Customer Reviews

Fiyo on the Bayou

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

 

 

If I were marooned on a desert island with only this disc, a CD player (eternally powered, somehow), and lots of rum (an eternal supply, somehow) to drink out of coconuts, I'd the happiest man alive. Just the Mardi Gras Indian anthem "Brother John" (mixed here with the classic "Iko Iko") is well worth the price of the disc. The first time I heard it, every hair on my body stood at attention. It's de funk, it's de Caribbean, it's de celestial harmonies of brother Aaron at the high end, brothers Art and Cyril at the low; it's New Orleans at its carnival best, and it just don't get better than that.

I bought this album years ago, I believe at the beginning of the '90's when it had been touted as one of the best albums of the previous decade. To look now and see it selling for $6 with only two amazon reviews is a little disconcerting. I can't imagine that the New Orleans R&B/Funk sound has ever been captured more perfectly in a studio environment. Four of these songs (Hey Pocky Way, Sweet Honey Dripper, Fire on the Bayou and Brother John/Iko Iko) are among the most rollicking and intense performances I've ever heard on record. Run Joe is an infectious midtempo rocker and the cover of Jimmy Cliff's ballad Sitting in Limbo is beautiful.

But wait, aren't there 8 tracks on the album? Unfortunately, yes. Aaron's two syrupy ballad covers are atrocious. Regardless of whether you like the songs in and of themselves (I don't), there can be no doubt that they destroy the momentum and pacing of what could have been a perfect album. In the CD era, I couldn't lunge for my remote fast enough to forward through those tracks. But in the iPod era, no problem: slice 'em, dice 'em and leave them on the cutting room floor. For this price, who cares if you're left w/ less than 30 minutes of music? Edited down, this can't be beat.

Buy it and do other potential buyers a service by not letting this go out of print.

This CD was only available as an import for the longest time. I paid three times amazon's current price, and I definitely got my money's worth, many times over.

This marks one of the first performances of Whitney Houston as a background singer. My, what could've been...

This is the pinnacle of the Neville Brother's New Orleans style. Own this and "The Wild Tchoupitoulas" and you've got their best-all you'll ever need. I am appalled to see this in the cut-out bins...and so few reviews. I got my most recent CD copy at a Pilot Travel Center for $5.

The Aaron Neville syrup aside, the other tunes on this disc are great. Fiyo On The Bayou is worth the price of admission alone. Hey Pocky Way is a great groove as well. This is the Neviiles album for me as it takes me back to the shows ion the late 80s and early 90s when all these songs were concert staples. Turn it up loud- even your neighbors will like it.

Only one song on this CD is good -- and it's very good! Iko is a favorite to anyone with a dance feever!

there are only 8 songs, mildy mediocre ones at best, the total run time is around 25 minutes...on that basis alone it is not worth the 6 bucks.