Customer Reviews

Down Home Live

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've seen Buckwheat perform live at the NJ Crawfish Festival a number of times. His energy, crowd interaction, and old-fashioned Louisiana entertainment style make his live performances wonderfully refreshing and down-to-earth. This CD captures all these great attributes. From his comments to the crowd ("Somebody Scream!" and "A Tois", for example), to the traditional way his band starts most of the tracks, you really feel the down-home, Lafayette, LA warmth. The jams on all songs are great, and would be excellent background music for any upbeat party. The recording quality is crystal-clear. My only complaint would be that the horn section, in some of cuts, is not always as highlighted as in some studio versions of the same songs. The liner notes help complete the listener's journey to Buckewheat's home, and El Sid O's club, the venue for the recordings.

This live CD is the next best thing to being there! No band is more consistently entertaining live than Buckwheat and his Ils Sont Partis Band. I first saw Buckwheat in concert Houston in 1987, and the energy back then at his live show is just as great as it is from El Sido's last Thanksgiving. Mike Melchione's guitar solos on "Beast of Burden" rival solos by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Albert Collins. That smile on Buckwheat's face on the cover is contagious and shows he's having as much fun as everyone in the room, despite having a 35 pound accordion strapped to his back about 200 nights a year. This is one of the funnest live CDs I've ever listened to, especially at the ear ringing levels of my car stereo. I only wish it were a double live CD to hear more of his fabulous music.

One of my favorite Zydeco cd's of all time! Pure party music with some serious accordian playing, tight band, high energy and soulful singing that reach down deep into your soul! Saw him at The Jammin' for Salmon festival in Portland, Oregon on August 6, 2001 and he was the only artist at the festival who got the crowd into a dancing frenzy and put smiles on everyone! I had the opportunity to meet him and take a photo with him (a very nice man!), I have that photo online on my webpage. Play him often on The Crazy Coyote Blues and Jazz Power Show 1490 KOTY in southcentral Wa. state.

This live zydeco set done on 11/23/2000 at the famous El Sid O's in Lafayette, LA by one of the genre's best Creole musicians with what has been dubbed one of the "best party bands in America". Stanley Joseph "Buckwheat Zydeco" Dural, Jr. has always been known for an eclectic, non-traditional vibe that incorporates blues, soul, & rock into the zydeco groove. At a time when most accordionists don't bother with the bass side of their accordions, he works the left hand buttons to create a musical depth & power other bands can't approach. In this collection, tracks like King Curtis' "Soul Serenade", Fats Domino's "Walking To New Orleans" & the Rolling Stones' "Beast of Burden" are ideal examples of his penchant for laying a zydeco spin on pop tunes, with some soul "Make A Change" & a burner such as "Hard To Stop". This is high-energy material from one of the great good-time bands, & like the man himself, it's hard not to like.

Stanley Buckwheat Dural Jrs tight house rockin' mix of Zydeco, Memphis Soul and Blues has always got me going. This time he done gone overboard - - especially when the horns are wailin' on the JB'ish "Put It In The Pocket" - - You might not associate the sounds of washboards and accordians in your funk, but when you hear him SCREAMING out on that sinfully juiced up Hammond B-3 (how the heck did they get that organ soundin' like that !), you know what's going on. This is probably one of the funkiest and most albums I've heard in over 10 years... from his Exciting Intro, straight through... this is a band with lot's of bottom, lot's of rhythm, lot's of soul... Buckwheat seems particularly energized off the festival circuit and back home at El Sido's, which for Zydeco *is* down home. Albert Collins may have left the building, and JB might be as young as he used to be but when it comes to screaming gutbucket funk and soul, Buckwheat not only lives, but is the reigning king. This album will make a change in your life !

A top pick of the millenium !

I first heard Buckwheat Zydeco's rendition of Beast of Burden in a schlocky New Orleans theme bar in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and I knew I had to have that recording. It took me a while to find this album, but it was worth the wait. All the comments about the CD sounding like you're there are true. It's a great record to put on at a party, or some Friday evening after work when the weather first warms up and you're relaxing on the porch with a stiff drink. And make sure you crank up the volume! The comments about Buckwheat and his band being great showmen is also spot on. Owning this CD and loving the band, I was very pleasantly surprised to find out a few years ago that they would be playing at a free summer concert series at Longs Park in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. None of the other acts in the series was anything like this, so a lot of the people who showed up were blue-haired old ladies and Dutchmen who had no idea what they were in for. Buckwheat's concert presence cut through it all, and before the evening was over he had brought old ladies and little kids alike up onto the stage to join in the excitement. He does one routine where he has a kid press one key on the accordion and hold it, no matter what, while Buckwheat and the band play a whole song and extended jam around that one note. By the time they were done that song, you could tell the kid felt like a million bucks, and I'm sure he'll never forget that night. One of the few acts I, my wife, my then-teenaged daughter who never met a bad idea she did not embrace, and my then 10-year old son could all enjoy together. Buy this CD!