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55 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Je suis la grande zombi..., May 26, 2000
There've been various reissues of this album over the years -- Alligator, Repertiore, and now Collector's Choice -- I have no idea how this particular CD edition stands up -- Alligator's was great, Repertiore's sounded like it was mastered off shoddy worn vinyl and then de-noised to such an extent that the sound lost nearly all of its booming depths, and Collector's Choice (though again, I haven't heard this particular version) have as a label distinguished themselves over the past 7 or 8 years by allowing cut-rate remastering talent to come in and ruin some of the 1960s best and most obscure albums (Skip Spence's OAR, the United States of America album, etc.) -- whatever: forewarned is five-armed. As for the album itself, I've safeguarded an original ATCO pressing through countless rent-strikes, burglaries and relocations, and it's one of the few I'd actually admit into that stupid Desert Island Disc rostrum. It's worth reading Rebennack's shambling autobiography to get the larger story, but to wit: a bunch of seasoned New Orleans 50s studio vets, relocated to Los Angeles after many difficult narcotics travails and incarcerations, take advantage of (a) their Atlantic/Ertugen Bros. studio connex, and (b) the ubiquitously gullible hippy thing happening all around them, and come up with a psychedelic voodoo medicine show which (no matter how much of a joke some of them may later make it out to be) is far too genuinely steeped in authenic New Orleans culture and real studio chops to relegate it to the wastebin destined for so many other 'novelty' acts of the time. Chinese-water-torture percussion, snake-slick slide guitar, and Dr. John, the feathered crock-o-the-block himself, chanting fluid paregoric incantations to astral entities the rest of us wouldn't want to come within a light-year of. Scary, and late-night, and positively medieval in places. There have always been certain albums which make evil seem downright fun, but this seething cauldron is their king.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This sure is Voodoo Music, January 23, 2003
The first time I heard this record, I thought: "This is awful: Poorly recorded, out-of-tune instruments and voices, uninspired and pretentious tracks..." I was looking for something like 'Gumbo' -one of my favourite records of all time- and found something completely different instead: No funk, little Blues and almost no piano.
However, after some time, I gave it another try -without any prejudice- and was gladly surprised. I had been mistaken... Next time I realized it, I was wanting to hear 'Walk On Guilded Splinters' and 'Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya-ya' again and again. I read a few things about the great Dr. John and found out that actually those songs (that are not traditional, but composed by himself) were used FOR REAL in vooodoo gatherings and even rites! They sure transmit a very 'haunting' mood, to say the least. Was I hoodooed? -Shivering-
To me, those tracks are worth the entire album, although 'Danse Fambeaux' and 'Mama Roux' are also interesting. The reason why, having such classic tracks, I do not give it the top mark is because I feel that the album is a little too short and uneven. Anyhow, it is still a landmark album for Dr. John that was a very risky bet at the time of its release (Ahmet Ertegun, boss of the record company, hated it). I bet those sessions were conceived with some mixture of true spirituality and humour. These days, when I feel psychedelic, I play Jimi Hendrix's '1983' or 'Gris-Gris' if I want to shiver a little bit...
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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
DARK, DIRTY, DENSE, AND DANCEABLE...., May 30, 2001
I have also reviewed Babylon, the companion cd to Gris-Gris, and have done a bit of editorializing. This cd deserves only the mention of the musics, Dr. John's "high concept" reaches musical fruition with a swirling array of avant-guard funk, down & Dirty swampy grooves,and Afro-Caraiba poli-ritmos ,performed on mostly organic/acustic instrumentation( outside of the obligatory electric guitar, & electric piano/organ)..... the 2 long "narcotic" tracks, Gris-gris" & "I walk...Splinters" lure you into a trance-like world, where the 2 "danses" evoke a Hoodoo whirling dervish....."WORLD musics " before the frase was coined! And the strictly New Orleans "Mama Roux" is a second line strut! No "blues -influenced" stuff here, Africa comes home on the drum, and not the "blue-note". Rough, ragged & poorly produced, the emotion of the musics shines through like the healing rays of a new day's sun! Dr. John's finest hour- he WAS inna right place at the right time, and gris-gris is the legacy!
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