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'Nuff said. And it is a great gateway to New Orleans music. When I wanted to give a unique example of American music to a foreign friend, this was one of the albums I bought. It should be in everyone's library.
All it's missing is a video. Buy this. Not much more to say, other than it's a classic of New Orleans music with brilliant backing and singing from The Neville Brothers and The Meters, creative adaptations of (and new songs based on) classic Mardi Gras Indian chants, and the state of the second-line beat circa 1976 that'll get your hips swaying wherever you are.
Maybe it's because I haven't been to New Orleans. Not even a little bit. I found it mindless and juvenile.
It's not only one of the best albums to listen and dance to, it represents a unique burst of American culture, a lightning strike that could never be reconstructed. This was a rare unrepeatable combination. Knowing that the lyrics are rooted in reality, the drinking and fighting tradition of the New Orleans Indians in which the Landrys participated, gives the whole thing an extra dose of credibility. Every now and then the planets line up just right and we get a confluence of fragile artistic elements. Let this album run in your car for a week and you'll know all the words and be singing with the Big Chief. The light touch of the arrangements, where spaces are as important as hits, provides the perfect setting for the happiest, huskiest harmonies. This album is like that, a beautiful soap bubble that dazzled with the rainbow colors of the Tchoupitoulas' costumes, floated above the crowd, and burst, leaving the Neville Brothers band as the residue. The rough-edged street singing of the Landrys is a perfect mix with the polished studio vocals of the Nevilles, who just happened to be related to the Landrys.
Listen. Nothing better has come to my attention in the meantime. I mean it. I've been listening to this record since it originally came out on LP.
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