The Meters: Struttin' ---Ink Blot Magazine

The Meters: Struttin'

at a glance...

Hometown: New Orleans, LA
Year Formed: 1968

Personnel:
Art Neville -organ, lead vocals
Joseph "Zigaboo" Modeliste -drums
Leo Nocentelli -guitar
George Porter, Jr. -bass

Bands In The Family:
The Neville Brothers, The Wild Tchopitoulas, The Funky Meters, The Hawkettes, Art Neville & the Neville Sounds

Notes:
Keyboardist Art Neville is a veteran of the Crescent City's musical scene. He scored his first hit with The Hawkettes, "Mardi Gras Mambo," in 1955. But he hadn't been playing much before forming Art Neville & the Neville Sounds in 1968. He recruited three younger players to play alongside himself and his brothers, but a club owner convinced Neville to downsize the ensemble. Then producers Allen Toussaint and Marshall Sehorn hired them to be a studio band. Someone got the idea to put out some of their grooves as singles, they picked a new name, and in 1969 The Meters lodged five 45s in the r& b charts. The band carried on until the mid '70s, when Neville split to join the family act, but he and Porter still play periodically as the Funky Meters.

The Meters
Struttin'
Sundazed, Released 1970

Wanna see your friends dance in ways they'll really regret? Put on this CD. Its first track, "Chicken Strut," commands that y'all "Keep on struttin," and ensures that you will by blasting out an irresistable groove punctuated by drummer Ziggy Modeliste's rude, raucous cackles.

Struttin' was the Meters' third album in twelve months and they were on roll, churning out ever more intricate and hard-hitting funk instrumentals that, for the duration of their hearing, rendered chairs redundant. These guys apparently could do this stuff in their sleep, which must have motivated their efforts to stretch their envelope; more ensemble vocals, a sparser yet more rollicking attack, and Art Neville's three lead vocals.

My pick of the latter goes to "Ride Your Pony," which they do up in true dancin' in the streets with your shirt in the air fashion, and "Darling Darling Darling" is just the thing for that slow dance when you're just about tuckered out. The odd one out is a panty soaking crooner's take on -- Jimmy Webb's "Wichita Lineman?" And the bonus tracks? Another vocal number, the shouting-out anthem "Funky Meters' Soul," and breakneck thank you ladies and gentlemen number, "Meter Strut."

If you like The Meters, check out:
The Meters The Meters
The Meters Look-Ka Py Py
Booker T. & The MGs Time Is Tight
James Brown The Payback
Beastie Boys Paul's Boutique
Parliament Funkentelechy vs. The Placebo Syndrome
Sly & The Family Stone Fresh
Funkadelic Maggot Brain

-- Bill Meyer

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