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Finger Poppin' & Stompin' Feet: 20 Classic Allen Toussaint Productions For Minit Records 1960-1962

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"Classic New Orleans Soul" is one entry in Capitol's "Crescent City Soul" series devoted to New Orleans R & B - other titles, with each disc offering 20 tracks, include "The Big Beat Of Dave Bartholemew" devoted to the legendary producer/songwriter/bandleader's most successful decade (1949 - 60) with hits by Chris Kenner, Smiley Lewis, Shirley and Lee, and others; "Let The Good Times Roll" a sampler of Crescent City classics released during 1949 - 66; the single-disc "Fats Domino's Jukebox", and a more comprehensive boxed set of Domino's work.
"Classic New Orleans Soul" is a fleet summary of hits and lesser known gems released on the Minit label from 1959 - 63, when a young Allen Toussaint wrote, produced, arranged, and played on most of this important and influential label's output. Beginning with Jesse Hill's 1959 classic, the two-part 'Ooh Poo Pah Doo' until Spring of 1963, when auteur Toussaint was drafted, an astonishing amount of quality r&b, soul, and slinky proto-funk was issued. The fact that the cover dates are slightly off is just one detail that gives this project a rushed, budget-line feel, especially when compared to the Capitol's long out of print 1994 double-cd set "The Minit Record Records Story" - that package told the story of Minit's two disparate eras, packing a generous 28 tracks on the first disc representing the Toussaint era, and 25 more covering the label when it was revived as an outlet for Liberty's black music releases from 1966 to 1970, with a smartly written and annotated 20 page booklet. Nor can one avoid comparing the present series to Capitol's marvelous "Capitol Blues Collection", a 1995 - 97 project (overseen by the late Pete Welding) that issued about two dozen beautifully designed and superbly remastered titles, many of them 2- or 3-CD sets containing lengthy and informative essays. That series reissued rare, long unavailable, and unreleased music by John Lee Hooker (a triple disc set of unissued early material!), Roy Brown, Jimmy Rogers, T-Bone Walker, as well as multi-artist comps such as the "Louisiana Swamp Blues", "Texas Guitar Killers" and "Kansas City Blues", all worth tracking down.
No, if one is aware just how rich Capitol's holdings are and what the label is (even recently) capable of, the New Orleans series and this particular entry seem rather thin indeed. But taken on its own terms "Classic New Orleans Soul" is a terrific listen, illustrating Toussaint's importance at the dawn of the '60s, when his work illustrated the city's r&b as it evolved into the soul era. The 20 singles included remains vital for listening or dancing to the present day, bridging the more aggressive raw blues or big band sounds of the '50s (Bartholemew, Paul Gayten) with the harder edged funk wrought by The Meters and others beginning around the middle of the decade. Indeed, N.O.'s eccentric mixture of influences (Toussaint's hero was Professor Longhair)and its seemingly inexhaustible pool of brilliant musicians and singers have insured a steady stream of terrific reissues in recent years. "Fortune Teller," Mother In Law", "A Certain Girl" and "Over You" are just a few of the classics that have been covered by artists such as The Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds across the past 45 years.
John Broven's notes are fine, and all tracks have been restored to original mono, so those new to this material or recent converts will be thrilled. But, at only 20 songs, "Finger Poppin'" doesn't even break 50 minutes. For now it appears to be the best bet out there, and reasonably priced. Toussaint's next step (post-Military service) would be reviving the career of his greatest collaborator, Lee Dorsey, then forming (with Marshall Sehorn) Sansu Enterprises - and the Sansu label - where once again we find Toussaint writing, playing, and producing terrific work for many of the city's legends. As far as the great Lee Dorsey is concerned, check out two greatly expanded classics on Sundazed, "Ride Your Pony" and "The New Lee Dorsey" which together collect 47 wonderful examples of what made Dorsey Nola's most accomplished hitmaker after Fats Domino, as well as the 1970 masterpiece "Yes We Can", which remains out of print in the US but can be found (with nine bonus tracks) in a superb 2007 Japanese edition, or from the Raven label, which bundled together "Yes We Can" with Lee's 1978 swan song "Night People". For a great collection of 50 tracks by Betty Harris, Calvin Lee, Art Neville, Benny Spellman, and other N.O. legends, (many backed by The Meters as of '67), check out the terrific "Get Low Down! The Soul Of New Orleans 1965 - 67" on Sundazed, which anthologizes Toussaint's Sansu productions.

I bought this album on a whim. I only recognized a couple of the songs but within less than a week I knew all the words to all the songs. All the songs are catchy in the way that pop songs were meant to be. This type of music, this cajun-influenced R&B is catchy without being annoying like Doo Wop can be after listen number 30. I liken this album to early Otis songs like 'Shake' and 'Respect' or early Ray Charles songs like 'You Be My Baby'. This album is just plain fun. Neither too fast or slow and always a little off-beat (like 'Mother-in-Law' which likens the woman to satan and '39-21-46', come on, who really has these proportions?!). These were songs that were too black for white charts making them that much cooler now.

...when it comes to lavishing praise on this compilation commensurate with its excellence...Just suffice it to say that this is both R&B and pop done to the highest standard possible. Incredibly great songwriting, singing and production from the sui generis Allen Toussaint. You can truly see why he's known as a musician's musician and is one of the towering figures of N.O. music...I saw him at the Jazz Fest a coupla years ago, and even from what seemed like miles away, with the huge crowd, he was just tremendous, blowing away every other act I saw that day...

Now, after you pick up this stellar comp of Toussaint productions, be sure to go out and get the Allen Toussaint Collection, a comp of his own solo work. You'll be very happy.

while a lot of these songs may not be well known, they are great soul selections from the early days. A good contrast is the later Minit records collection from the late 60's early 70's, which is distinctly more "funky".

This is a well done CD, with some terrific songs. I've wanted to get this collection for a long time, as I had these on LP/45 format. This is GOOD stuff!

i have quite a few collections of new orleans fonk and soul. this one is, as the others, ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL!!!! i just love listening to joints from this particular period of music because you just do not hear this stuff on the oldies stations anymore, and it's a doggone shame. i love everything on here. no complaints at all.

Check out the songs & artists:
1. It Will Stand - The Showmen
2. Mother-In-Law - Ernie K-Doe
3. Over You - Aaron Neville
4. Heavenly Baby - Allen & Allen
5. Ooh Poo Pah Doo (Part 1) - Jessie Hill
6. 'Tain't It The Truth - Ernie K-Doe
7. Cry On - Irma Thomas
8. True Love Never Dies - Allen Orange
9. Let's Live - Aaron Neville
10. Te-Ta-Te-Ta-Ta - Ernie K-Doe
11. Whip It On Me - Jessie Hill
12. Fortune Teller - Benny Spellman
13. I Cried My Last Tear - Ernie K-Doe
14. Lipstick Traces (On A Cigarette) - Benny Spellman
15. Always Naggin' (Grumblin' Fussin' Nag Nag) - The Del Royals
16. It's Raining - Irma Thomas
17. A Certain Girl - Ernie K-Doe
18. 39-21-46 - The Showmen
19. Ruler Of My Heart - Irma Thomas
20. Ooh Poo Pah Doo (Part 2) - Jessie Hill