Customer Reviews

Sun Moon & Herbs

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

 

 

This classic recording sees Dr John's transformation into the persona of the Night Tripper fully complete. Richly textured and sumptuous, this is a CD that must be owned.

Opening with Black John The Conqueror, wait for the thrill as the gospel-like tones of the backing singers and stabs of the brass lay down the framework for this recording. Where Ya At Mule follows and is perhaps the only weak point. A little light. A touch too whimsical. Fear not, for Craney Crow takes us firmly back into Night Tripper territory with its fusion of jazz, psychedelia and pseudo-Southern black magic. We are then propelled into Familiar Reality, and for me, one of the best intros ever. Something to enjoy. Again and again.

File Gumbo seamlessly picks up where Familiar Reality left off, before we journey into the loose jazz of Who I Got To Fall On (If The Pot Get Heavy) only to be transported back into Night Tripper territory and the excellent Zu Zu Mamou ... Then, just as the party seems to be over and you're left wanting more, solace can be found in the form of Familiar Reality (Reprise).

A monumental recording, in the dark days of vinyl you had to hunt this one out. On CD, nothing is lost, save perhaps the sleeve notes, where small print addicts could read the guest list that reads like a celebrity call-out that includes Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger. Second, one no longer has the thrill of a Side One and Side Two and the excitement of turning the record over and wondering if the opening to Familiar Reality really is as good as the last time that you heard it.

By all accounts it is ... Buy. Treasure. And enjoy.

I hadn't heard this album in over 25 years, and when I bought the CD I wasn't sure if it would be as good as I remembered. It is that and more, and is definitely one of those over looked gems that rewards repeated listens by revealing layer after layer of interesting dark corners, secret places and beguiling hooks. On first listen the pace is so leisurely as to possibly seem uneventful, but if you are patient and allow yourself to succumb to its odd charms it will begin to draw you into a very strange headspace and worm its way under your skin. It is certainly quirky...a kind of funky, gritty, gumbo blues with a mind-bending undercurrent of light psychedelia mixed with equal doses of voodoo and humour. Imagine Macy Gray singing Tiki music written by the Cramps and you won't be that far off. This is one of my favourite albums to have on while I am reading a good book. Believe me, somehow the whole thing works.

a classic work ln progress a one of a kind of performer and lf you ever had a chance ln seeing him ln the eighties you missed something a visual & musical experience the sun the moon and the herbs and gri gri are the real dr. john

Not worth bothering to search for, either. There are hints of the later formula that would be successful on Gumbo and In The Right Place, but no songs stand out. The album was recorded in 1971 (or so I think) right before "Gumbo".