Desitively Bonnaroo [Import]

Dr. John | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 13, 2008)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Atlantic UK
• ASIN: B000024IJL
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,688 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #3 in Music > Blues > Piano Blues
  • #5 in Music > Imports > Blues
  • #11 in Music > Imports > Jazz

Track Listings

1. Quitters Never Win

2. Stealin'

3. What Comes Around (Goes Around)

4. Me Minus You Equals Loneliness

5. Mos' Scocious

6. (Everybody Wanna Get Rich) Rite Away

7. Let's Make a Better World

8. R U 4 Real

9. Sing Along Song

10. Can't Git Enuff

11. Go Tell the People

12. Desitively Bonnaroo

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dr. John's Funky Followup to "Right Place/Wrong Time", July 30, 2001

By 

"[e-mail]" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Desitively Bonnaroo (Audio CD)

"Desitively Bonnaroo" was Dr. John's 1974 sequel to his smash "In the Right Place" LP of the year before. It continues in the sleek funk vein of 1970's New Orleans R&B, but failed to click hit-wise--which is surprising, as it is easily on par with his "Right Place/Wrong Time" and 1972 "Gumbo" collection of New Orleans oldies. If you liked "RP/WT" then you should absolutely get "Desitively!"

Here, Dr. John (a/k/a Mac Rebennack) reunites with "Right Place's" producer/arranger Allen Toussaint, the Meters as backup band, and a full horn section. Mac contributes mostly his wonderful gravelly singing and clever jive filled songs. His trademark acoustic piano playing is limited in this electric-funk setting, but Toussaint's inventive arrangements take these songs to a place beyond traditional New Orleans' styles.

Check out Toussaint's sublime horn arrangement at the intro to Earl King's "Let's Make A Better World" and the spooky interplay infesting Mac's own "What Comes Around (Goes Around)." The Meters are restrained in their backup role, but contribute artfully throughout. Art Neville's whispery organ peaks out soulfully behind "Me minusYou equals Loneliness" and George Porter's inventive bass line to "Sing Along Song" turns a campfire tune into a funky romp. This was a classy kind of funk that was unique in R&B--It still is.

With a collection of talent and songs this strong, "Desitively" should have been another smash, but a variety of factors (drugs, record label non-support, resistance from rapidly consolidating radio markets) left this gem in the dust. With the exception of Toussaint's production of "Lady Marmalade" for Labelle (1974), nimble New Orleans R&B lost out to the much heavier stylings of George Clinton, the Ohio Players, disco, etc. You'd have to look to Bob Marley and other reggae groups--all fans of N.O. R&B--to find this light-on-its-feet approach to soul music in the mid-1970s.

Dr. John's "Desitively" period is also documented in a video (available via Amazon) of the 1974 PBS program, "Dr. John: New Orleans Swamp - Soundstage." This hour-long TV special features Dr. John appearing with his road band, in addition to Professor Longhair (!) and Earl King--both backed by The Meters, who do a couple of numbers themselves. Musically, it's a bit shaggy compared to the funky precision of their records, but provides a glimpse of the short lived New Orleans R&B boomlet of the mid-1970s.

Give "Desitively Bonnaroo" a spin and relive it again. This is good time music, funky music, played with verve, craft and wit. If you're feeling wheezy, call the Doctor to radiate the eighty-eights, put some zip in your hip, and fix that hole in your soul. It delivers just what the Doctor ordered.

SIDE BAR: The Dr. John albums, "Gumbo," "In the Right Place," and "Desitively Bonnaroo" are three parts of a classic New Orleans 70's R&B collection. I'd add the Meters' newly re-released "Rejuvenation" (1973), and "Fire on the Bayou" (1974), plus the Meters' "ghost" album called "The Wild Tchoupitoulas" (1976), Lee Dorsey's "Yes We Can" (1971) and Allen Toussaint's "Southern Nights" (1975) (now only available as an import) to the list. NOTE: Toussaint's still-available "Ultimate Collection" contains several "Southern Nights" tracks and quite a few other greatest non-hits. Nearly all these albums are Allen Toussaint/Meters collaborations. They all sound similar, but you can never get too much of a good thing when that thing is this good!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heavy Funk w/ a touch of Voodoo in the Gumbo !, June 21, 2005

By 

Eddie Landsberg "My 10th year as a reviewer !... (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Desitively Bonnaroo (Audio CD)

Holy gumballs, batman... why aren't there 100 reviews on this... has the album been out of print that long ??? Jeez, let me tell you something, here's the best and sure tested way to rate a CD... stick it in the player while your working on the computer or driving down the road... let your mind wonder. Don't listen to it too critically... and if you find yourself listening to it three times through and then wanting to hear it some more, and keep coming back to it over time, its definitely a keeper. This album passes the grade... Featuring the classic Meters/Neville Brothers rhythm section and Allen Toussante at the healm, the album is BAD... Dr. John's funkified charisma gushes through on each track, and that bizarre mix of Jazz, Jungle and Boogie Funk and New Orleans R & B shine through 70s style... In addition the mastering is crisp and fat, and is it just me but does Mo Scocious (with its mixture of salsa, funk and risque lyric) sound like something that could have come out yesterday ? All in all, this recording is tight, musically, lyrically and even in terms of engineering and production... the horns and rhythm are wickedly crisp. Its the Night Tripper we know and love.... I've gotten a lot of Dr. John albums, but found most of them disappointing compared to his wild stage show (especially when I saw him backed by Al Rubin and Lou Marini) - - this album, however, lives up to his legend and then some !

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellence in the spirit of Right Place, Wrong Time, May 8, 2001

By 

"thesameage" (New York, NY via NOLA and Austin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Desitively Bonnaroo (Audio CD)

A re-release of Mac's second CD, produced and arranged by Allen Toussaint with the Meters as the house band. I've been looking for this CD for a few years now and was really psyched to see the re-release. The sound is similar to "Right Place" which had the same band and producer. This is a total NO music fest with excellent songs and playing without relying on a lot of New Orleans music cliche's. This is one of my favorite periods of Dr. John's music. The song writing, playing, backup singers, and his voice are at their most distinctive. This is the kind of music that made Mac famous. You can tell that Mac has a young spirit and and really wanted to make a complete swamp-funk record. I like a lot of his later work, but with all artists, there's a difference between the raw early stuff and the more polished older stuff. I'd highly reccomend getting this CD, Gumbo, Right Place, and Gris Gris to start off your Dr. John collection and to really find out what New Orleans music is about. There's a lot of good time party music (some of which is sublime... see Rebirth's "We Come to Party" and the Meters "Live on the Queen Mary") that lacks depth. Mac's early work has a depth and mysticism combined with great playing that really is greater than the sum of it's parts.

Also, this CD has "Everybody Wanna Get Rich (Rite Away)" that Robert Walter covers on his excellent CD, Money Shot.

p.s. In case the references to Mac don't make any sense, Dr. John (the Night Tripper) is the character that Mac Rebennac plays i.e. Mac is Dr. John.