The Meters - 1974 - Rejuvenation

The Meters

1974

Rejuvenation

01. People Say 5:15

02. Love Is For Me 3:49

03. Just Kissed My Baby 4:42

04. What'cha Say 3:27

05. Jungle Man 3:23

06. Hey Pocky A-Way 4:01

07. It Ain't No Use 11:48

08. Loving You Is On My Mind 3:13

09. Africa 3:56

Ziggy Modeliste – drums, vocals

Art Neville – keyboards, vocals

Leo Nocentelli – guitar, vocals

George Porter, Jr. – bass, vocals

Lowell George – slide guitar on "Just Kissed My Baby"

The Meters cut their first three mostly instrumental albums with Josie Records, before signing with Reprise and recording 1972's Cabbage Alley, their first album to feature mostly vocal songs and arrangements. Rejuvenation is the follow-up album. It was produced by Allen Toussaint and recorded at his brand new Sea-Saint Studios in New Orleans. Some of the songs on the album include horn section arrangements by Toussaint.

The front cover artwork features a photograph of a woman sitting on a couch alongside several record albums strewn about her living room, such as Allen Toussaint's 1972 Life, Love and Faith as well as the Meters' own previous LP Cabbage Alley.

By the mid-70s, The Meters, who had risen to prominence as Allen Toussaint’s backing band, were stretching out their grooves. Rejuvenation, their fifth album, marks the point when the New Orleans four-piece became simply unassailable as a tight funk unit. Their dense, repetitive sound, which placed the rhythm section at its very centre, had earned them a mighty reputation. Mick Jagger, no less, was to say that they were “the best motherf****** band in the world”. So although there is material here with the brevity and snap of their legendary early hit, Cissy Strut, Rejuvenation represents a febrile merger of funk and swamp rock.

People Say, Hey Pocky A-Way and Just Kissed My Baby sway and strut – this is beautiful, less-is-more music. What’cha Say is the template for The Blockheads’ sound, and they weren’t the only ones listening. Africa is the most successful track here – chiming with the great 70s Roots-inspired quest for African heritage, it’s almost the sound of stamping feet making their passage back to the motherland. Its skittering, hard-edged beats were tremendously inspirational – the Red Hot Chili Peppers renamed it Hollywood, got George Clinton in to produce and kick-started their career in the mid-80s with it.

Having Art Neville as a vocalist meant The Meters simply were not just a groove band. Song-based material includes Love Is for Me which, with its sweet, soulful female backing vocals, sounds like some lost Atlantic B side from a decade earlier.

It Ain’t No Use shows the debt that Eric Clapton’s records, too, owed to The Meters. By the time it gets into its jamming section – it is nearly 12-minutes long – it has become a showcase for Joseph Modeliste’s remarkable drumming, coming across like a funk Keith Moon. Neville’s block piano chords, Leo Nocentelli’s niggling guitar and George Porter Jr’s bass take this to a far trippier place. Only Loving You Is on My Mind’s cheery, straight-ahead groove seems somewhat superfluous.

If you only wish ever to hear one swamp-soul album, then make this it: Rejuvenation is the epitome of groove-laden, hook-rich, in-your-face funk. Its swagger and strut make it sound remarkably contemporary to 21st century ears.

This album I highly recommend to any fans of James Brown, or Stevie Wonder. The main difference between those artists and The Meters is The Meters have a less slick produced sound that hits you in the gut and you can't keep still. If you can listen to this album without moving something you may wanna check your pulse cuz you may be dead!

This album contains many of the classic tunes by the band such as "People Say"," I Just Kissed My Baby", "Jungle Man" "Africa" and "Hey Pokey A Way". Several of these tunes have been covered by other big names such as The Red Hot Chili Peppers who took the tune Africa and slightly changed the lyrics from Africa to Hollywood. They also covered "Jungle Man" on that same album "Freaky Styley". If you are a fan of funk music than you should definitely own this album. In my opinion everything comes together for The Meters on this album. The performances are full of energy, the production is clean with a nice recorded sound. Check this out if you want to smile while nodding your head.