Look-Ka Py Py [Original recording reissued]

The Meters | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 30, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued
• Label: Sundazed Music Inc.
• ASIN: B0000365IN
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #49,524 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #11 in Music > Rock > Jam Bands > Funk Jam Bands

Track Listings

1. Look-Ka Py Py

2. Rigor Mortis

3. Pungee

4. Thinking

5. This Is My Last Affair

6. Funky Miracle

7. Yeah, You're Right

8. Little Old Money Maker

9. Oh, Calcutta!

10. The Mob

11. 9'Til 5

12. Dry Spell

13. Grass

14. Borro

Editorial Reviews

The Meters' prolific run of '70s albums established the incomparable foursome as the premier exponents of New Orleans funk, blending syncopated rhythms with gritty guitar/organ grooves to stir up a musical gumbo that's grown ever tastier with the passage of time. The quartet's 1970 sophomore album is one of the legendary combo's most beloved releases, and a quintessential evocation of the Meters' peerless greatness. The album features their immortal smashes "Look-Ka Py Py" and "Chicken Strut," along with a dozen more classic slices of deep-fried New Orleans funk, including the previously unreleased bonus tracks "Grass" and "Borro."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this is the funk that musicians listen to., December 6, 1999

By 

michael parsons (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Look-Ka Py Py (Audio CD)

I would be outright lying if I denied the fact that this album changed my life and the way I look at music, the way I feel music. This is the album that made me take up the hammond B-3. This is the album that made me clap my hands on the two instead of the one. This album is the typification of instrumental funk, but unlike James Brown's relentless-groove all-aboard specials you get an ample handful of small, perfect morsels, each of them an example of control, poise, and musicianship. Never have I heard funk express so many seperate emotions as on this album. There are no favorites on this album; it's all impeccable. If this doesn't change your life you've eiher already heard it or you're dead.

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seminal funk., July 28, 2004

By 

Poser P "music.download.com/poserp" (SGV, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Look-Ka Py Py (Audio CD)

To paraphrase a recent truck commercial, "it's a big, tough funk album. What's not to like?"

If you're a modern music producer, please do yourself a favor and listen to the drums on this album. They're back a bit in the mix but still pop, the snare doesn't sound like the grand canyon but it's got a ring to it, and the cymbals stay out of the way of everything else while still aggressive. Quite frankly, just about every modern drum "sound" I've heard, from rock to the anemic junk that passes for funk these days to jazz, is a gutless wonder by comparison. That "metallic" snare sound that's so popular these days (on rock recordings by everyone from Pearl Jam to 311 to No Doubt to every so-called "punk" band on the radio) sucks. It just does, it's not musical, it's too "open" to focus a groove. Get over it, please, and let us know when you've got it right. Whoever produces Queens of The Stone Age or Cake can chill, though, 'cause you're close. A bit more snap and some high-end blap and you're there. Can you imagine how absolutely tough a good punk band would sound with a drum kit recorded like the Meters recorded their drum kit?

I think you get the gist that I like this album. I've lived with it for a long time now and it's never out of the crate (i.e., DJ crate). I find excuses to play cuts off this thing everywhere -- weddings, house parties, whatever. If the DJ saved your life, he probably did it with a song from this record on one that sampled it or the other two Meters albums ("The Meters", "Struttin'") from this era.

Someone wake me up when a modern "rock" or "funk" band sounds and plays half this good. Pay attention to the grooves on "Funky Miracle", "Look Ka Ka Py Py", and "Pungee". That stuff's much harder to play than it sounds, no one I've heard does it right besides the Meters themselves.

There are imitation funk bands out there these days trying to cop the old-school sound, but they don't have the chops to pull it off. Do yourself a favor and savor the real thing. The Meters is it, and this album is definitively it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No deeper funk alive, April 9, 2005

By 

littlewing "littlewing1430" (Mumbai India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Look-Ka Py Py (Audio CD)

The Meters were the most underrrated band to emerge out of the late 60s/early 70s funk explosion.

This is music that would not only inform 70s r&b but would filter into the jazz of the day. And the band was just amazing -funky guitar and organ riffs, and a beautifully understated but stunningly precise rhythm section.