50 Rare New Orleans Gems
J P Ryan | Waltham, Massachusetts United States | 06/27/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"In recent years the music of New Orleans has been reissued at a pleasing pace, with labels from Soul Jazz to Funky Delicacies unearthing rare finds from the city's past. Of course, since Katrina preserving the century-plus of great music and cultural history of N.O., from the earliest jazz through funk and hip-hop, seems all the more critical and precious. Undoubtedly one of the prime movers of New Orleans soul and funk over the past 50 years is songwriter/producer/pianist Allen Toussaint. A decade ago EMI issued a 2-CD set, "The Minit Records Story" that featured 28 tracks written and produced by Toussaint during his first 'golden' era, 1959 - 63 (the second disc covers the resurrected label's non-N.O. soul years, 1966 - 70), and Capitol issued a too-slight 20 track overview of the same material a few years ago. Sundazed Records has contributed mightily to the city's musical heritage by reissuing The Meters' seminal catalog (1968 - 77) as well as two CDs collecting the superb work of Lee Dorsey produced by Toussaint during Dorsey's Amy/Sansu period (1965 - 70). The 2-CD set under discussion, "Get Down Low!" features 50 remarkably consistent and varied tracks Toussaint (mostly) wrote and produced for Sansu/Amy, after his Minit years (and a two year stint in the Army). As such it contains fewer national hits. Many of these artists and tracks are reissued here for the first time in decades.
Toussaint also worked with a number of other small labels during the '60s, so the quality of this material is indeed striking. This set covers a mere two years, after all. But it is packed with minor classics and delightfully eccentric one-offs like the surreal Omar Khayyam's "The Rubaiyats" and Diamond Joe's "Gossip Gossip." Imagine, if you will, what Toussaint was doing between the witty and soulful Minit classics and the harder funk of The Meters, and that's a general picture of what's on this set. Some artists - Betty Harris, Lee Dorsey, Benny Spellman, and Earl King - are well known, others - Willie Harper, Curley Moore, Lee Calvin Lee - remained local figures. Sundazed manages to mine the gold, or the gumbo, however, from the loping two-part title track (by Moore, with marvelous piano trills by Toussaint) to the proto-psych-funk "Hot Tamales, Parts 1 & 2" by one Prime Mates. Betty Harris revisits Mojo Hanna territory with "Bad Luck," and two of Dorsey's many classics ("Ride Your Pony," in its mono single mix, and "Holy Cow") are included. One hears traces of Stax and Motown, but mostly that's what they are - traces. Toussaint the auteur stands out at both his most likeable - many melodies and grooves stick in your head after just a couple of plays - and singular. One can certainly discern his rhythmic stamp, lighter than, say, Eddie Bo's, but always irregular and infectious. And by the time of the last sessions to be included, Art Neville's "Bo Diddley" and the unissued-at-the-time "Too Late" the sound and presence of The Meters is unmistakeable. "Get Down Low! The Soul Of New Orleans '65 - '67" feature marvelous songs, deep grooves, great singers, and New Orleans' finest session men, all brought together by Toussaint during a brief but wonderful period."
The hidden history of New Orleans soul
Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 01/14/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"of New Orleans soul. The rest of the world didn't really catch on until 1965, when singer Lee Dorsey had a national hit with "Ride Your Pony," an irresistible tune that Toussaint wrote under the pseudonym of Naomi Neville. Toussaint also produced the record, slathering it with the most wicked, slickest pop hooks he could come up with, and followed it up with a string of hits that featured backing by the musicians who would later form the core of the much-vaunted Meters and the Neville Brothers band. "Get Low Down" is a 2-CD set that explores Toussaint's early career as an Phil Spector-style impressario, displaying both his brilliance and a paint-by-numbers approach that was all too common throughout the teen-oriented music industry. The first disc is more formulaic than the second - riding high on Dorsey's unique mix of teenybop pop and funky speakeasy blues, Toussaint's crew worked ideas out ad nasueum in the records of various local lesser lights. The second disc, though, features canny appropriations of other popular R&B styles, such as the Stax-Volt and Motown sounds, as well as the steady development of the Neville Brothers sound. Not all the tracks are golden, but Toussaint's visionary production gave his work a soulful, sensual gloss that's sure to remain enthralling for decades to come."
Track Listings (25) - Disc #1