Cabbage Alley is the fourth studio album by the funk group the Meters, produced by Allen Toussaint and Marshall Sehorn and released in May 1972 by Reprise Records. It was the band's first album for the label, following the demise of Josie Records a year earlier, and the signing afforded the group a higher recording budget and re-introduced organist and keyboardist Art Neville to the lineup, having briefly left the band some time earlier.
The Meters used the album to explore a variety of musical styles, including reggae, rock and boogaloo, while retaining the group's distinctive second line-based, syncopated funk music. The music is softer and jammier than the group's earlier records and also sees them increase the use of chants and vocals, particularly from Neville, marking a further departure from the group's instrumental beginnings. The group also incorporated then-popular studio effects like tape delay and phasing. The album is named for a then-recently demolished back alley in the group's native New Orleans which had been a centre for the city's second line funk music, while the surrealist album sleeve was inspired by the art of René Magritte
The title track and "Do the Dirt" were issued as singles. On release, Cabbage Alley received wide acclaim from music critics, some of whom deemed it the group's best album yet. Despite the reviews and the album's smoother sound, it was a commercial disappointment, which was partly attributed to Reprise's poor marketing. The album has been re-released several times, including by Sundazed Records in 2000.
Background and recording
Active since the 1960s, the Meters were regarded as leaders in authentic New Orleans funk,[1][2] with a danceable, rhythmic sound characterised by the second line syncopation of drummer Zigaboo Modeliste and bassist George Porter Jr.,[3][2] complemented by organist and keyboardist Art Neville and riff-oriented guitarist Leo Nocentelli.[2] By 1972, the group had achieved several R&B hits in the United States with danceable instrumentals,[4] but spent much of their time as the house band for Allen Toussaint and Marshall Sehorn's production company Sansu Enterprises.[4][5] As the group's single "Chicken Strut" (1970) was rising in popularity, Neville acrimoniously exited the band due to an inter-band dispute regarding whether to sign with Otis Redding's manager, Phil Walden.[6]
In 1971, the Meters' label Josie Records went bankrupt,[7] leaving the group with substantial unpaid royalties.[8] According to Porter Jr, Sehorn–serving as the group's manager–negotiated a deal to sign the Meters with a bigger label, Reprise Records, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Records.[8] The deal necessitated that Neville return to the group.[6] Porter Jr later reflected: "For the band, it was a good move [for Neville to rejoin]. We’re getting ready to go to a better label, get a better budget for recording and stuff."[8] The move from Josie to Reprise did not compromise the Meters' relationship with Sansu, as they retained Toussaint as producer and Sehon as manager.[4]
The group's first album for Reprise,[9]Cabbage Alley was produced by Toussaint and Sehorn,[10] and unlike their earlier albums, the band recorded it in their own sessions, "instead of on the tail end of somebody else's," as described by Cliff White of Blues & Soul.[11] According to Let It Rock writer Pete Wingfield, Toussaint approached Cabbage Alley as a companion project to his own album Life, Love and Faith (1972), further noting that the musician hoped the release of both records through Warner labels would revive interest in soul music in New Orleans and attract a white audience to the city's musicians, as well as "putting an identifiable N.O. sound back in the charts."[12] However, in a 1974 NME interview with Roger St. Pierre, Neville said that while Toussaint and Sehorn are credited for producing their albums, the production work was taken by the Meters themselves, adding: "Toussaint and Sehorn don't even come into the studio while we're recording but they do get involved in the final mix and so on."[13]
Composition
The title track is based on "Hey Now Baby" by Professor Longhair (pictured).
While rooted in dance-oriented funk music with second line syncopation,[3][14]Cabbage Alley sees the group explore a wider array of musical styles than on previous albums.[11]Bob Palmer wrote that the album features several prominently reggae-style tracks, in addition to "generous helpings of the more fashionable second line and its bastard child boogaloo",[14] while music writer John Laycock that while the Meters are known as rhythm and blues, the record's music more closely resembles the reggae of Desmond Dekker than "New Orleans stalwarts such as Fats Domino or Dr. John."[15] The album is also slicker, jammier and funkier than the group's earlier recordings,[16] and continues to move them away from their all-instrumental beginnings by increasing the use of Neville's vocals,[17] with a higher total of tracks with vocals than instrumentals.[18] The band also experimented with several then-popular studio effects, such as phasing, echo and delay.[19]
The change in direction is immediately evident with the distorted guitar riff that begins the opening song "You’ve Got to Change (You’ve Got to Reform)",[18] a dance track with a lengthy jam section.[14] "Stay Away" is a delve into progressive rock,[19] and is stretched out by unusual electronic experimentation,[20] and tape delay.[14] A cover of a Neil Young song,[20] "Birds" is an exercise in smooth soul,[16] while "The Flower Song" and "Smilin'" are instrumentals which have been compared to the music of Booker T. & the MGs.[14] "Soul Island" was inspired by the band's trip to Trinidad, where they performed with the Mighty Sparrow,[21] and was considered by Palmer to be the group's most reggae-like song to that point, citing the "chunk-a-chunk bass and guitar unisons and basic organ lead" for melodically and texturally evoking "the music of the Islands."[14] Idris Walter of Sounds deemed it a "New Orleans reggae" song with similarities to Unit 4 + 2's hit "Concrete and Clay" (1965).[22]
A "chunky dance novelty",[11] "Do the Dirt" has a similar aesthetic and instrumentation to "Soul Island" but slides into a "North American soul groove" during the bridges.[14] Written by Nocentelli,[23] the rock-oriented "Lonesome and Unwanted" is sung by Neville[14] and built around a chant-aided hook.[23] The album's title track "Cabbage Alley" was inspired in part by Professor Longhair's "Hey Now Baby",[24] which was recorded around 1950 but not released until earlier in 1972.[11] The song is characterised by Neville's rolling piano and, according to Joe McEwen of The Real Paper, "a stuttering rhythm track two years ahead of its time."[25]Louder Than War writer Craig Chaligne wrote that the track showed the group's increasing confidence in vocal arrangements.[18] Neville felt that listeners from outside New Orleans would not "understand" the song, noting that it "has the Dixieland heritage, the second line feeling, even more than anything else we've written. If you born here, you just gonna have it, that's all."[5]
Release and reception
Cabbage Alley was released in the US by Reprise in May 1972,[26][27] and was also the group's first album released in the United Kingdom, issued to coincide with their tour of the country.[13] The title track and "Do the Dirt" were both released as singles.[28] The record was named for a small back street in New Orleans that had been recently demolished to make way for a football stadium.[5][21] Described by Timothy Crouse as "the poor black's version of Bourbon Street",[5] the site was a centre for the city's uplifting second line funk music.[3] According to Lionel Batiste Sr. of Treme Brass Band: "Cabbage Alley was around Perdido Street. They had a lot of musicians down there—it was almost like a [red light] district—fast women. Near the battlefield."[29] Designed by John Echevarrieta, the album cover is based on a variation of René Magritte's 1952 painting The Listening Room, which itself had been reproduced on the sleeve of the Jeff Beck Group's Beck-Ola (1969). According to authors Angie Errigo and Steve Leaning, "Both pictures are Surrealist in the incongruous, claustrophobic propinquity of two equally convincing, yet texturally antithetical realities."[30]
Cabbage Alley received wide acclaimed by music critics,[28][31] with many describing as the band's best album yet.[11] Writing favourably in Rolling Stone, Bob Palmer praised Modeliste's drumming for imparting "more rhythmic variety to every bar than any American soul group has yet employed", and the rest of the group for "often [doubling] on auxiliary percussion, resulting in a percussive complexity that is both a new and natural direction." He added that even the album's weaker songs contain some of "the rhythmic vitality and emerging roots-consciousness that looks like the most important new development in the black popular music of the Seventies."[14]The Windsor Star writer John Laycock described the album as "nice enough and interesting in a record-scholar's way" and highlighted its similarity to reggae.[15] Juan Rodriguez of The Montreal Star deemed it "a good dancing record, if you play it real loud and, as James Brown says, con-cen-trate." They wrote that the sound is thick and funky and the group can be forgiven for "[overdoing] it sometimes", while praising the combination of the band and Toussaint's production for resulting in "some unique product".[3]
Commercial response
Despite the album's strong reviews,[11] smoother sound,[18] and the move to a major label,[32]Cabbage Alley and its two singles were commercial disappointments.[11][13][28] The album reached number 48 on the Billboard Top Soul LPs chart, but unlike the group's first two albums, it missed the Billboard Top LPs and Tape chart.[33] Arthur Neville told an interviewer for Blues & Soul that he believed the album should have had stronger exposure, "because everyone agrees that the material is the strongest we have ever done."[32]
While the group blamed the poor sales on lack of promotion, St. Pierre believed they were also because "it was somewhat devoid of memorable melodic content – relying simply on basic riffs", believing this to be a stylistic change which "happened a bit too quickly for their fans."[13] White believed the poor sales suggested that "the rest of America (and naturally Europe) had long lost its appetite for New Orleans music", noting that even musicians from the city had turned to exploring broader sounds,[11] while James Lien of CMJ New Music Monthly believed the wider public "didn't click" with Cabbage Alley or the Meters' later album Fire on the Bayou (1975) because "they were peppered with so many obscure references to local New Orleans culture that folks who didn't know about Mardi Gras or red beans and rice just couldn't pick up on it."[34] Chaligne wrote that the failure was partly attributed to "Reprise's inability to market a band that had few similarities with the rest of its roster."[18] Despite the disappointment, Cabbage Alley led to the Meters working on Dr. John's popular "Right Place, Wrong Time" (1973) and taking a European tour in mid-1973 with Dr. John and Professor Longhair.[21]
Cabbage Alley was re-released in the UK in 1975 by Warner.[23] The album and its follow-ups Rejuvenation (1974) and Fire on the Bayou (1975) were further re-released in 2000 by Sundazed Records, a label specialising in reissues of 1960s and 70s "classic recordings",[2] with liner notes by John Swenson.[35] Further reissues of the record were by Reprise in 2001, Hi Horse Records in 2009, Music on Vinyl in 2013 and WEA Japan in 2014.[36] Some re-releases include both parts of "Chug Chug Chug-a-Lug (Push and Shove)" as bonus tracks.[16]
Reviewing the 1975 reissue, Peter Harvey of Record Mirror wrote that the album showcased the group's early sound which was earthier and "closer to the street" than they had become, and highlighted "Lonesome and Unwanted People" and four other tracks, concluding that the album is "fresh, spontaneous sounding, and naturally made for dancing."[23] In The Real People, Joe McEwen called Cabbage Alley a "largely (and unfortunately) ignored album",[25] while Billboard referred to it as a "great" debut for Reprise that "saw the band branch out with more chants and Neville's soulful vocalizing."[37]Dave Thompson noted that while the group "[rewrapped] their trademark sound in some of the modern studio's favorite toys," the title track ensured the group did not "move too far off base".[19] Josh Terry of Vinyl Me, Please said that while vocals were more prominent, "the grooves were still there — anchored with a Caribbean flavor from a trip to Trinidad and Tobago". He also noted that while the Meters tentatively incorporated pop elements into the album's jams, they "perfected" the pop aspect on Rejuvenation.[6]
Less impressed, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote that Cabbage Alley was less gritty than the band's previous works, finding them "sacrificing feel for texture", and complained that the group had no memorable songs to adapt to their new style. He qualified this by saying that that while the Meters had "gotten a little softer than necessary", it remained pleasurable to hear a "remarkably sympathetic, supple group" play.[16] In Christgau's Record Guide (1981), critic Robert Christgau questioned whether the album's stylistic variation, or ambiguity, hinted at an identity crisis for the band.[20] In The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (1997), writer Colin Larkin notes that Cabbage Alley began a series of "critically acclaimed albums" for the Meters that "reinforced their distinctive, sinewy rhythms."[31] Terry Perkins of St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote that Cabbage Alley and its two follow-ups "clearly mark the band's high point as a unit", and further highlighted "Gettin' Funkier All the Time",[2] while Steve MacQueen of Tallahassee Democrat recommended them alongside "Cissy Strut" (1969) for defining the group's "stripped-down, choppy, syncopated funk style of the early 70s".[38] In a 2015 interview, Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys called Cabbage Alley the "maddest" find in his record collection.[39]
The Meters are an American funk band formed in 1965 in New Orleans by Zigaboo Modeliste (drums), George Porter Jr. (bass), Leo Nocentelli (guitar) and Art Neville (keyboards). The band performed and recorded their own music from the late 1960s until 1977 and played an influential role as backing musicians for other artists, including Lee Dorsey, Robert Palmer, Dr. John, and Allen Toussaint. Their original songs "Cissy Strut" and "Look-Ka Py Py" are considered funk classics.
Allen Richard Toussaint was an American musician, songwriter, arranger, and record producer. He was an influential figure in New Orleans rhythm and blues from the 1950s to the end of the century, described as "one of popular music's great backroom figures." Many musicians recorded Toussaint's compositions. He was a producer for hundreds of recordings: the best known are "Right Place, Wrong Time", by longtime friend Dr. John, and "Lady Marmalade" by Labelle.
Galactic is an American jam band from New Orleans, Louisiana.
Rejuvenation is the fifth studio album by the New Orleans funk group The Meters. It was released in 1974. In 2003, the album was ranked number 138 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and 139 in a 2012 revised list.
The Wild Tchoupitoulas is a 1976 album by the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian tribe the Wild Tchoupitoulas. While not a commercial success, the effort was well received critically and the experience recording it encouraged the four Neville brothers to perform together for the first time as a group.
Look-Ka Py Py is the second studio album by the American funk group The Meters. The instrumental album was ranked number 218 on the Rolling Stone list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003, 220 on the 2012 revised list and 415 on the 2020 revised list.
Joseph "Ziggy" Modeliste, also known as Zigaboo, is an American drummer best known as a founding member of the funk band the Meters. He is widely considered an innovator in the funk genre and New Orleans style drumming. The Meters' music had a defining role and set the stylistic tone of New Orleans funk. Due to his work with the band, Modeliste is credited as an integral part of bringing New Orleans second-line grooves into popular music.
Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley is the debut solo album by Robert Palmer, released in 1974. It was his first effort after three album releases co-fronting the band Vinegar Joe.
The Meters is the debut album by the American funk group The Meters. It was released in May 1969, the first of eight albums by the band. The band's early works were developed through improvisation. Band members had spent most of the 1960s performing together in nightclubs of New Orleans. They had a fluid musical style that included elements of R&B, rock, and jazz.
Struttin' is the third studio album by the funk group The Meters. It is the band's first album featuring vocal performances.
Fire on the Bayou is the sixth studio album by the funk band The Meters.
George Porter Jr. is an American musician, best known as the bassist and singer of The Meters. Along with Art Neville, Porter formed the group in the mid 1960s and came to be recognized as one of the progenitors of funk. The Meters disbanded in 1977, but reformed in 1989. The original group played the occasional reunion, with the Funky Meters, of which Porter and Neville are members, keeping the spirit alive, until Neville's retirement in 2018 and death the following year.
Leo Nocentelli is an American musician and songwriter best known as a founding member and lead guitarist of the funk band The Meters. He wrote the original versions of several funk classics such as "Cissy Strut" and "Hey Pocky A-Way". As a session musician he has recorded with a variety of notable artists such as Dr. John, Robert Palmer and Etta James. He is the recipient of a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award as a member of The Meters.
Southern Nights is a 1975 R&B concept album by Allen Toussaint. Seminal to the development of New Orleans R&B, Toussaint incorporated into the album elements of funk and soul music, while, according to AllMusic, suggesting neo-psychedelia. Two singles were released in support of the album, "Country John" backed with "When the Party's Over" and "Southern Nights"—Toussaint's signature song—backed with "Out of the City". Although neither single charted for Toussaint, "Southern Nights" as later covered by Glen Campbell in 1977 reached number one in Billboard's country, pop and adult contemporary charts. Released in May 1975 by Reprise Records, the album has been subsequently reissued multiple times on both LP and CD.
Kickback is a collection of rare and unreleased material by the funk group the Meters.
Zony Mash is an album of vintage rarities and non-album B-sides by the funk group The Meters. The album consists of 13 tracks of the band's early works with Josie Records from 1968 to 1971. Eight tracks were originally released as singles, and five tracks were released as bonus tracks on re-issue albums.
Funkify Your Life: The Meters Anthology is a compilation album by the funk group The Meters. The album was released in 1995 by Rhino Records. It is a comprehensive compilation of the band's work.
Marshall Estus Sehorn was an American A&R man, songwriter, music publisher and entrepreneur who played an important role in the development of R&B and popular music in New Orleans between the 1950s and 1970s, particularly as the business partner of record producer Allen Toussaint.
This is the discography for American R&B-jazz musician Allen Toussaint.
Sea-Saint Studios was a music recording facility located at 3809 Clematis Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, which was co-owned by musician, producer, and arranger, Allen Toussaint and record A&R man and publishing agent Marshall Sehorn, which was in operation for over thirty years, from 1973-2005, when it was destroyed during Hurricane Katrina. During those years it hosted recordings by numerous musical acts such as Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Patti LaBelle, Joe Cocker, and Elvis Costello, as well as local acts such as the Meters and Dr. John.
↑ Errigo, Angie; Leaning, Steve (1979). The Illustrated History of the Rock Album Cover. Worthing, England: Littlehampton Book Services Ltd. p.151. ISBN0706409159.
1 2 3 Larkin, Colin (1997). "The Meters". Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music. London: Virgin Books. p.838. ISBN1-85227 745 9.
1 2 Abbey, John (August 31, 1973). "The Mighty Meters". Blues & Soul. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
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