Album: Gris-Gris
Artist: Dr John
Born: New Orleans
Released: January 1968
Genre: Psychedelic Blues
Influenced: Tom Waits, Paul Weller, Spiritualized
Dr John really is one of a kind and his music is almost unclassifiable (or "sui generis", you might say). He's also one of music's great survivors, still producing brilliant and original work today (see 2012's Revolution). He emerged from the seething swamp of musicality that is New Orleans, playing in various groups in the late 50s and then moving to LA in the mid-sixties to become a session musician (as mentioned on the previous blog, he played piano and horns on various Canned Heat LPs, and also recorded with Frank Zappa and Sonny & Cher). After battling heroin addiction and the law, he finally got a chance to shine in '68 with Gris-Gris, his first solo album, a psychedelic exploration of voodoo and the various musical styles of New Orleans (blues, jazz and rock). Unsurprisingly, this was all a bit too far out for US and UK audiences at the time, and the album sold poorly; for a little taste of what Dr John, The Night Tripper was all about at the time, this clip (though not from Gris-Gris) is a good illustration:
Dr John (real name "Mac" Rebennack) introduces his new medicine man persona on opener Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya (gris-gris being a good luck voodoo amulet, gumbo being a Louisiana stew and Ya Ya being one of New Orlean's biggest hits in the 60s), offering weird, barely audible cures for women trouble and stress (Balls Fix Jam in your breakfast?). All this set against distant drums and a ghostly female chorus, and delivered by Dr John in a hypnotic N'Awlins drawl. Mama Roux is another highlight and the song that most resembles a single on the album, though the lyrics are again cryptic. Side 2 features two outstanding tracks, Croker Courtbullion (a supreme psychedelic instrumental, containing sounds I've never heard before or since) and I Walk On Guilded Splinters. Dr John is no longer offering cures but threatening harm and invoking the malicious power of voodoo. I'm not even sure what "guilded" (gilded would mean covered in gold) splinters are, nor why he would "burn up" after walking on them, but none of this detracts from my enjoyment of the song. They just don't make 'em like this anymore.
Artist: Dr John
Born: New Orleans
Released: January 1968
Genre: Psychedelic Blues
Influenced: Tom Waits, Paul Weller, Spiritualized
Dr John really is one of a kind and his music is almost unclassifiable (or "sui generis", you might say). He's also one of music's great survivors, still producing brilliant and original work today (see 2012's Revolution). He emerged from the seething swamp of musicality that is New Orleans, playing in various groups in the late 50s and then moving to LA in the mid-sixties to become a session musician (as mentioned on the previous blog, he played piano and horns on various Canned Heat LPs, and also recorded with Frank Zappa and Sonny & Cher). After battling heroin addiction and the law, he finally got a chance to shine in '68 with Gris-Gris, his first solo album, a psychedelic exploration of voodoo and the various musical styles of New Orleans (blues, jazz and rock). Unsurprisingly, this was all a bit too far out for US and UK audiences at the time, and the album sold poorly; for a little taste of what Dr John, The Night Tripper was all about at the time, this clip (though not from Gris-Gris) is a good illustration:
Dr John (real name "Mac" Rebennack) introduces his new medicine man persona on opener Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya (gris-gris being a good luck voodoo amulet, gumbo being a Louisiana stew and Ya Ya being one of New Orlean's biggest hits in the 60s), offering weird, barely audible cures for women trouble and stress (Balls Fix Jam in your breakfast?). All this set against distant drums and a ghostly female chorus, and delivered by Dr John in a hypnotic N'Awlins drawl. Mama Roux is another highlight and the song that most resembles a single on the album, though the lyrics are again cryptic. Side 2 features two outstanding tracks, Croker Courtbullion (a supreme psychedelic instrumental, containing sounds I've never heard before or since) and I Walk On Guilded Splinters. Dr John is no longer offering cures but threatening harm and invoking the malicious power of voodoo. I'm not even sure what "guilded" (gilded would mean covered in gold) splinters are, nor why he would "burn up" after walking on them, but none of this detracts from my enjoyment of the song. They just don't make 'em like this anymore.
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