#402: Dr. John's Gumbo

Very specific instructions for listening to Dr. John's Gumbo can be found within Charlie Gillett's 1972 Rolling Stone review of this record, for those who care to read it... That assessment was written when I was not quite one year old, however, and I'm choosing to dispense with Gillett's advice, and just listen to the damn thing straight through, on my own... Sorry, Charlie.

This record serves as Dr. John's love song to New Orleans, circa his formative years, and as such is composed mostly of interpretations of Big Easy standards... The record starts with "Iko Iko." Written by Sugar Boy Crawford and originally titled "Jock-A-Mo," the song tells the tale of two battling tribes of Mardi Gras Indians and served as a staple of Grateful Dead shows from the late '70s onward... On "Blow Wind Blow," Dr. John pays homage to R&B pianist Huey Smith, while "Big Chief" sees him offering tribute to Earl King and Professor Longhair, not least by way of his intriguing organ-and-whistling intro... Aided by Fred Staehle's "melodic drumming," John provides a rollicking piano boogie to "Mess Around," written by Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegün for Ray Charles. John's version of Earl King's "Let the Good Times Roll" (also known as "Come On") doesn't quite measure up to Jimi Hendrix' version, but remains charming nonetheless. John's take on Bob Shad's "Junko Partner" features some amazing sax work from Lee Allen, while traditional folk tune "Stack-A-Lee" showcases John's right hand skills quite nicely. Fans of NPR's "American Routes" will recognize "Tipitina" as the show's theme music (host Nick Spitzer is himself a New Orleanian); John's version features some his best keyboard work, both hands included, and this number could forgivably be taken as the record's definitive track... The Doctor's take on Earl King and Johnny Vincent's "Those Lonely Lonely Nights" recalls the mid '50s groove of Fats Domino's "Blueberry Hill," while his "Huey Smith Medley" fails its namesake somewhat, lazily exploiting the idioms of the previous two decades... John redeems himself somewhat on closer "Little Liza Jane," with its bouncing rhythm and beautiful harmonies, along with one last shot of that remarkable Lee Allen sax action...

Some Other Thoughts:

#403, Big Star's Radio City: Chris Bell lent his hand to two of my favorite tracks on Radio City, "O My Soul" and "Back of a Car," before leaving the group, essentially putting the rest of the record into the hands of Alex Chilton. "Way Out West," one of several contributions from bassist Andy Hummel, leads with an aggressive guitar hook and follows with catchy vocals on the chorus. "You Get What You Deserve" lopes along in a casual, twangy sort of fashion, eventually yielding a pretty good guitar coda... "Mod Lang," for all of its cowbell, is less than noteworthy. "Daisy Glaze" is an interesting enough piece of music, but Chilton makes us wait a full two minutes to realize it. "September Gurls" and "I'm in Love With a Girl" are lovely enough. A reprise of "O My Soul" rounds out the record. It's a reasonable enough record, especially taking into account Bell's departure, but if I were to take a Big Star record with me to a desert island, I'd pick #1 Record over this...

#401, Lynyrd Skynyrd's (Pronounced Len-Nerd Skin-Nerd): I grew up in a God-forsaken, post-industrial hellhole of a city called Saginaw, Michigan. My parents, God love 'em, they're wonderful, smart, educated, cultured people, really didn't win the lottery when choosing a place to move to (to be fair, Saginaw wasn't all that bad a plce back in the early sixties but by the eighties, the town was coming apart at the seams; these days, the seams are just gone altogether). On the other hand, they couldn't have picked a more bucolic place to send me in the summers than Benzie County. But while beautiful, Benzie was about on par, culturally, with Saginaw... I recognized my plight fairly early on, and did everything I could the year round to jam my head full of Gang of Four, Echo and the Bunnymen, Depeche Mode; all of the stuff the hip kids in suburban Detroit were listening to, but to no avail... To this day, I have a deep-seated, almost genetic, attraction to low brow music. And so it is that I dig Bob Seger, George Thorogood, Ted Nugent, and, yes... Lynyrd Skynyrd. This record takes me back to the days when I'd sneak out of my bedroom at midnight, meet my friends at the nearest cemetery or the Assembly building, pile into somebody's Jeep, and spend the wee hours of the morning cruising the dirt roads of Saginaw or Benzie County firing .22 rounds into the asses of whatever small animals moved in our headlights... Standouts on this record, for me, include "Gimme Three Steps," "Simple Man," "Poison Whiskey" and, of course, "Free Bird"...