The Very Best of the Meters

Artist: The Meters
Label: Rhino / Wea
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 081227264222
EAN: 0081227264222
ASIN: B0000033YT

Release Date: 1997-06-10

The Very Best of the Meters

Related Categories:

Zydeco

Cajun & Creole

General

| R&B | Styles | Music

General

| Soul | R&B | Styles | Music

General

| Funk | R&B | Styles | Music

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| Jam Bands | Rock | Styles | Music

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Rhino Records

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Tracks:

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

Similar Items:

The Wild Tchoupitoulas
The Allen Toussaint Collection
Fiyo on the Bayou
Funkify Your Life: The Meters Anthology
Dr. John's Gumbo

Customer Reviews:

Less Than the Best of the Meters CD.......2006-07-13

The Meters evolved out of the Neville Sound (essentially all four Meters plus Art Neville's brothers Aaron, Cyril, and sax player Gary Brown) during 1967, a period in which the wave of great post-War music coming out of New Orleans had all but stopped reaching a national audience. Art had been making records since the '50s, but finally stripped his original conception down to the quartet, at first an all instrumental lineup (guitar, drums, bass, and organ) inspired by Memphis legends Booker T & The MGs, though the bands' styles are very different. Before the end of '67 producer Allen Toussaint - who'd caught a hot club show - started utilizing the group as house band at Sansu, backing up artists such as Lee Dorsey, Betty Harris, Eldridge Holmes, and numerous others, including solo singles by Art himself as well as brothers Cyril and Aaron.
The group 'went solo' by developing their own material (with Toussaint and Marshall Sehorn nominally producing), signed with Josie in '68, and before long made their hometown hip again by leading the evolution from soul to funk and producing an impressive body of work during the next decade(and continuing to back up many artists including Dr. John and Labelle), gaining a large and loyal cult of fans (including many other important musicians, such as The Rolling Stones and Richard Hell).
The Meters' career can rather too neatly be divided into two periods: first their work for the Josie label (1968 - 71), followed by the Reprise era (1972 - 77). In recent years all eight of their studio albums - plus two very good collections of non-album singles and rarities - have been (re)issued by Sundazed, with superior sound and original graphics as well as bonus material. "The Best Of The Meters" may seem like a sensible first purchase for those who don't have any of the albums, or want a primer, but it just doesn't cut it. Rhino, for some no doubt non-aesthetic reason, only includes six measly gems from the great Josie period, with the remaining ten taken from the later Reprise albums. Even the selection of Reprise material is unreliable - from 1972's "Cabbage Alley" they've excerpted the decent but unremarkable "Soul Island" and the title track (a good rearrangement of an old Professor Longhair hit). These are not that album's best tracks - why not the Sly-meets-'70s Miles classic "Gettin' Funkier All The Time," or the seamless funk/hard rock Leo Nocentelli songs "You've Got To Change" and the wild, fascinating, almost psych-dub of "Stay Away"? For instumentals, "Smiling" and "Flower Song" are both more interesting than the almost bland (I said almost) "Soul Island." And the tracks from the later Reprise albums that close this set are even less representive of what this group could do - the telepathic interplay, constantly inventive rhythmic variations of drummer Ziggy Modeliste, and the virtuosity and drive that sweeps the lister up on his/her feet. This is simply an unsatisfying sampler.
If you're interested in those mostly classic original albums, there are three originally issued on Josie ("Zony Mash" might as well be the fourth, as it features both sides of the last four non-album singles the Meters released before the label stopped functioning late 1971). Each Josie title has much to recommend it, but for sheer inventiveness, compelling and surprising instrumental interplay, and warm, rich sound, my favorite is the second, "Look-Ka Py Py" (originally released January 1970); if you love this, you'll certainly want the other three. For Reprise titles, "Rejuvenation" (1974) is a classic: slinky, unhurried and richly textured funk and soul, with some of their best original songs and vocals. Its predecessor, "Cabbage Alley" is a fascinating and ambitious album, if slightly uneven, but by now the music is post-Hendrix/Sly Stone (and even Neil Young is an influence - there's a quite decent cover of "Birds"), but despite the inevitable observation that with the label change came vocals, an end to the 'pure' bare bones funk of their debut, the group had already started singing at Josie (Art after all had been singing for a decade prior to forming his great band), especially on the third album "Struttin'" and the later singles collected on "Zony."
So, there's my advice: explore the aformentioned pair of classics (mid-line priced) and I bet you'll want to dig deeper, but not into this superfluous compilation.

The Meters made the breaks which.............2006-01-31

...laid down the foundation for hip hop and modern breakbeat. Also, Check out Cymande - Renegades of Funk if you like the Island funk, breakbeat and jazz sounds. Just passing the good word on to those people who crave some good vintage funk. Peace.

classic grooves.......2005-09-08

This is funk 101. Simple, basic, purified funk. just barely distinct at this point from r&b, it's clean punchy lines laid bare. Solos are underplayed to perfection so that the groove is always in center focus, as it should be for this form of highly syncopated soul, from which so many present-day styles have sprung. The Meters pretty much started it all back then, and they still own it.

A great place to start with the Meters.......2004-12-09

If you are already a Meters fan, chances are you own this recording. If you don't, you should. If you are not familiar with the Meters this is a great place to start. The first track alone, Sissy Strut, is more than worth the price of this cd! Think Booker T and the MG's but with MUCH MORE funk. I am not talking today's over-produced watered down definition of funk or R&B. No, no...we are talking historically significant music that makes you stop in your tracks, look around and say "man, that's good"!

A half-and-half mix of cream and milk.......2004-08-03

O.k., first off let me say that the Meters are, in my opinion, one of the greatest funk bands of all time. With respect to sheer rhythmic force, and especially drumming, they have no equal.

Now, with that out of the way, lemme explain the three stars. It has to do with track selection. Imagine, for instance, that someone compiled Michael Jackson's Greatest Hits but left out Billie Jean and Rock With You. While the remaining tracks would be great, you'd be leaving out some of, in my opinion, the best music MJ has to offer. Not everyone will agree with that, but for me it's important that quality of the track, and not just chart placement, be considered when compiling a "best of".

In the case of the Meters, there are several absolute musts that ought to be on here. The first three Meters albums -- "The Meters", "Look-ka py py", and "Struttin'" really defined the group. Stand out tracks from those albums include, in no particular order "The Handclapping Song", "Same Old Thing", "Funky Miracle", "Here Comes The Meter Man", and "Stormy" (one of the most underrated of Meters tunes). I'd also add to that list "Stretch Your Rubber Band", which appeared only as a single. Of these, the addition of "Funky Miracle", "The Handclapping Song", and "Stormy" in place of some of the newer Meters tracks (I'd boot "Hey Pocky A-Way", "Out In The Country", and "They All Ask'd For You") would add at least a star, and maybe two (if it was sequenced right) to my rating of this CD.

As it stands, the "very best" doesn't include songs that really are the very best of what the Meters had to offer. Later tracks, especially "Just Kissed My Baby", are a fine addition to one's Meters collection, but exclusion of older, better songs in the name of variety (which is what I think they were shooting for here) is bad form. And bad form only gets three stars from me.

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