Customer Reviews

Snake Bite Love

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Heard two tracks on the local FM album station and went out to buy the CD. The voice and the lyrics were mesmerizing.

Couldn't find the CD--Zachary Richard was listed under "foreign language," and even Rasputin's in Berkeley didn't carry the CD. I sent a fax to the radio station, and next thing I knew, I had the record company calling, thanking me for letting me know that "marketing" was a problem. A pity--this is a truly great album.

Friends who don't like "Cajun music" like this one, and those who do love it.

This is zydeco that leans heavily on traditional Rock'n Roll. I first saw Zachary Richard on stage with Jimmy Buffett at a concert I attended. I was impressed, and proceeded to buy the first recording of his music that I could find. I was lucky that this was the one. I have since bought other albums, and though I like them as well, this is the best. From the rocking title track to the soulful Cote Blanche Bay and on & on this album is one of my favorites. It isn't pure Zydeco, but it is GOOD!

This disc is so good it makes you want to cry. Until Zachary Richard, Cajun music was stuck in a rut. He takes the Cajun basics, adds a little Rock 'N Roll spice, and produces something new, unique and beautiful. To date, he has never again risen to this level.

Great album. A wonderful blend of Cajun and Rock n' Roll. Friends ask "Who *is* this guy?"

Richard puts a lot of music on this CD: rockers that'll get you two-steppin', ballads that'll make your heart ache, and a message song, "Sunset On Louisianne" that might make you think a bit.

"Snakebite Love" graps you, and by "Burning" your on fire. Your feet will not stop moving for "Dancing at Double D's", and you will shed a tear for the lost purity of the bayou as you listen to "Sunset on Louisianne." Smell the "Crawfish" in the gumbo, your feel clothes cling to you in the humidity "Down in Congo Square", and as the album ends, you will want some one to share "One Kiss", and if you don't speak French Creole you will wish you did. This is a powerful album which tells a story about a a corner of the U.S. about which most people know little. I have been listening to this CD for years, and if it is possible to wear one out, this one that I will. This album is a treat, it doesn't get much better than this.

What about the heartbreakingly beautiful 'Cote Blanche Bay?' Or the combination of 'Sunset ...' and the grief-stricken 'Madame Sosthene' which makes John Prine's 'Paradise' seem pale? Or the guaranteed cripple-healers 'Dancin ...' and 'Crawfish?' I can't believe you didn't sample 'One Kiss' ("I always ask about you, to find if you're asking about me"). Don't you people want to sell this CD? It isn't bad enough that Zach's music will never get airplay on a commercial radio station, so you people have to hide some of his best work in plain sight? Don't just list them, LISTEN TO THEM!!!

I first heard "Come On, Sheila" as a single on my local "progressive rock" station and promptly went out and bought the CD. What a wonderful surprise! In my opinion, this may be one of the most underrated disk in many years. Zach goes from strength to strength, from full-blown house rockers such as "Zydeco Jump" to gorgeous ballads such as "Sunset on Louisianne" which take you right to the Bayou. I was able to see him live about five years ago, and the entire club did not sit down from start to finish. If you like rock with a Cajun flair, get this disk!

I've read the above reviews and I also have to add that this album is not only one of Zack's best but is one of my all-time favorites. It was the first of his albums that I bought and I've never stopped listening to it since. It's rock & roll, it's cajun zydeco, it's kinda folksy and country, but it is quite simply an evocation of the essence of southern louisiana. I myself am not a cajun by birth, but after hearing this album as well the others I have since been a convert.
Merci mille fois Zach!

Zachary has been a work in progress for some time. My wife & I first saw him in very small venue in Arizona. He was so good, with so much energy, no one could sit. We all danced through the whole performance.

An unclassifiable fusion that will pretty much wake the dead (or move them close to tears, depending on the song). Zachary has something really new here that takes the roots, but just the roots, of Acadian music and culture and runs with it. This will take you on a journey to that area I've come to know well, but if you go to SW Louisiana you won't hear anything else like this (except perhaps something else that might approach just the sound of a track or two here, sort of...).

Infused with a rock spirit as well as the country feel that seems to have replaced the original culture (which sadly has almost faded out - "Sunset on Louisianne" indeed) this is a real gumbo from flat out rock to a real French two-step, seasoned with New Orleans zydeco and ballads written like poetry. As immediately appealing as it is it will actually grow on you. Very tasteful and tuneful with really heartfelt material. Authentic as can be by being entirely his vision without being in the least bit derivative (as so much that passes for "authentic" is). I haven't heard enough of the rest of them to determine if this will end up the best of his discs to me (as others seem to think it is for them), but listen close.