brain tumor. [extract from live.wdrv.com]

The Honeydrippers - Saturday Night Live

"Revisiting the Day Robert Plant Debuted the Honeydrippers"

Once you’ve been to the mountaintop, where can you go for a follow-up? That’s the question the surviving members of Led Zeppelin had to ask themselves when they disbanded following drummer John Bonham’s death in 1980. After you’ve become the biggest band in the world, defining over-the-top rock stardom, what do you do next?

For a hot minute, it looked like the band’s front line might merge with the rhythm section of another iconic ‘70s band that had come to a fork in the road. Jimmy Page was cozying up to bassist Chris Squire and drummer Alan White of Yes in a band tentatively dubbed XYZ (for Ex-Yes and Zeppelin, of course) – and he wanted Robert Plant to join in.

The leonine lead singer, however, ultimately demurred. It would have been easy for Plant to go from Zeppelin to another big, flashy bunch of arena rockers, but the singer would spend much of his post-Zep career flouting expectations at every opportunity. And that practice began in 1981, when Plant put together the Honeydrippers.

Now, these weren’t the Honeydrippers that most of the world would come to know through the 1984 album Honeydrippers Vol. 1, which contained two Top 40 hits. That all-star outfit – which featured Plant, Page, Jeff Beck, Paul Shaffer and other heavyweights – came into existence at the behest of Atlantic Records chief Ahmet Ertegun, who had caught a concert by the short-lived, considerably less star-studded 1981 lineup.

Reeling from both the death of his longtime friend Bonham, with whom he’d played in the Band of Joy before Led Zeppelin, Plant sought out a place of comfort, both musically and personally. In order to escape his recent past he pursued a more distant, almost mythological past. He began convening with musicians he’d known since he was a schoolboy hanging around Midlands blues clubs, and together they proceeded to jam on the kind of early rock & roll/R&B tunes that Plant loved when he was a kid.

Instead of storming the stage amid lengthy solos and epic tunes, Plant began bopping atop bouncy ‘50s-style jump blues and rockabilly rhythms, and having the time of his life doing it. He first brought guitarists Robbie Blunt (ex-Bronco and Silverhead) and Andy Silvester (formerly of Chicken Shack and Savoy Brown) over to his home at Jennings farm, followed in due course by bassist Jim Hickman, drummer Kevin O’Neill, harmonica player Ricky Cool and saxophonist Keith Evans.

The man who had become an avatar of everything larger-than-life in the ‘70s rock scene was now engaging in a shocking about-face. Ironically, Plant shook off the psychological shackles of the last decade by returning to the same well of post-World War II American music that inspired Led Zeppelin, but instead of amping those sounds up to gargantuan stature, he and his Honeydrippers – whose name came from either from the nickname of bluesman Roosevelt Sykes or the song and backing band of ‘40s R&B star Joe Liggins, depending on who you ask – stuck to the material’s original sonic dimensions.

Plant and his pals worked up a rootsy repertoire that encompassed not only rockabilly romps like Gene Vincent’s “She She Little Sheila,” Carl Perkins’ “Your True Love,” and the Elvis Presley classic “Little Sister,” but old-school R&B wailers like Don Gardner & Dee Dee Ford’s “I Need Your Loving,” blues stompers like Muddy Waters’ “I Can’t Be Satisfied” and Lazy Lester’s “Sugar Coated Love,” and even the Western swing standard “Deep in the Heart of Texas.” And when it was time to take it on the road, the Honeydrippers’ modus operandi was just as lean as their sound.

Starting either at Keele University in Staffordshire on March 3 or at a bar in Stourbridge on March 9, depending on the source, the Honeydrippers hit a string of small venues including pubs, colleges and small clubs, each show unadvertised – and all well clear of London, either in the Midlands or points north. It wasn't just that they took the stage with their amps stacked on beer crates, in stark contrast to the convoy of trucks that hauled Led Zeppelin’s gear around, or that Zep’s outsized hard-rock extravaganzas been replaced by the two-and-a-half-minute wham-bam of classic blues and rock ‘n’ roll tunes. A more symbolic but equally striking alteration had occurred.

Even Plant’s long, curly locks (surely one of the most legendary heads of hair in rock history) had gone under the chopper. Granted, he wasn’t sporting a crew cut or spiky New Wave ‘do, but the sweeping changes he was instituting to put the past behind him clearly extended all the way to his stylist. And in rock ‘n’ roll, of course, image counts as much as anything – maybe even more.

The original Honeydrippers’ lifespan would be brief. By 1982, Plant (with Robbie Blunt by his side), would return to a mainstream rock feel for his first solo album, Pictures at Eleven, but the precedent had been established for the kind of mercurial moves Plant would continue to make throughout his career. From his Alison Krauss collaboration to his repeated refusals to reunite with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, no one would ever accuse Robert Plant of resting on his laurels [Article taken from  ultimateclassicrock.com]

This post consists of FLACs ripped from my pristine Vinyl, purchased the same day I heard Sea Of Love being played on my local radio station 3XY in December of 1984. If it were not for the radio publicity, I probably would not have known who the Honeydrippers were and the association with Robert Plant, as the album artwork contains no credits or band details. Needless to say, I was surprised with the musical path that Plant had chosen to take post Zeppelin, but still enjoyed the E.P immensely.

Full album artwork for both vinyl and CD is included along with label scans and alternative covers.

Tracklist:

I Get A Thrill 2:39

Sea Of Love 3:03

I Got A Woman 2:58

Young Boy Blues 3:30

Rockin' At Midnight 5:57

The Honeydrippers were:

Lead Vocals – Robert Plant

Bass – Wayne Pedziwiatr

Drums – Dave Weckl

Guitar – Jeff Beck (tracks: 3, 5), Jimmy Page (tracks: 1, 2), Robbie Blunt ?

Piano – Paul Shaffer

Rhythm Guitar – Nile Rodgers

Saxophone – Keith Evans (tracks: 5)

The Honeydrippers Link (120Mb) New Link 02/09/2025

Robert Plant - Starting Over (1983) Bootleg

(U.K 1982 - Present)

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Robert Plant is a British rock singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist for the band Led Zeppelin. Inspired at a young age by Elvis Presley, Plant left school to begin his musical career. He performed with a number of groups before he was discovered by Jimmy Page, who was in search of a lead singer for a new band he was forming, called the New Yardbirds. The group eventually became Led Zeppelin.

In 1982, Plant launched his solo career with 'Pictures at Eleven', which fared well on the album charts. He then released 'The Principle of Moments' (1983), known for its mellow single "Big Log." Recording with Page, guitarist Jeff Beck, and guitarist/producer Nile Rodgers, Plant sang the lead vocals for a collaborative R&B-influenced project called 'The Honeydrippers, Vol. 1' (1984). The group had two successful singles, the ballad "Sea of Love" and the more uptempo "Rockin' at Midnight."

Reuniting with Page and Jones, Plant revisited his Led Zeppelin days at the Live Aid benefit concert in 1985. He released another solo effort, 'Shaken 'n' Stirred' that year, on which he experimented with hip-hop styles. In 1988, Plant pitched in for Page's solo debut, 'Outrider', as well as releasing 'Now & Zen' in response to fans' ardent requests for Led Zeppelin material. He then released 'Manic Nirvana' (1990), which received strong reviews and reached as high as the 13th spot on the album charts. He re-teamed with Page and Jones in 1988 for the special concert held in honor of Atlantic Records 25th anniversary. This time, however, Jason Bonham, son of the late John Bonham, filled in on drums.

'For Fate of Nations' (1993), Plant explored a more folksy sound. He then reunited with Page for 'No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded' (1994). Together they revisited Led Zeppelin classics, reworking them with a heavy Moroccan and Arabic influence. They also recorded a few new songs for this project, which resulted in a television special and 1995 tour. That same year, Led Zeppelin was inducted into the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame.

Three years later, Plant and Page put out a new studio album 'Walking Into Clarksdale' (1998). The recording earned rave reviews and netted the pair a Grammy Award win for Best Hard Rock Performance for "Most High." After a long hiatus, Plant returned in late 2001 with his solo album 'Dreamland'. Two years later, he debuted 'Sixty Six to Timbuktu', a two-disc compilation dedicated exclusively to works from Plant's solo career, including "Tall Cool One" and "Upside Down."

Plant earned some of the best reviews of his solo career for 'Mighty Rearranger' (2005). Incorporating African rhythms, blues, psychedelic rock, and Celtic ballads, he created "a collection of songs that sound gloriously raw, relevant and, most importantly, rocking," as one music journalist wrote. Plant saw his career reach new heights with another musical experiment, collaborating with Alison Krauss on the 2007 country-folk album Raising Sand. The recording quickly became a top seller in the United States and won five Grammy Awards, including the honors for Album of the Year and Record of the Year for "Please Read the Letter."

Reuniting with other surviving members of Led Zeppelin, Plant performed at a special benefit show for the Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund, named for the late co-founder of Atlantic Records. Tickets sold out quickly for the December 10 show, which was the first appearance by Led Zeppelin in 19 years (with Jason Bonham again filling in for his late father on drums).

After the hugely successful concert, rumors swirled about a possible Led Zeppelin reunion tour and album. Plant, however, released a statement in 2008 that he was not interested in touring for the next few years. His former bandmates publicly discussed carrying on without him, but they have yet to tour or record new material.

In July 2009, Plant received a special honor. He was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services to the field of music. Prince Charles bestowed the honor on him at a ceremony held in Buckingham Palace. [extract from biography.com)

The Bootleg
This is an extremely rare, long out of print, limited edition pressing bootleg of Robert Plant "Starting Over" live from Houston, Dallas and Austin, Texas on his first solo venture in 1983 for the Principle of Moments tour, with Phil Collins on drums.  This is a complete, soundboard  show on 2 vinyl LPs.

Of course no Zep tracks, but the show is amazing. First of all despite all Plant's blather about leaving Zep behind, plenty of songs had Plant ad-libbing Zep style, and doing some of those legendary sustained howls.  Robbie Blunt is excellent, with his unique sound and is able to be subtle and forceful as the songs require. Some of the studio songs which are a bit "weak" on vinyl work fine live. I think Plant must have lost his mind to lose Blunt.

This post consists of FLACS ripped from my pristine vinyl which I picked up at the Victoria Market (Melbourne) back in the mid 80's for the pricely sum of $25.  I have included full album artwork and label scans but take note that the track listing on the back cover is not accurate.
In addition the photos of Plant depicted on the back cover are from when he was front man for Led Zeppelin while the front cover photo is more true to what he looked like in 1983.

This double vinyl bootleg is one of my prized possessions and the sound quality of the recording is full soundboard 10/10 quality.  This bootleg has been released under other titles, namely - 'Texas Toast 1983' (King Biscuit Flower Hour) and 'Robert Plant - Austin Texas'.
I hope you enjoy this last post for 2017 but stay tuned, as I have plenty of other rarities to post in the new year.

Track Listing
01 -  In The Mood
02 -  Pledge Pin
03 -  Messin' With The Mekon
04 - Worse Than Detroit
05 - Moonlight In Samosa
06 - Fat Lip
07 - Slow Dancer
08 - Big Log
09 - Burning Down One Side
10 - Other Arms
11 - Horizontal Departure
12 - Like I've Never Been Gone
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Artists:
Robert Plant - Vocals
Robbie Blunt - Guitar
Bob Mayo - Rhythm Guitar
Jeff Woodroppe - Keyboards
Paul Martinez - Bass
Phil Collins - Drums
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Robert Plant Live FLAC Link (498Mb)
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