Customer Reviews

Struttin

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Absolutely timeless stuff. Sounds as good today as when it was new, maybe even better. Todays jam bands could learn a thing or three from these early Meters records. In fact, nobody has even come close to capturing their sound decades later.Chicken Strut, Ride Your Pony and Funky Meters Soul are highlights on a cd full of them, but I admit to buying this particular disc for an awesome version of Wichita Lineman (!). If you're reading this, do your bad self a favor and buy this cd or any of the Meters other great sets. Money well spent.

This is one of the greater Meters recordings. It was released in 1970. Absolutely dirty - exactly the way it should be! It's the third and last Meters album to feature that really raw, dirty, early seventies sound (distant drumkit, distorted hammond, picky guitar in your left ear and a fat P-bass right in your face).
There's constant groove throughout this well organized but JAMMIN' album. A suitable amount of vocal tracks are included. The Glen Campbell cover "Wichita Lineman" (written by Jimmy Webb) was the first vocal ballad to be released by The Meters; that and the Roquel Davis cover gumboesque "Darling Darling Darling" are good variations from the rest of the material.
Two bonus tracks included! No disappointments what so ever! Yera phool notta git it!

The Meters' "Struttin'" (released June 1970) was their third album, and another classic for the Josie label. Recorded, like their debut, at Cosimo Matassa's New Orleans studio (the amazing second album, 1969's "Look-Ka Py Py" was made at La Fevre Studios in Atlanta the previous summer), it is both of a piece with its two predecessors and an indication of their ongoing evolution.
The quartet's seminal Josie recordings utterly revitalized their hometown's music scene - of the eleven singles issued on Josie during three prolific years, beginning with 'Sophisticated Cissy'in November 1968 and continuing until the label went bankrupt in late 1971, ten were national hits. And the city's indigenous rhythmic identity - emphasisizing a laconic sense of syncopation rooted in a century of musical history and cultural cross-pollination, was reconfigured and reinvigorated by the Meters, who posessed individual virtuosity and the collective musical telepathy that makes great bands more than the sum of their parts. After decades during which the Crescent City made its mark on the national conciousness, as jazz, r&b, soul, and rock 'n' roll records broke out of the region and climbed the national charts, The Metres emrged during a post-Motown/post-British Invasion lull, quickly established themselves as central in the evolution of soul into funk. "Sturttin'" itself has remarkable variety within a seemingly restrictive framework. On "The Meters", 'singing' was restricted to the grunt that opens the very first song. The hit 'Look-Ka Py Py' opened the second album, and offered a bit more, as the band, led by Joseph Modeliste, 'sang' variations of the title phrase (inspired by the sounds emitted by their car's engine on the trip to Atlanta) as pure rhythm. 'Chicken Strut,' the first hit from this set, appearing here in a stereo version somewhat longer than the mono single mix typically used on compilations (including Rhino's 2-CD retrospective), is once again noteable for its use of group 'vocals' - crazed chicken-clucking led again by drummer Modeliste. The followup, 'Handclapping Song'" also features the group singing, actual lyrics this time in a more straightforward psychedelic soul context. Elsewhere Art Neville provides some nice leads for the first time on a Meters album: "Darling Darling Darling" is a lovely take on the 1963 Ty Burr hit issued by Chess. And Art's vocal on Jim Webb's "Wichita Lineman" made me appreciate a song I'd dismissed as middle-of-the-road pablum - it is haunting and melancholy, with Leo Nocentelli's guitar panning from right to left, consistent with the song's telephone wire imagery. The closing track, a version of Lee Dorsey's 1965 classic 'Ride Your Pony' is a harder-rocking version of a gem Allen Toussaint had already produced at least twice (Betty Harris also issued a version, around 1968).
Most of the rest of this highly enjoyable set is instumental, and the stunning rhythmic explorations heard on "Look - Ka Py Py" such as 'The Mob' and 'Rigor Mortis' are again in evidence on 'Liver Splash,' 'Joog' and 'Tippi Toes'. Modeliste and George Porter lay down dense, interactive grooves, and Leo Noceltelli's guitar ranges from his quintessential chicken scratching funk to a harder rock style, with his mellower Wes Montgomery/Kenny Burrell side less apparent than before.
This was to be The Meters' last official album for Josie, though in fact four more non-album singles were issued by Josie during their final year with the label; all eight tracks from these rare singles, which offer a fascinating snapshot of the band in transition right before they signed with Reprise, can be found on a marvelous collection of Josie-era rarities issued by Sundazed, "Zony Mash." The dense, dry mix that is so perfect for this spicy musical gumbo would change somewhat when the band signed to Reprise (though those early Reprise albums offer their own pleasures), but if you like what you've heard by the early Meters on their three Josie albums or want to hear more truly inventive New Orleans funk, "Zony Mash" is endlessly listenable, the perfect compliment. As always, Sundazed has done an unparelleled job in capturing the detail and ambience on those early master tapes here, and across all the catalog titles reissued by the label.

There is funk, and there is Funk. This here is of course the latter! Hey, some just got it to give...
So stacked with soulful, tasteful, delicate melodies, intricately woven to create a breathing continuum of FUNK that one just needs to play replay and replay again in order to bask in the glory of this sound. Unbelivably creative, unforced and pure, just laying it on in layers! it's amazing that the tracks are comprised of several instruments, and far from the multi-tracking that has become standard routine, because it is so full. reminds me of a musical trio (i.e. The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, The Police, Stevie Ray Vaughn) where each musician - and his part - are so dynamic and could easily stand on their own, that put together the parts are sufficiently impressive and enticing so as to leave upon the listener the impression that he is listening to many more musicians playing at once. i could easily go on, but i'll stop here. This is the distinct New Orleans Crescent City Sound, which rivaled the Chicago sound, the Memphis Sound, the Philly Sound, and we are lucky to have these recordings available to us in crystal clear quality. Sounds as good now as it has ever sounded!

On their second album Look-Ka Py Py The Meters added vocals to their sound and 'Struttin' continues in that grand tradition.It's the most fun on the opener "Chicken Strut" with the wild,fun squaking comic vocals just right for a funky good time. A few heads might turn at the concept of "Wichita Linesman" (yet another overdone cover choice of the day) but again The Meters again bring a new soul to the tune with some emotional vocals. "Same Old Thing" finds them reprising "Cissy Strut" again with a tongue-in-cheek vocal emphasizing that phrase "it's the same ol thing" again and again. Again The Meters keep it spare for the most part but on "Tippi-Toes" and "Hand Clapping Songs" varriate on the rhythm.But for the most part you know exactly what your getting here but if you enjoy it as I do it's available.

This is the third album by the Meters and introduced vocals to their style. I still prefer the instrumentals on this disc but the vocal numbers are good and lively. I only have one diificulty with not giving this 4 stars or more; the track "Wichita Lineman" just doesn't feel like it's part of this album. Listened in isolation it's fine, but it goes against the feel of the album as a whole. And "Chicken Strut" is just plain funny, in a goofy sort of way.

I was looking for more New Orleans funk, after hearing the Neville Brothers "Brother's Keeper" and "Family Groove" albums. These are great. Mostly instrumental and very funky!!

It's about time they re-released this album. What can you say the Meters except that their the POOP.