The Honeydrippers: Volume One

The Honeydrippers: Volume One is an EP released on 24 September 1984, by a band led by rock singer Robert Plant. The project originated when Atlantic Records president Ahmet Ertegün wanted to record an album of his favourite songs from the 1950s. Plant was chosen because Ertegün had seen his pick-up band the Honeydrippers performing 1950s standards. Included in the band were Chic front man Nile Rodgers, and former Yardbirds guitarists Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page—the latter was also Plant's former band mate in Led Zeppelin.

Contents

• 2007 remaster bonus tracks
• Personnel
• Bonus track personnel
• The King Bees aka The Uptown Horns horns
• The Queen Bees backing vocals
• Production
• Songs
• References

To Plant's horror, "Sea of Love" became his biggest-selling single. According to Plant, the original single was "Rockin' at Midnight," with "Sea of Love" as the "B" side. The single was eventually "flipped" because radio stations were playing "Sea of Love" far more than "Rockin' at Midnight". Plant feared his career would be ruined by this, and that people would think of him now as a "crooner", instead of the rock and roll singer he'd always been. As a result, when he would be asked about The Honeydrippers in years to come, Plant would refer to The Honeydrippers as having been "put to sleep." "Rockin at Midnight" is a remake of the 1949 recording by Roy Brown, the song's author, who wrote it as an answer record to his 1947 composition and recording, "Good Rockin' Tonight".

The album was re-released in a remastered edition in 2007 as part of a Robert Plant remaster series, with the live version of "Rockin' at Midnight" (previously released on the 12-inch single version of the studio recording) included as a bonus track. Plant and Ertegün discussed the possibility of doing another Honeydrippers album, but with the latter’s death in December 2006, the plan was shelved permanently.