The Legendary Meters featuring The JB Horns 1991

I was thinking it was about time for me to drop a bomb, just to maintain some cred out here...well my friends, this is a Mother Bomb! When it comes to fantasy funk collaborations, I don't know how you beat The Meters with The JB horns...let that sink in a minute....whew!

Now to be fair it isn't exactly The Meters, no Zig and no Art, but Russell Batiste and Dave Torkanowski ain't exactly chopped liver now are they? If you manage to sit still thru this then just call the coroner because son, you must be dead!

As I understand it, nobody ever got paid for this recording so I deem it fair game - I did alright tho, sold these two cd's for 100$!

It's been a while since I listened to this...it is a wonder that Leo's guitar didn't burst into flames because the man is on fire!

King Biscuit Boy with The Meters and Allen Toussaint

I had just about forgotten about this record until I saw Blue Dragon post a couple later KBB records. Those were posted at the request of Rivercityslim and I'm betting he will enjoy this one as well.

This album was done in 1974, right around the same time as Rejuvenation.

Lou Johnson - With You In Mind & more

 After the Sweet Southern Soul session and album one might think Jerry Wexler would have kept Lou around, but timing is everything and around this time two factors conspired against Lou. First, Wexler had become dazzled by a new talent named Donnie Hathaway, second Johnson had developed an increasingly problematic heroin habit. I would guess that both were in play in Atlantic dropping Johnson.

Johnson struggled with the habit until 1970 when he moved home to his mother's house in NY to get clean. By 1971 Lou was clean and looking for work, when in the lobby of the CBS building he ran into Allen Toussaint whom he knew from a 1966 session in New Orleans. Once he had confirmed that Lou had put his habit behind him, Toussaint invited Lou down to New Orleans for 30 days that resulted in this album.

I'm guessing that most of you know by now that the SeaSaint band of the time would have included The Meters, the horn section would be Gary Brown and company, the backup singers include Eldridge Holmes and Toussaint....you get it. Oddly enough, the excellent Toussaint penned ballad that is used as the album title, isn't on the album!

Anyway, once the album is finished, Marshall Seahorn deigns to release the album on one of his own labels, but instead sells it to Isaac Hayes and Dave Porter at Stax/Volt. Well okay, they had a better distribution network, but be it intentional or not there was a prejudice against non-homegrown products at Stax and the promotion/distribution teams never really got on board behind the album. The album went predictably nowhere and that was essentially the end of Johnson's solo career.

I am going to tack on here a goody from Kent records that our Shares Ninja patsoul kindly left in the shares - it contains all of Lou's earlier work with Burt Bacharach and his first New Orleans tracks with Toussaint from 1966. Together with the earlier post, this pretty much completes the Lou Johnson story.

Uptown Rulers - The Meters Live on the Queen Mary

I don't have any idea why his album has gone out of print while the rest of The Meters catalog is finally all back in-print and finally making money for the guys instead of just for Toussaint and Seahorn. I don't want to post any of those albums but this one seems to be fair game for the time being and it gives me a post of my boys.

Here's the wiki stuff, liberally commented on by moi:
"The Meters are an American funk band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Meters performed and recorded their own music from the late 1960s until 1977. The band played an influential role as backing musicians for other artists, including Lee Dorsey, Robert Palmer, and Dr John.

While The Meters rarely enjoyed significant mainstream success, they are considered, along with artists like James Brown, one of the progenitors of funk music and their work is highly influential on many other bands, both their contemporaries and modern musicians working in the funk idiom.

The Meters' sound is defined by an earthy combination of tight melodic grooves and highly syncopated New Orleans "second-line" rhythms under highly charged guitar and keyboard riffing. Their songs "Cissy Strut" and "Look-Ka Py Py" are considered funk classics.

Art Neville, the group's frontman, launched a solo career around the New Orleans area in the mid-1950s while still in high school.(the Hawketts - Mardi Gras Mambo, Art also recorded for Specialty and Imperial) The Meters formed in 1965 with a line-up of keyboardist and vocalist Art Neville, guitarist Leo Nocentelli, bassist George Porter Jr. and drummer Joseph "Zigaboo" Modeliste. They were later joined by percussionist/vocalist Cyril Neville. The Meters became the house band for Allen Toussaint and his record label, Sansu Enterprises. (The early band rarely featured vocals, they were primarily instrumental, a New Orleans Booker T and the MG's, they also occasionally included sax player Gary Brown)In 1969 the Meters released "Sophisticated Cissy" and "Cissy Strut", both major R&B chart hits. "Look-Ka Py Py" and "Chicken Strut" were their hits the following year. After a label shift in 1972, the Meters had difficulty returning to the charts, but they worked with Dr. John, Paul McCartney, King Biscuit Boy, Labelle, Robert Palmer and others.

In 1975 Paul McCartney invited the Meters to play at the release party for his Venus and Mars album aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California; Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones was in attendance at the event and was greatly taken with the Meters and their sound. (In fact, his statement was that The Meters were the best f___ing band in the world.) The Rolling Stones invited the band to open for them on their Tour of the Americas '75 and Tour of Europe '76. (that didn't work out so well, The Meters kept stealing the show!) That same year, the Meters recorded one of their most successful albums, Fire On The Bayou. From 1976 to '77 they played in The Wild Tchoupitoulas with George & Amos Landry and the Neville Brothers. (and released their last two albums, Trick Bag and New Directions)

They appeared on Saturday Night Live on March 19, 1977, during the show's second season. The band broke up later that year. (Okay, this part they got wrong, the band really fell apart on the plane going to the Saturday Night Live gig, Art got off the plane and went home and they played without him on the show. They played a few more times together in 77, 78 and 79 but for the most part they played using other keyboard players.)


After the break-up, Neville gained fame as part of The Neville Brothers, Modeliste toured with Keith Richards and Ron Wood, while Nocentelli and Porter "became in-demand session players and formed new bands."
(also Zig moved to Oakland, Leo to L.A.)
When Hip hop and rap emerged it created a need for sampling. Their music has been sampled by musicians around the world, including rap artists Heavy D, LL Cool J and Queen Latifah, Musiq, Big Daddy Kane, Run DMC, NWA, Ice Cube, Salt N’ Pepa, Cypress Hill, EPMD, Public Enemy, A Tribe Called Quest, Beastie Boys, Naughty by Nature, and Tweet. The Red Hot Chili Peppers pay homage to them in one of their hit songs, and bands such as the Grateful Dead, KVHW, Steve Kimock Band, Widespread Panic, Rebirth Brass Band, Galactic and String Cheese perform The Meters in their concert rotations. The Meters songs have also graced such movies as “Two Can Play That Game,” “Jackie Brown,” “Drum Line,” “8 Mile,” “Hancock,” and "Red".

In 2000, a "big offer" enticed all four original Meters to reunite for a one-night stand at the Warfield in San Francisco (an epic night); by this time Modeliste wanted to make the reunion a permanent one, but the other members and their management teams objected. It wasn't until Quint Davis, producer and director of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, got them to "put aside their differences and hammer out the details" and headline the Festival in 2005 (another great show). The original Meters continue to perform at various one-off concerts such as the 2011 Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in San Francisco, California.

Earl King - New Orleans Blues

How about some Earl King with the mighty Meters, Allen Toussaint and that Sansu horn section that usually included Gary Brown and Clyde Kerr and a rotating cast of other guys. This album has been out under the names Street Parade and A Mother's Love as well as New Orleans Blues but never seems to stay around for very long. A damn shame too because this is some of the best of all Earl's work; it was the one he seemed to personally like best, at least that's what he said in a interview I recall hearing a year or so before he died. Most of the songs are Earl's of course but a couple are penned by Toussaint. The Meters give it all a funky under layer but most of these tunes lean more towards blues and r & b than the pure NOLA funk usually associated with the Funky Four. There are 3 or 4 more tracks from these sessions that haven't been included for some reason but ya takes what ya gets.

Earl King - New Orleans Blues
Sansu 1972, Tomato 2005 [uber std mp3]

01 Mother's Love
02 Part of Me
03 Am I Your Dog
04 Fallin'
05 I'm Gonna Keep on Trying
06 Love Look Out for Me
07 Mama & Papa
08 Medieval Days
09 Some People
10 Street Parade
11 Do the Grind
12 Real McCoy
13 Up on the Hill
14 This Is What I Call Living
15 You Make Me Feel Good

Lee Dorsey - Yes We Can and then some

Lee Dorsey..the man with a big smile in his voice...New Orleans' answer to Al Green.

Born Irving Lee Dorsey in New Orleans, Louisiana, Dorsey moved to Portland, Oregon when he was ten years old. He served in the United States Navy and began a career in prizefighting. Boxing as a light heavyweight in Portland in the early 1950s, he fought under the name "Kid Chocolate" and was quite successful.

Dorsey met songwriter/producer Allen Toussaint at a party in the early 1960s, and was signed to the Fury record label. The song that launched his career was inspired by a group of children chanting nursery rhymes - "Ya Ya" went to number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1961. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. He recorded other songs for Fury before the label folded, and Dorsey went back to his car repair business.

Toussaint later came back on the Amy label and began to work with Dorsey once again. From 1965 to 1969 Dorsey put seven songs in the Hot 100, the most successful of which was "Working in the Coal Mine" in 1966. It was to be his second and last Top Ten song. In 1970 Dorsey and Toussaint collaborated on an album entitled Yes We Can; the title song was Dorsey's last entry in the singles chart. It was later a hit for the Pointer Sisters under the title, "Yes We Can Can".

Dorsey appeared on an album with Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, which led to more recordings on his own with ABC Records in the late 1970s. In 1980, Dorsey opened for English punk band The Clash on their U.S. tour.

Dorsey contracted emphysema and died on December 2, 1986, in New Orleans, at the age of 61.

Dorsey's songs have been covered by artists as diverse as Petula Clark ("Ya Ya Twist," a 1962 French version of "Ya Ya") and Devo ("Working in the Coal Mine"). "Ya Ya" was also covered on John Lennon's Rock 'n' Roll album, and The Beatles Let It Be... Naked contained an extended live jam, with Tommy Sheridan on vocals.

  Ask anybody in New Orleans who knew him about Lee Dorsey and you get the same response "Man that was the nicest dude you ever want to meet". This is usually accompanied by glistening eyes as they remember that he's gone.

This album was his master work; Allen Toussaint wrote most of the songs and arranged them all, the music comes from the endless supply of tunes he had the Meters work up in the studio (they were never in the studio with Lee). These tunes all come from the heyday of Sea-Saint / Sansu with Allen, The Meters, Gary Brown, Harold Batiste and AFO... just a boatload of talent. The fact that this record did not break through sent Lee back to auto body shop, convinced that the music scene wasn't for him. Listening to this album today you can understand his frustration because they couldn't have made a better record than this, it stands as my numba one fave from this period (1970). Thankfully this reissue also contains quite a few extra tunes that wouldn't fit on the LP. There are so many highlights amongst the songs it is unfair to single out any - they are in fact 'all killer, no filler'. Enjoy this, it is a treasure!

Lee Dorsey - Yes We Can and then Some
Polydor Records 1970
[uber std mp3(vbr)]

1 Yes We Can part 1
2 Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley
3 Occapella
4 Riverboat
5 O Me-O My-O
6 If I Were a Carpenter
7 When the Bill's Paid
8 A Place Were We Can Be Free
9 Hello Good Lookin'
10 As Quiet as It's Kept
11 Lonely Avenue
12 Games People Play
13 On Your Way Down
14 When Can I Come Home
15 Tears, Tears and More Tears
16 If She Won't, Find Someone Who Will
17 Gator Tail
18 Who's Gonna Help Brother Get Further
19 Yes We Can part 2
20 Freedom for the Stallion

Lee Dorsey vocals
with Allen Toussaint, The Meters, Gary Brown
Harold Batiste and AFO, others

Lee Dorsey - Ride Your Pony - Get Out My Life Woman

Some day I would love to know what in the hell this cover has to do with this album; I mean who are those people? None of them have anything to do with the album, nor does the New York or Chicago city scape behind them. What the hell does this smiling group of urban teens or twenty somethings have to do with a Southern Soul album from New Orleans? Baffling!!

This album is in the pocket of Lee's second wave of success in the mid 60's (he had first enjoyed success with "Ya, Ya", "My Old Car" and such in the early 60's).  The first 12 tracks here are from the original Bell album Ride Your Pony; the first group of musicians listed play of those tracks.

Tracks 13 thru 23 are with the second group of musicians including the Mighty Meters. These are recorded from 1967 thru about 70 but at no time over that period - including the Yes We Can sessions as well - were The Meters and Lee ever in the studio together. The Meters never even knew who their music was intended for and weren't informed or paid when these and other records came out. As a general rule at Sea-Saint, the only people who ever made money were Allen Toussaint and Marshall Sehorn, everyone else had to be satisfied with crumbs while they drove Rolls Royces (well, at least Toussaint did).

1.  Ride Your Pony (2:51)
2.  The Kitty Cat Song (2:06)
3.  Shortnin' Bread (2:52)
4.  So Long (2:31)
5.  People, I Wish You Could See (2:05)
6.  Work, Work, Work (2:26)
7.  Get Out Of My Life, Woman (2:26)
8.  Here Comes The Hurt Again (2:32)
9.  Hello Mamma (2:30)
10.  Can You Hear Me (2:13)
11.  The Greatest Love (2:19)
12.  Feelin' (2:02)
13.  I Can't Get Away (2:14)
14.  Go-Go Girl (2:22)
15.  I Can Hear You Callin' (2:35)
16.  My Old Car (1:59)
17.  Love Lots Of Loving (2:59)
18.  Take Care Of Our Love (3:16)
19.  Vista, Vista (2:41)
20.  Cynthia (3:15)
21.  Wonder Woman (2:40)
22.  Four Courners - Part I (3:04)
23.  Four Corners - Part II (2:59)

PERSONNEL
Lee Dorsey - vocals
Collective personnel includes:
Allen Toussaint - producer, composer, piano
Deacon John Moore - guitar
Vincent Toussaint - guitar
Walter Peyton Sr. - bass
June Gardner - drummer

Marcel Richardson - piano
Arthur Neville - organ
Leo Nocentelli - guitar
George Porter, Jr. - bass
Joseph "Zigaboo" Modeliste - drums