I didn’t know about Dr. John until a couple of months ago, and immediately fell in love with his sound upon hearing it. It’s more of that New Orleans sound that I absolutely cannot get enough of as of late. It’s such an authentic sound that is at times shamanic, and other times absolute joyous and celebratory in nature that makes Dr. John so infectious to listen to. Dr. John passed away exactly 1 year and 1 week ago today as it turns out, but his music is living on.
This album features other great artists including the legendary Eric Clapton on guitar at times, and even Mick Jagger sings some background vocals. Dr. John had a persona known as “The Night Tripper”, a sort of New Orleans musical shaman in a certain sense, and Dr. John shed that persona at a certain point in his studio career around this time I believe, though I’m not sure if this album was using that persona still or not.
The first track is “Black John the Conqueror”, starts out with some gentle dancing piano from Dr. John, and drops into a really smooth r&b style track. I love the vocals in all of his songs, that Louisiana accent brings such flavor to his songs that is seriously enhanced by his expertly played piano while backed up extremely well by the rest of his band. The bass in this song is so smooth and tasty. The song seems to be about Dr. John in a certain shamanic sort of way. Absolutely superb. You can easily groove to this song in such a spectacular way. Wow that bass is really stirring things up while the gospel chorus keeps you steady – so sweet.
“Where Ya At Mule” just came on and it’s sort of bluesy, but it sounds like some New Orleans rhythm and blues if I have to describe it, with many mentions of things from that region in the lyrics – super interesting to hear. Wow it just turned even bluesier and almost heavier in a certain manner, and holy smokes it’s awesome. It keeps going, I feel like the song is coming to a natural conclusion at times and he just keeps building it up like some sort of manifesto.
“Craney Crow” just came on – this some sort of New Orleans swamp-like shamanic journey in the form of a song, and it’s absolutely awesome. The sound is so unique to Dr. John’s music, but the lyrics are always so unexpectedly different from the norm. He sort of sets up expectations in a manner of speaking, and then subverts those expectations with his own creative vision that him and his band execute astoundingly well in my opinion. I’m thinking both: “what on earth am I listening to?”, and “this is absolutely awesome”; when I can do that, I get more excited than I can say to hear more.
“Familiar Reality – Opening” has a delicious opening. The percussion has such a seriously great rhythm to it, and the piano just sort of dances around it. If someone is looking to get into Dr. John, this song might be a great one to start with. I haven’t the faintest idea what’s going on with the conglomeration between the bass guitar and the bass piano notes basically layered on top of each other, but the sound is super full-sounding and really awesome to hear. Wow, I’m not sure what the percussion instrument is, but there’s something that sounds straight out of a rainforest that really surprised me in a great way while listening. This album is incredible so far.
“Pots on Fiyo (File Gumbo) / Who I Got to Fall On (If the Pot Get Heavy)” is possible the most Louisiana name for a song I’ve ever heard, and I haven’t the foggiest idea what it could be about, especially because Dr. John really lays his accent on thick in the lyrics as well, and honestly, the song is absolutely blowing my mind for those reasons as well as the strange composition behind the lyrics. I can’t even think how to describe it – Louisiana rock and roll/r&b that sounds half improvised and half completely orchestrated is about the closest I could come to at the moment, but that feels too narrow to describe the sound. I’m not sure what it is, but I need to hear more of it. It’s a conglomeration of beautiful, soulful noise, and absolutely awesome. The ending is just as strange, as the jam breaks into pure chaos that is almost echo-ly shamanistic.
“Zu Zu Mamou” is up now, and it starts with low bass notes, almost like a ship horn. The song has more acoustic elements in it that I’ve noticed compared to the rest of the album. It sounds like a theme song to a strange psychedelic voodoo boat ride down a swampy river down in the bayou, captained by none other than Dr. John himself. It’s so interesting to listen to, honestly it’s hard to say more. There’s some shaking of maracas or a similar instrument as if a rattlesnake is near – I don’t know if they live in a swamp, but this song is absolutely swampy and totally sick. The electric guitar is picking up a bit and adds some real flair to the song. The instruments have been replaced by some whispering between Dr. John and a woman – I can’t figure out exactly who, and it was so strange yet so appropriate. The guitar is super tasty, and really complementing the exotic percussion quite well. Wow, super sweet and interesting tune.
“Familiar Reality – Reprise” is on now, and honestly gives you some familiar reality to bring you back to this realm after that trip down that psychedelic river on Dr. John’s boat. The band really sort of ties the album together with a nice mostly jam piece that sort of resolves all those notes they’ve been teasing the whole album.
All in all, this was a great way to spend 39 minutes, in my opinion. Dr. John’s sound is so swampy and so joyous at the same time – you have to give it a listen if you’ve never tried.
-A