.. and it was recorded in 1967 on borrowed studio time in Los Angeles by a crew of eccentric, heroin-addicted, paranoid New Orleanians led by Malcolm John ‘Mac’ Rebennack, Jr., who was on the run from the cops, sleeping on floors, and, for the first time, playing the character of mystic /shaman /voodoo priest Dr.John.
Gris-Gris is one of the most psychedelic records I’ve ever heard, but not in a rock n’ roll fuzz-wah-wah-acid sort of way. Dr.John conjures up a timeless, dark, magic place – literally, this sounds like it could have been recorded in a swamp to an audience of frogs, blinking in the moonlight. You can download the tracks here, which are taken from my original vinyl copy. Note : if you’re a windows user and are having problems opening files from this site, try 7-Zip.
Here’s more, from Rebennack’s excellent autobiography Dr.John : Under A Hoodoo Moon :
” In 1967, after a couple of years of studio and other kinds of sidetripping in L.A., me and my New Orleans partners-in-exile finally fell into a situation where we could cut an LP on an idea I’d had since before I left New Orleans. I had always thought we could work up an interesting New Orleans-based concept behind the persona of the legendary conjureman Dr.John. This would not only allow for a dash of gris-gris in the lyrics but would also let us musicians get into a stretched-out New Orleans groove. With the help of Harold Battiste, we recorded at Gold Star Studios between sessions Sonny & Cher were doing there for Atlantic Records. The album we created, Gris-Gris, was heavy on rhythm, percussion, and guitar, and light on keyboards. I did play some organ, as on songs Mama Roux and Danse Kalinda, but stuck mostly to guitar. Steve Mann and Ernest McLean also played guitar on the session. On some songs we used two basses ( Harold Battiste and Bob West ), and our percussionist, Didimus, also doubled up on a bunch more instruments with the rest of the cats.
We were looking for an unusual, textured sound, and the cats nailed it. Naturally, we wanted the album to sell, but we weren’t into bending our music to fit somebody’s idea of what the market was about. First and foremost, we were into it for the music. This attitude isn’t often appreciated by record companies. To give you a for instance, at one point later on, I was doing a session for Bobby Darin when Ahmet Ertegun walked into the studio looking for me. ‘ Why did you give me this shit? How can we market this boogaloo crap? ‘ He was stuck with a record that was done on the sly, and he was acting as if he wouldn’t release it.
But we was of the mind that a hip record might sell if it was pitched the right way. The way we was looking at music was that it was circular in its groove, with no corners. That was what the old-time hipsters had meant by hip — something that hadn’t been squared off to fit into some kind of computerized, market-ized nightmare. In any event, Ahmet must have sensed something happening. We made five more albums for Atlantic before the deal fell through. Our theme song of that time, the first cut on the album, was Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya-Ya. It framed a mental picture of an imaginary New Orleans, and put our main character, Dr.John, out front and center. “
I recently managed to get my hands on a tape of an old college radio show – 72 minutes of music and DJ banter – from WTUL, which is the station at Tulane University in New Orleans. I edited and smoothed things out a little bit, but what you have here is pretty much what went out over the airwaves on November 29th, 1978.
There’s a lot of music that you’ll be familiar with if you’re a fan of early punk and postpunk, but there are also some obscure treats – The Normals are widely considered, along with the Red Rockers ( who came along in 1979 ), to be the most happening early New Orleans punk band, and you can listen here to Almost Ready, the ultra-rare, ultra-great 45 that was their only release.
It’s easy to forget what an exciting time this was, with fresh records arriving weekly from the UK and underground American bands starting to pop up all over the place. When the DJ ( who, according to several oldtimers I’ve asked, is a guy called ” John G, ” ) says, casually, that Captain Beefheart is playing at Tipitina’s that night, I think, God, I’d give my right arm to be able to travel through time and see that show. Anyway, you can download the whole thing here.
THE WTUL NEW WAVE HOUR * 1978
01. DJ : Elvis Costello – ” Emotional Fascism “
02. Elvis Costello : Tiny Steps
03. The Jam : I Need You
04. Sid Vicious : My Way
05. WTUL Kraftwerk promo : ” Your FM alternative .. in stereo “
06. The Stranglers : No More Heroes
07. The Normals : Almost Ready
08. The Damned : New Rose
09. The Adverts : Gary Gilmore’s Eyes
10. DJ : playlist – station ID – import album hour – Johnny Thunders
11. New York Dolls : Who Are The Mystery Girls?
12. DEVO : Social Fools
13. The New Hearts : Plain Jane
14. The Radiators : Million Dollar Hero
15. Chelsea : High Rise Living
16. Blunt Instrument : No Excuse
17. DJ : playlist - station ID – import album hour – ” riding streetcars at strange hours ”
18. Jilted John : Jilted John
19. Split Enz : Crosswords
20. Ultravox : The Quiet Man
21. Brian Eno : Alternative 3
22. Brian Eno : Strange Light – DJ : station ID – import album hour – playlist - Captain Beefheart at Tipitina’s – The Shirts
23. The Shirts – Lonely Android
24. The Clash : Tommy Gun
25.The Boomtown Rats : Like Clockwork
26. Peter Hammill : Pushing 30
27. DJ : playlist – station ID – import album hour – musical entertainment at The Contemporary Arts Center
Here’s a couple of beautiful, heartfelt tunes from Allen Toussaint’s Southern Nights LP. Although this musical giant has written and produced a flabbergasting number of hit songs for other artists, he is not generally known for his solo recordings – maybe it’s his voice – he’s a good singer, but not truly great ( or not totally distinctive, or something like that ) — which he certainly is as a composer and piano player. Here, backed by The Meters, he reflects on his childhood in New Orleans’ Gert Town neighborhood and visiting his French-speaking country relatives.
Allen Toussaint : ” Last Train “
Allen Toussaint : ” Last Train ”
Allen Toussaint : ” Southern Nights “
Allen Toussaint : ” Southern Nights ”
.. so here’s a couple of classic 45s from one of the true giants of New Orleans music. These tunes are everywhere down here, all year long and especially during carnival season, but they don’t the provoke the same sort of eye-rolling that hearing, say, ” Sweet Home Chicago ” in Chicago does .. or Sinatra in New Jersey — New Orleans culture is a genuine living, breathing, hundreds-of-years-old thing, and Mardi Gras is its beating heart ( or maybe its liver, but that’s another story ). This ( and Dr.John, and The Meters, and Irma Thomas, and Fats Domino, and many others ) is what the city SOUNDS like, and it sounds great. Listen to those drums in Big Chief : how cool is that? Listen to what Fess says in Go To The Mardi Gras : go see the Zulu king. I am. BTW, Big Chief was split into parts 1 & 2 so it would fit onto two sides of a 7″ record, and I’ve glued them back together for you here.
1. Professor Longhair : ” Big Chief Parts 1 & 2 “
1. Professor Longhair : ” Big Chief Parts 1 & 2 ”
2. Professor Longhair : ” Go To The Mardi Gras “
2. Professor Longhair : ” Go To The Mardi Gras “
I recently managed to score a mint vinyl copy of a classic bounce track – UNLV’s seminal 6th & Baronne. It was one of the very first releases from Cash Money Records, and remains a crowd-moving favorite in New Orleans. Here’s what bounce scholar Ballzack has to say about it :
” This song is great for many reasons… the piano is really dramatic and immediately draws you in, UNLV’s sing- song delivery is hypnotizing, it sounds like it was recorded on a 4 track, and Mannie Fresh’s production is all heart. It’s a great song that gets you bucked up as soon it starts. If they released it now, it would still be great. It’s simply New Orleans punk rock at its finest. ”
UNLV : ” 6th & Baronne “
UNLV : ” 6th & Baronne ”
UNLV : ” Eddie Bow “
UNLV : ” Eddie Bow “
Rik Slave sings with Rock City Morgue, which is the band that Sean from White Zombie plays bass and keyboards with, but he has fronted many groups, including The Phantoms, who were originally active from 1984 to about 1995 and were quite popular here in New Orleans. Back then, the band’s core consisted of Rik, bassist RJ O’Rourke, drummer Greg Terry, and a rotating cast of guitar players.
There are a variety of recordings of the original Phantoms, including a 12″ EP, a 45, and numerous demos and board tapes, but when they reformed last year and asked me to produce their album ( which is pretty evenly split between old songs and entirely new ones ), I reasoned that this is a different time and a different band and so I purposely didn’t listen to anything they had.
It’s not really fair to compare this version of ” Do You Believe ” from 1989’s More Drunken Buffoonery EP to the modern recording – they were in their early 20s then, and they’re grown-up men now, and their lineup has been fleshed out with two guitarists and a keyboard player, but it surprised me the other day when I listened to it for the first time. The new recording is a lot more hi-fi, and it’s got a lot more stuff in it, but it really is the same song.
Rik Slave & The Phantoms : Do You Believe ( 1989 )
Rik Slave & The Phantoms : Do You Believe ( 1989 )
Rik Slave & The Phantoms : Do You Believe ( 2009 )
Rik Slave & The Phantoms : Do You Believe ( 2009 )
1989 Phantoms : LJ, Greg, Robert Lambert, Rik
2009 Phantoms : Greg, Chris Lenox, Rik, Pat Catania, LJ, Ben Caston
Here’s a record I recorded and mixed earlier this year. I’ll write a little more on The Phantoms in a bit, but for the time being here’s some tunes from the album.
Rik Slave & The Phantoms : ” Dancing In The Rain “
Rik Slave & The Phantoms : ” Dancing In The Rain ”
Rik Slave & The Phantoms : ” Friend I Never Had “
Rik Slave & The Phantoms : ” Friend I Never Had ”
Rik Slave & The Phantoms : ” Complications “
Rik Slave & The Phantoms : ” Complications ”
Rik Slave & The Phantoms : ” I Shouldn’t Hang Around “
Rik Slave & The Phantoms : ” I Shouldn’t Hang Around “
Here’s some early New Orleans hip hop – although this one gets lumped in with the classic bounce tracks ( such as on the Real New Orleans Bounce Compilation ), it is not itself bounce. As with most of the MCs from these early, underground recordings, very little is known about Warren Mayes. He left behind a bunch of stuff, much of it on cassette, but he never again achieved the profile he did with this song, and he was murdered in 2000. The strange thing about this record is that there are two versions of ” Get It Girl ” – the first is the familiar one, the one that I still sometimes hear booming out of cars, and then there’s the second version, which is the same backing track with a completely different, unknown rapper. Same lyrics and everything, same flow, and nothing on the record label about who or why.
Warren Mayes : ” Get It Girl ” Version one
Warren Mayes : ” Get It Girl ” Version one
Warren Mayes : ” Get It Girl ” Version two
Warren Mayes : ” Get It Girl ” Version two
Vinyl Solution Records V/S 004. I guess what they were going for with the cover art for this 1980 New Orleans punk compilation LP was the city post-apocalypse, or maybe they were trying to illustrate the explosive rock n’ roll power contained within. All I know is that right now is the riskiest part of hurricane season, and this picture of a destroyed Superdome and toppled streetcar makes me distinctly uncomfortable. Here’s the entire album.
Red Rockers : ” Dead Heroes “
1. Red Rockers : ” Dead Heroes ”
Red Rockers : ” Red Star “
2. Red Rockers : ” Red Star ”
Aces 88 : ” Character “
3. Aces 88 : ” Character ”
RZA : ” Can’t Never “
4. RZA : ” Can’t Never ”
The Hostages : ” Time To Change “
5. The Hostages : ” Time To Change ”
The Models : ” Fire Patrol “
6. The Models : ” Fire Patrol ”
The Models : ” Intimate Love “
7. The Models : ” Intimate Love ”
The Wayward Youth : ” Thinkin’ Bout You
8. The Wayward Youth : ” Thinkin’ Bout You
David Oh! : ” Preparation X “
9. David Oh! : ” Preparation X ”
The Fugitives : ” Mystery Girl “
10. The Fugitives : ” Mystery Girl ”
Mandeville Mike : ” Me “
11. Mandeville Mike : ” Me ”
The Swingin’ Millionaires : ” The Cannibals Next Door “
12. The Swingin’ Millionaires : ” The Cannibals Next Door ”
The Cheaters : ” A Little Too Much “
13. The Cheaters : ” A Little Too Much ”
The Manic Depressives : ” Not Worth The Time “
14. The Manic Depressives : ” Not Worth The Time ”
The Manic Depressives : ” Think For Yourself “
15. The Manic Depressives : ” Think For Yourself ”
Bonus! I recently picked up an old vinyl copy of the Red Rockers’ 1981 album Condition Red. Here’s the LP version of ” Dead Heroes “, which is more hi-fi but retains the urgent power-punk feel of the earlier version from the compilation.
Red Rockers : ” Dead Heroes ” ( album )
Red Rockers : ” Dead Heroes ” ( album )
This here’s about as close as you’re ever going to get to a White Zombie reunion, not that Sean and I are actually playing together on this record – well, I probably did play a little tambourine or something, but it’s hard to remember. Here’s 3 songs from the brand new Rock City Morgue LP, ” The Boy Who Cried Werewolf “, which we recorded over a bunch of different sessions at Piety Street and some other places in New Orleans. Rik Slave sang ” Carry It With You ” in an abandoned pre-civil war building, in 90º heat, in the dark, lit only by the glowing tubes in an antique radio. That sounds so made-up, doesn’t it? It’s not — if you listen closely you can hear the extra-spooky sound.
Rock City Morgue : ” Creeping In The Dark “
Rock City Morgue : ” Creeping In The Dark ”
Rock City Morgue : ” Burn “
Rock City Morgue : ” Burn ”
Rock City Morgue : ” Carry It With You “
Rock City Morgue : ” Carry It With You ”
Fast forward 20 years from when this rare 12″ came out, and not that much has changed – New Orleans is still the city that is overlooked, the city of doom, and definitely where the party people are at. ” Where __ You From ” is the sort of record that was sold at a few local stores and from the trunks of cars in the neighborhoods that were later destroyed by flooding after Hurricane Katrina. This kind of old school MCing was already dated in ‘89, but young producer Mannie ( credited as ” Manny ” ) Fresh gives these tracks a bumping and infectious live feel, underpinning everything with traditional brass band rhythms.
Gregory D. & Mannie Fresh : ” Where __ You From “
Gregory D. & Mannie Fresh : ” Where __ You From ”
Gregory D. & Mannie Fresh : ” Buckjump Time “
Gregory D. & Mannie Fresh : ” Buckjump Time ”
I’ll spare you a scholarly explanation of bounce rap — suffice to say that it is / was a totally organic, specific, 100% New Orleans kind of hip hop that flourished, totally under the national radar, in the 1990s. These tracks are from an old cassette called, ” Down South : The Real New Orleans Compilation “.
Where my 10th ward soldiers at?
Ricky B : ” Shake Fo Ya Hood “
Ricky B : ” Shake Fo Ya Hood ”
Pimp Daddy : ” Gots To Be Real “
Pimp Daddy : ” Gots To Be Real ”
L.O.G. : ” Gs n’ Soldiers “
L.O.G. : ” Gs n’ Soldiers ”
Ruthless Juveniles : ” Run Dat Shit “
Ruthless Juveniles : ” Run Dat Shit ”
Partners n Crime : ” Up Early In The Morning “
Partners n Crime : ” Up Early In The Morning ”
2 Blakk : ” Second Line Jump “
2 Blakk : ” Second Line Jump ”
DJ Jubilee : ” Jubilee All / Stop Pause “
DJ Jubilee : ” Jubilee All / Stop Pause ”
Cheeky Blakk : ” Terk Something “
Cheeky Blakk : ” Terk Something ”
MC Spud : “Creepin’ “
MC Spud : “Creepin’ ”
KC Red : ” Shake On That Stick “
KC Red : ” Shake On That Stick ”
Warren Mayes : ” Get It Girl “
Warren Mayes : ” Get It Girl ”
DJ Duck & MC Shorty : ” Where My Ole Lady At “
DJ Duck & MC Shorty : ” Where My Ole Lady At ”
DA SHA RA : ” Bootin’ Up “
DA SHA RA : ” Bootin’ Up ”
Odoms’ ” Let Me Atom ” CD is out — which was mostly produced by Odoms and Ballzack ( who has fans ) on a laptop, but I did a couple of the songs, including this one :
Odoms : ” Human Is A Smart Thing “
Odoms : ” Human Is A Smart Thing ”
This track is an example of what I call my ” Silver Surfer ” style, where I form a mental image of the Silver Surfer breakdancing, and then try to imagine what the music being played would sound like. You can see the video for ” Keeping Up With The Jetsons “, which is my favorite song on the album, here.
