DR. JOHN AND BAND GET "LIFE" LIVE
"Life" (Allen Toussaint)
Dr. John and the Rampart Street Sympathy Orchestra, 1973
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Back in 1973, Dr. John (Mac Rebennack) was on tour in support of his new album, In The Right Place, which was doing very well for him on the basis of the radio hit singles taken from it, "Right Place, Wrong Time" and "Such A Night". Allen Toussaint produced the LP, geared it a bit more for the pop market, but recruited the Meters as the core rhythm section. The results were an exceptional mix of funk and quirky pop. As a result, Mac did some touring that year with the Meters, using them as a backing band a few times, and on other dates rolling as a New Orleans revue with his own band, plus the Meters and Professor Longhair on the bill, as well. In the case of this show, a live radio broadcast from a recording studio, with a small audience, it was Mac and his band alone, billed as Dr. John and the Rampart Street Sympathy Orchestra. For more details about the show, including a full set list and band line-up, check my earlier posts on two other songs from the night, "Let The Good Times Roll" and "Qualified". As might be expected, the sound quality and mix are excellent.
"Life" was a track from In The Right Place that Toussaint may have written just for that project, as I don't know of any earlier recordings of the song. One of his unique clockwork type of compositions built of simple parts, it transcends categorization as funk, pop or even New Orleans music. Its central circular groove used an ascending eight note riff that achieved its unique push-pull feel by being offset Instead of moving straight bottom to top in the course of its two bar run, it starts in the middle, climbs for four beats, then drops down to the bottom note to begin the second bar of four notes rising, continuing that back and forth sequence throughout. The rise and fall back had an implied syncopation that, coupled with the hip, broken shuffle of John Boudreaux's drums and the various other patterns layered in by piano, bass, horns and vocals, created an intricate whole that had to be played precisely to have the desired result. Hats off to Mac and his great road band for making it work perfectly live and seem so effortless.
Another aspect of "Life" I've long noticed is that it one of a number of Toussaint songs with lyrics that don't make much sense. The words sound good sung together; but I have listened to it literally hundreds of times over the years and could still not really tell you what it's about. Like some of the Steely Dan repertoire, having to be played as exactly written to work, plus the cryptic lyrics probably kept the song from being performed more often by others. The New Orleans eccentric genius, pianist James Booker, was one of the few to do it - and, of course, Toussaint himself, though he has never released a studio version of the song, and only infrequently does it live. Guess that qualifies it as somewhat of a rarity on several fronts.
LOOK-KA: THE METERS TAKE IT TO THE TV JUNGLE
"Look-Ka-Py-Py" (Modeliste, Neville, Nocentelli, Porter, Jr) and
"Jungle Man" (same)
The Meters, live in Chicago, 1973
Making another kind of sense altogether, the Meters' "Look-Ka-Py-Py" dispenses with any semblance of meaning and just uses vocal nonsense syllables to further syncopate it's deep funk groove. Originally recorded by the band in 1969 and released on Josie Records, the song got up almost into the Top Ten nationally and was one of a string of their singles that sold well during the period. The story goes that the band developed the it while driving to a gig, trying to mimic the sounds of their misfiring van engine.This live version coupled with "Jungle Man" comes from a 1973 television broadcast they did while touring with Dr John and his band in the New Orleans revue format, which also included Professor Longhair (and on this show, Earl King). It was Mac's generous idea to highlight the under-recognized music from his hometown as he toured extensively on the basis of his hit singles from the In the Right Place album. Well, that and Phil Walden was trying to manage both Dr. John and the Meters at the time and co-booking their dates. Unfortunately, the concept was a hard sell for concert promoters unfamiliar with New Orleans musical history and did not last too long.
Zigaboo Modeliste's drumming on this take of "Look-Ka-Py-Py" was seriously wide open, loose-limbed and improvisatory, guaranteed to set backfields in motion. Unofficial (at that point) bandmate Cyril Neville's non-stop flurry of conga beats seemed to be an attempt to fill all the creative space the foursome left on purpose in the tune, which kind of worked against the concept; but things settled down as they segued into "Jungle Man" (from their second Reprise album, Rejuvenation), and dug down in the groove. It was a brief but musically subversive strut in the TV spotlight.
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