 The Meters The Meters' third album was released in 1970, after their big hit "Cissy Strut" had made them famous, and it features much of the same type of stuff. With a band like the Meters, it's hard to fault them for being formulaic since they were so damn good. The Mardi Gras-meets-Stax Records sound that they specialized in remains some of the greatest, tightest funk money can buy. Sundazed has inaugurated a smashing series of CD reissues that finally breaks the Meters out of compilation hell and allows listeners to get into the original albums, beautifully restored and with bonus cuts added. Sure, one's as good as another, but the quality is top-notch. Fueled by Art Neville's organ and occasional vocals, this was a band that could play. The instrumentation is simple, just organ, guitar, bass, and drums. The guys would apparently just go into a studio and record a bunch of funky new tunes and leave, not even providing titles for what they'd just recorded. It was just grooves. Pop music fans may have a hard time wrapping their brains around the concept of music as pure feeling, but you can take the world of R&B and funk fans who swear by the Meters' sound. That's hardly to say the music is technically brilliant – it's not Scarlatti, after all, but you can't shake yo big ole butt to Scarlatti, unless you're a real super freak. Most of the cuts on here fall into the same general vein of good-time party music, locked into tight grooves that slink and sway. The riffs can be utterly infectious, like on "Hand Clapping Song" and "Same Old Thing," both of which are simple as hell, but genius at the same time. "Same Old Thing" even acknowledges that the group is just playing the same shit they always do, but since it feels alright that's a fine thing. When a band like Oasis treads the same territory, it's annoying – when the Meters do it it's alright. I have to concur. Oh, wait, I just concurred with my own point. Oh well, as long as we have agreement. Great bayou soul, this. Perfect Saturday afternoon record. "Darling Darling Darling" is begging to be used in a "Four Weddings and a Funeral"/"My Best Friend's Wedding"/"The Cutest Romantic Wedding"-type movie. Oh, there was never a movie called "The Cutest Romantic Wedding?" Well, then someone should make one and use "Darling Darling Darling" in it, people would flip their wigs clamoring for the soundtrack. It's that classic sort of soul that you never hear, but then when you do you wonder why you never do. A cover of the ubiquitous "Wichita Lineman" is done really cool; "Tippi-Toes" features a scratchy little guitar riff that you can't help but smile at. Lots of bendy guitar lines, smoky organ, tight pocket basslines, and supersolid drumming, full of breaks and fills to knock your head off. "Chicken Strut," which opens the album and was apparently the single, is probably my least favorite track. Any song with too much clucking is just not ever going to win my heart. But lots of additional highlights more than balance out that track. The CD reissue adds two unreleased cuts, "Funky Meters Soul" and "Meter Strut" – both excellent and among my favorite tracks on here, especially "Funky Meters Soul," one of those songs like "Tighten Up" where everybody gets a little solo shot. Well, enough of my yappin', go get it and get you groove on, fattie.
Review by Sue Baggs |