SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: THE METERS – A MESSAGE FROM THE METERS

The Meters
A Message From The Meters
Real Gone Music

The subtitle will tell many as much as they need to know before buying this release: The Complete Josie, Reprise and Warner Brothers Singles 1968 – 1977. It is a triple LP package, with the sides that made this four-piece (a five-piece towards the end, with Cyril Neville joining) a New Orleans legend whose influence still reverberates strongly and whose talents were called upon by some of the biggest names of the era – and of course, the equally legendary Allen Toussaint was a very close associate. He actually co-produced all but two tracks of the 40 tracks here. Anyone talking about “monster funk” probably has this stuff in mind. From the ground-breaking earliest tracks such as “Cissy Strut”, and “Sophisticated Sissy” – wide-open, slippery instrumental funk that’s both easy and big, appropriately enough, with taut, concise guitar lines, unbridled organ, fat bass and crisp, slightly anarchic drumming – to the late 70s with the album’s one aberration, “Disco Is The Thing Today”, this set contains all the band’s singles, both A and B sides, from this time, with rare mixes. Ensemble vocals start to appear around the time of ‘‘Look-Ka Py Py “and “Chicken Strut”, and “Do The Dirt” marks the move to Reprise and a shift of focus to “real” vocal numbers, but as the band’s sound became more sophisticated, they also made something of a move back to their roots, as on the Professor Longhair-ish “Cabbage Alley”. You’ll probably still play the earlier tracks much more though. Sound quality is wonderful, almost everything is remastered from original tape sources, and with the loving care this truly ground-breaking music deserves.

George Porter Jr. Links

Joseph “Ziggy” Modeliste Links

Leo Nocentelli Links

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