New Orleans Funk

Performer: Various Artists
Distributor: MSI Music Distribution

Notes: Photographers: Michael P. Smith; Parker Dinkins; Norbert Hess; Jeff Hannusch. Unknown Contributor Role: Pierce Smith. Check the title -- New Orleans funk is not the same thing as New Orleans R&B or soul, so this may not be the sound that you're expecting. Even if it opens with the Meters, this isn't a compilation that plays to familiar sounds or expectations. Instead, it lays the groundwork for funk as it was known in the '70s or plays forgotten, possibly never-heard sounds from the '70s. So there ain't a single cut here that you will have heard or recognize unless you are an unrepentant New Orleans fanatic; some names are familiar -- the Meters, Lee Dorsey, Eddie Bo, Huey Piano Smith, Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, and Robert Parker -- but apart from Professor Longhair's "Big Chief," there's not a single thing here that regularly makes New Orleans comps or that will be recognized by anyone outside of the devoted. All 24 selections were chosen on one basis -- whether their recorded grooves were funky enough to be sampled and reappropriated to something else. Most of them are, but that may be beside the point, since this is a collection for record collectors who don't specialize in this style -- they're just looking for grooves. And there are some really good grooves here, but as singles a lot of them fall flat, unless they're delivered by somebody as undeniably assured and engaging as Lee Dorsey, whose two cuts wind up sounding like actual songs because he gives them the illusion of structure, even if they're just jams. Some other songs have the same fate, such as Aaron Neville's "Hercules," but this, by and large, is about sound, groove, and texture -- and on those terms it's pretty pleasing. Still, this is not a treasure trove of great lost singles, songs, and performances -- just a collection of good grooves worthy of sampling and making for good listening, providing you're into the sound and feel of the funkier side of New Orleans R&B, not the songs. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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