The Meters Album Reviews

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The Very Best of the Meters (1997)

The Very Best of the Meters (1997)

8.5

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

The Very Best of the Meters If there’s ever been one band that was immediately recognizable, it must have been The Meters. Like Booker T. & the MG’s (who were an obvious influence), James Brown and Al Green, they threw several influences in a blender and came up with a cocktail that was entirely fresh and done in such an authoritative way you wouldn’t even think of trying to emulate that sound. Maybe this wasn’t only their blessing, but also a curse: the songs on this album are taken from their first seven albums (recorded between 1969 and 1976), and while their sound became a bit fuller towards the mid-‘70’s (adding vocals and horns), most of their early songs (the first half of this compilation) are basically interchangeable. That’s not to say they were unimaginative or just milking the same idea over and over again, but it does take a specialist to distinguish the periods from each other. Luckily, nearly all of the tracks assembled here are winners. It helped of course that all of the original members completely mastered their instrument. Leo Nocentelli, who once dreamed of becoming a jazz musician, had experience as a studio musician recording with a.o. Lee Dorsey (“Working in a Coalmine” anyone?), Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste was the inventor of “second line funk drumming,” and don’t ask me what that is, but the boy could swing and will make you ruin the seat cover when you hear The Meters’ music.

Add to that the rock-solid grooves of George Porter, Jr., one of the great unsung (?) bass players, and Art Neville’s bag of Hammond-tricks and you’ve got the line-up that would influence artists such as The Beastie Boys (their “Groove Holmes” on Check Your Head is an obvious tribute), Primus (who covered “Tippi-Toes” on Miscellaneous Debris), and legions of hip-hop bands (N.W.A., Public Enemy, A Tribe Called Quest, etc) who sampled the band’s ultra-tight rhythms over and over again. Despite the fact that they were so beloved among their contemporaries (Little Feat and McCartney were fans), were an ace session band (check out Dr. John’s In the Right Place (’73) or Allen Toussaint’s wonderful Southern Nights (’75)) and were considered to be the quintessential New Orleans band, their brand of funk was always of the restrained kind. Sure, Porter’s bass-lines were often incredibly infectious and in combination with Nocentelli’s guitar the result could be exceptional (“Cissy Strut,” “Look-Ka Py Py). Modeliste surely was a match for the legion of drummers (try to sit still on “Pungee,” “Cabbage Alley” or “People Say”) that worked with Sly Stone and James Brown, but somehow their instrumental party music always remained restrained, concise and earthy. On the other hand, I don’t think they ever intended to sound like the sweat-inducing backing band of funk-era James Brown. Their generally short (only five songs on this compilation are longer than 4 minutes) songs may have sounded like jams, but they were out there to create some good time music (with the occasional message, such as in “People Say”) and not to lay down a hypnotic funk groove. On their fifth album, Rejuvenation, they did expand their sound and suddenly had more in common with acts such as Little Feat, while on Fire on the Bayou they were joined by Cyril Neville (congas, vocals), what made their sound a bit more conventional but not necessarily less interesting. The title track was one of their funkiest songs ever, Cyril provided great vocals for “Out in the Country,” and “They All Ask’d for You” was an hilarious novelty song that touched upon the ingredients of gumbo cooking. However, after their ’77 album New Directions the classic line-up split up and the members went on with their projects (the Nevilles in The Neville Brothers, while Modeliste, Porter and Nocentelli would become popular session players (Porter even recording with – does this sound unlikely or what? - Tori Amos!)), but they’d already made sure there was enough excellent material to fill this compilation, one that serves as an excellent introduction to the irresistible Bayou funk of The Meters.