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The Very Best of the Meters
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| List Price: | £9.99 |
| Price: | £7.58 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery on orders over £5. Details |
Availability: Usually dispatched within 9 to 11 days
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Average customer review:
Track Listing
- Cissy Strut
- Live Wire
- Sophisticated Cissy
- Look Ka Py Py
- Pungee
- Tippi Toes
- Soul Island
- Cabbage Alley
- People Say
- Hey Pocky A Way
- Just Kissed My Baby
- Jungle Man
- Out In The Country
- Fire On The Bayou
- They All Ask'd For You
- Trick Bag
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #33788 in Music
- Released on: 2000-06-12
- Number of discs: 1
- Dimensions: .24 pounds
Editorial Reviews
CD Description
In the late '60s, New Orleans' The Meters became one of themain purveyors of the gritty, urban funk that would come todominate 1970's black music. After working together as a session band, guitarist Leo Nocentelli, bassist George Porter Jr., drummer Zigaboo Modeliste and keyboardist Art Neville began to release soulful, instrumental party records in the marketable mould of Booker T. and the MG's. But The Meters' catchy, wicked licks, fiery rhythmic interplay and general hard-hitting pulse gave birth to an utterly new, influential sound.
Though the band would go on to refine their sound on Reprise discs such as REJUVENATION and CABBAGE ALLEY, their earliest releases are no less compelling. THE VERY BEST OFcompiles some of the band's most irresistible jams from 1968 to 1976, a period which saw the creation of such classics as "Cissy Strut", "Look-Ka Py Py", both included here. The primitive production only enhances the rhythm section's in-the-pocket punch, and Art Neville's swirling organ. This is a funk blueprint--tight, rhythmic, straight-up good time musicin the finest New Orleans tradition.
Customer Reviews
Just My Review.....
In keeping with the drift of Rhino's Very Best of volumes, this 16-track disc provides a more concise, budget-minded retrospective for listeners who might not want a set that offers twice as much or more (in this case, Rhino's own two-disc Funkify Your Life anthology). That's not necessarily a criticism - funk grooves can get tiring over the course of two hours if you're not a rhythm fiend. Should you want to keep your Meters to the one-sitting level, this smartly chosen, well-annotated set is fine, including all of the cuts ("Cissy Strut," "Sophisticated Cissy," "Look-Ka Py Py," "Hey Pocky A-Way," "Fire on the Bayou") you'd expect to find on a greatest-hits set.
Bargain!
You'll probably recognise a few of the tracks on this, or at least bits of them; Cissy strut was used on an ad for haircream not too long ago, and they've been pretty heavily sampled over the years... (the Chemical bros snagged a bit of 'Just Kissed my Baby' for one of their tracks, I seem to remember).
One of the nice things about the CD is the variety that it showcases. The Meters weren't afraid to let their sound evolve - they started with some pretty sparse and funky instrumentals, before adding vocals and incorporating elements of soul, along with calypso and anything else they fancied at the time, and this selection reflects that penchant for eclecticism.
I'm not sure I could recommend this if you're just looking for a collection of 'stone-cold grooves' or whatever, as you may find the odd track like 'They all asked for you' irredeemably twee, but if you're prepared to give the CD a good go, it rewards repeat listenings with lil' nuggets of funk that spring from the mix into your lap, begging to be cherished. Particular highlights for me are 'Live Wire', which will amaze you: just when you think it can't get any funkier, it does... twice! and 'Out in the Country' which puts a smile on my face every time.
