When Allen Toussaint produces an artist, those records essentially become Allen Toussaint records. Now I am not talking about giant personalities like Dr. John or Irma Thomas. But there are records released in the 70's by people like Browning Bryant, King Biscuit Boy, Brian Hyland, Jess Roden and the great Frankie Miller, that feature songs written by Toussaint, backing vocals by Toussaint and more often than not, instrumentation by Toussaint's go-to band, The Meters. It may say "King Biscuit Boy" on the album cover. But what you're listening to is classic Allen Toussaint.
This can also be said of Ernie K. Doe's self-titled release from 1971, aka as "Here Come The Girls."
For its 50th anniversary, the absolutely wonderful Tipitina's Record Club has remastered and reissued "Ernie K. Doe" and it is a welcome addition to their catalogue of club titles.
This record has been incredibly difficult to obtain, even if you were willing to spend a few bucks. The sale of any vintage copies has been blocked on Discogs due to an ongoing legal battle with Alfred Reed's estate. Reed is the writer of "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" which kicks off Side Two. Who knows what that is really all about.
The record is pure New Orleans funk and soul, with eight of the ten tracks written by Allen Toussaint.
The remastering is superb and the packaging is stellar. If just being able to have this record once again isn't enough, there is a killer lagniappe flexi-disc, featuring K-Doe in one of his classic rants from WWOZ radio.
I've mentioned the Tip's Record Club before and I will mention it again. It is a brilliantly curated collection of music, lovingly handled and priced to move. Get in on it while the gettin's good.
5 comments:
Can't wait for my copy to arrive!!
Yes that is a great record. I have a cd version of it. I do agree that Allen who writes, arranges and produces records for other artists dominates those records. I am slowly picking up the few Allen produced records that I am missing. It has been fun collecting them. I don't have the Jess Roden and Brian Hyland records. I will have to seek them out.
Thanks for the earky review of this one, Sal. I've had the cd of the album for quite awhile. Its one of my desert island discs.
Thanks to you, the King Biscuit Boy album is one of my favorite Toussaint related records.
Just received my copy the other day and in full agreement about Tips record club.This K-Doe album is a classic. New Orleans K -Doe expert and biographer is Ben Sandmel who wrote the notes and this album is discussed in depth in Bens book. Just an FYI. I knew you would love this one Sal…..
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