Wild Child

from the LP Finger Lickin Good, Westbound Records, 1975



So, admittedly, this isn’t my favorite album from Dennis Coffey by a long shot, but the photo on the cover is a piece of fucking art (one finger on the chicken, one finger towards the lickin’), so I had to post this one; I remember the first time I ever saw a picture of it, in the first or second issue of the Beastie Boys’ long-out-of-print magazine Grand Royal (same name as their record label)---they were doing a top ten cover-art list, and this LP justifiably placed high among the contenders. Dennis Coffey called Detroit home, and there’s probably no better place for a plucky white guitarist to hone his craft, ‘cause you aren’t gonna stick around for long in Motown if you don’t have the skills to pay the bills, particularly if you’re some nerdy white dude. As I stated, this album is not one of his finest moments (mostly generic, discofied funk), but this track gives him the room to show us his teeth, and what sharp teeth they were!