The METERS....tight,funky vibes

The Rhino Records Meters box set is great, not the best recordings from New Orleans in the 60's though.

Sundazed put out an lp of rare meters with some really nice covers (Beatles, Hank Williams, Rolling stones).

Not as good as the Wild Tchoupitoulas but still fun is Wild Magnolias : Life Is A Carnival on blue note.

Cheers

I don't agree the The Meters "evolved into The Neville Brothers". Obviously, one or more of the brothers Neville play in each or both groups, but they are distinct, and The Meters Josie label stuff I'm talking about doesn't sound much like The Neville Brothers, though some of the later Meters stuff is more similar (and some of TNB's best-known tunes were originally latter-day Meters tunes written or cowritten by guitarist Leo Nocentelli, who was The Meters main songwriter). But just to be clear, Aaron Neville, the distinctive voice of TNB who had the great soul hit under his own name "Tell It Like It Is" back in the 60's, does not sing for The Meters, and The Meters have continued, albeit on and off, to play either under their old name or as The Funky Meters throughout the period of TNB's career.

BTW, a little research has reminded me that the wonderful Sundazed reissue label has released domestic CD's of the 3 original Josie label Meters LP's, with bonus tracks. You CANNOT go wrong with these, believe me!

Actually, the Meters as an entity were inactive for quite a few years during the Nevilles' emergence. It may have been a period of a decade of senescence, while Art was busy with the Neville Brothers, before he and the other Meters decided to play again.

Dan: Yes, like I alluded to above, The Meters as we knew them basically hibernated between '84 to '89, although some of the non-Neville members continued to collaborate on and off in the meantime. And Ziggy never drummed for them again after that period, as far I know. Although I'm not the huge fan of the latter-day Meters output that I am of their groundbreaking early stuff, I was very glad to get the opportunity to see them live at the Jazz & Heritage Fest in N.O. in '89 or '90 (can't remember the year exactly!). All I wanted to point out is that they didn't turn into TNB.

Actually, The Wild Tchoupitoulas are the Neville Brothers and The Meters with 5 Mardis Gras Indians.