Dr John - Desitively Bonnaroo

A very underrated album from the good Doctor. His career is split between the voodoo psych madness of his first 4 LPs up to the Gumbo album and the laid back New Orleans funk of the rest of his work after his hit Right Place Wrong Time, which became something of an albatross round his neck as he seemed doomed to try and repeat it's success.

This was his follow up to the break through In The Right Place album and it unfortunately sank without trace despite being a superior set of tunes. While most people seem to regard his earlier spacier work as being the definitive Dr John sound there was always an accessible funky sound hidden in his music going all the way back to Mama Roux off his first LP Gris Gris, which Desitively Bonnaroo simply polished and clarified. While he seemed to slip into a bit of a rut with this approach on subsequent releases on this LP he presents a beautifully recorded set of blues, soul and funk expertly played by the Meters, who contribute a great deal to the grit and fire that keeps it from feeling like it is a by rote stab at the mainstream.

Dr John wikipedia