SACD The Meters – Rejuvenation

Rejuvenation as a hybrid stereo SACD from Analogue Productions’ Acoustic Sounds 40th Anniversary Series, mastered to DSD from the original analogue master tape. All nine tracks play in one sequence – from “People Say” to “Africa”.

Four musicians sharing the pulse

With the Meters, rhythm is never just the support department – it grows between all four musicians: Zigaboo Modeliste’s drums, George Porter Jr.’s bass, Leo Nocentelli’s guitar and Art Neville’s keyboards. Released in 1974, Rejuvenation was the band’s fifth studio album. After their mostly instrumental early albums, Cabbage Alley had brought the vocals forward, and its successor carried that development on without leaving the group’s musical foundations behind.

The recordings were made at Sea-Saint Studios in New Orleans, opened by Allen Toussaint and Marshall Sehorn in 1973; Toussaint produced and Ken Laxton engineered. All four members share the writing credits for the nine songs – their collaboration reaches far beyond performance into the songs themselves.

Letting a song stretch out

“People Say”, “Just Kissed My Baby” and “Hey Pocky A-Way” are three very different ways in – and “Just Kissed My Baby” features slide guitar from Little Feat’s Lowell George, a direct link between two bands with their own ideas about guitar and rhythm.

At nearly twelve minutes, “It Ain’t No Use” takes up an unusually large share of the programme. A piece of that length changes the whole scale of an album: an idea can be sustained and explored rather than quickly replaced. Try following the bass or the drums all the way through instead of the melody and chorus.

Hearing the spaces between the parts

George Porter Jr.’s bass is a great starting point for listening across the band. Move your attention from bass to guitar to drums and notice where one part leaves room for another – an arrangement is shaped by those spaces as much as by the notes that fill them.

From “People Say” to “Africa”, the nine tracks hold concise songs and extended playing within one four-piece identity. Rejuvenation never has to choose – its fascination lies in how much movement the band finds within its own language, with room for a guest guitarist and a long-form workout alike.

The hybrid stereo SACD from Analogue Productions

CAPR 017 SA is a hybrid stereo SACD from Analogue Productions’ Acoustic Sounds 40th Anniversary Series. According to the publisher, it was mastered to DSD from the original analogue master tape. The SACD layer plays on SACD-capable players, the CD layer on any conventional CD player. The disc contains the nine tracks of the original album.

You order from Michael 45 in Germany. We arrange the US import and ship from Hilden.

More from the series: Acoustic Sounds 40th Anniversary Series

Also in another edition: Rejuvenation

More SACDs by The Meters: Fire On The Bayou

Customer question: Buying Analogue Productions records in Europe

Musicians

Documented selection of participating musicians. Personnel may vary by track; this list does not claim to be complete.