Album Review: Dennis Coffey – Finger Lickin Pickin Good

Dennis Coffey is one of music’s unsung guitar heroes. A key session player in the Detroit music scene, he played on countless recordings coming out of that city’s most fertile period. And as a solo artist – usually working with musical partner Mike Theodore – Coffey turned out some of the era’s most enduring instro-funk. Hits like “Scorpio” epitomized the down ‘n’ funky sound of Coffey’s style. The four albums he cut for Sussex Records – Evolution (1971), Goin’ for Myself and Electric Coffey (both ‘72) and 1975’s Instant Coffey are all essential records. (Note: A planned reissue of those four albums was scotched by label wrangling, but my liner notes for the unreleased boxed set are online here.)

Coffey’s later work included a superb 2011 self-titled album on which he recut classic sides that he had played on – no retread excursion here – with an array of fine vocalists. That’s covered here. And in recent years, some excellent archival releases have shown another side of Coffey’s work; I wrote liner notes for two of those (Live at Baker’s and One Night at Morey’s). And I interviewed him about his career and another archival release, Hot Coffey in the D in 2017; that’s here.

While the above covers good chunks of Dennis Coffey’s career and output, it leaves a significant gap in the form of his three releases on the Westbound label. The first of those, 1975’s Finger Lickin’ Good, reached #31 on the R&B albums chart. Like most all of his output from 1969’s Hair and Thangs through the end of the ‘70s, it has long been out of print. A new vinyl reissue from Org Music rights that wrong. With a curious (if understandable when considered against the backdrop of this very on-edge era in which we unfortunately find ourselves) re-titling, Finger Pickin’ Good is once again available.

The album opens with “If You Can’t Dance to This You Got No Business Havin-Feet.” The track is a party instrumental, in the grand tradition of “Taurus” and other Coffey classics. The orchestration hints at some of the disco textures that would inform later ‘70s offerings from Coffey. The catchy horn charts are a treat, and the vocals – while largely superfluous – are fun.

On the original release, “Finger Lickin Good” was the album’s title track. It digs deeper into a funk groove, and again features some vocal chorus work alongside the spirited horn section and Coffey’s understated rubbery guitar leads. “I’ve Got a Real Good Feeling” mines similar territory with similar results. The approach here threatens to wear a bit thin, and it serves to deliver less variety than on some of Coffey’s previous releases. But it’s solid enough. And when released as a single, “Finger Lickin Good” made it to #14 on the U.S. Disco Singles chart.

A cover of organist Bill Doggett’s 1956 classic, “Honky Tonk” builds a hypnotic figure using the same ingredients, albeit with more prominent vocal chanting and a standard blues structure given a disco feel. But Theodore’s breathtaking string charts elevate the tune, and Coffey’s barking guitar work is top-notch as ever. “El Tigre” delivers even more guitar fireworks, with Coffey making extensive use of his wah-wah pedal. And the melody – especially on the song’s the bridge – is strong.

The original cover. Look closely.
No, not at that; at the title

Side Two opens with “Live Wire.” The track takes a bit to get going, but when it does, it reveals itself as a dancefloor sensation. The chorus vocals, peerless horn work and subtle guitar filigree add up to another winner. Coffey’s original “Some Like it Hot” simmers and seethes, sounding more like blaxploitation soundtrack work than the other tracks on Finger Lickin’ Good. It may be the album’s strongest track.

A cover of David Bowie and John Lennon’s “Fame” makes perfect sense, as Bowie’s recording has a sound very much in line with what Coffey was doing at the time. The vocal chorus chimes in the with title throughout, but where the lead vocal would normally be, instead we have some vocalizing guitar work that sounds much like – but is not – a Golden Throat (see: Frampton, Peter and Beck, Jeff). Coffey’s reading of the tune is at once faithful and original enough to justify its existence.

The original LP wrapped up with “Wild Child,” another funkfest with some tasty bass work anchoring the arrangement while Coffey lays down a guitar dialogue with the horns. The Org Music reissue appends a previously unissued bonus track, “What It is It Ain’t.” The bonus cut focuses more on guitar, with Coffey laying down multiple tracks featuring his inimitable six-string work.

Org Music’s reissue reproduces the original album’s racy art – think Ohio Players meets Laff Records – albeit with some artful reworking of the letter L to render the album title acceptable to modern-day moral guardians. The back cover photo is a more literal reading of the original title, one that renders the revised one somewhat incongruous. But in the end, it’s the music that matters, and whatever one chooses to call it, Dennis Coffey’s seventh studio album of original music under his own name is an essential party record.