From 1969-1976 Allen Toussaint produced six albums for The Meters, the first four with his business partner Marshall E. Sehorn – The Meters 1969, Look-Ka Py Py 1970, Struttin’ 1970 and Cabbage Alley 1972. The next three, Rejuvenation 1974, Fire On The Bayou 1975 and Trick Bag 1976 were produced by Toussaint and The Meters themselves, the last Meters album New Directions 1977 was produced by David Rubinson and Jeffrey Cohen (Rubinson produced 18 albums for Herbie Hancock). In the mid -Sixties, Sehorn set up Sansu records where with Toussaint as producer, The Meters became the house band playing on records by Sansu acts like Betty Harris where they appeared on ten of her singles. They also played on Toussaint hits for other labels such as Lee Dorsey’s Working In The Coal Mine (Amy records) and other successful Soul and R&B acts of the sixties.
This TV studio performance from 1974 is introduced by Dr. John (and his accent) and may be barely understandable to even the most assured English speakers. They play two songs, the first the mostly instrumental title track from their second album, Look-Ka Py Py, the second, Jungle Man comes from their fifth album, Rejuventaion released in 1974 – their latest album at the time of this performance.
This is something I wrote about The Meters last year in regards to Cissy Strut from their first album, see link below:
A short instrumental with a funky beat and a clean riffing guitar, bubbling organ and prodding, exploring bass, rifling through the draws in your head. The guitar line pure as snow and the organ a secret stew. But it’s the drums that has you pushing your limbs out in all directions – you have no say. The hi-hat has you on the end of a string, it manipulates you like a puppeteer. It makes you dance, makes you twist your neck, hits you in the hips, narrows your eyes and has you tap your thumbs on the table. It takes you driving on a highway and sits you down in a club. It drags you off the bar stool in the night and re-upholsters your convertible in the afternoon sun. It’s a drug, an addiction, it takes over your mind and demands your focus and yet there’s no pressure. You ease into its spell, you go willingly, you stop everything you’re doing. You are distracted mid-sentence, taken away from your thought, re-started, like a switch was thrown. You woke up somewhere you weren’t before, the scenery just changed, you erased your plans – you just discovered The Meters.
http://indeepmusicarchive.net/2014/12/281214-meters-cissy-strut-1969/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Toussaint
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Meters
No comments yet.