Four musicians sharing the pulse
With the Meters, rhythm is not confined to a supporting department. It develops 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 predominantly instrumental early records, Cabbage Alley had brought vocals further forward. Its successor continued that development without replacing the group’s musical foundations.
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. It was an appropriate setting for a band whose musical language was so closely connected to its home city. All four members share the writing credits for the nine compositions: their collaboration extends beyond performance into the songs themselves.
Letting a song stretch
“People Say”, “Just Kissed My Baby” and “Hey Pocky A-Way” offer different routes into the record. “Just Kissed My Baby” also features slide guitar from Little Feat’s Lowell George. His appearance provides a direct connection between two bands with distinctive approaches to the relationship between guitar and rhythm.
At nearly twelve minutes, “It Ain’t No Use” occupies an unusually large portion of the programme. A piece of that length changes an album’s sense of scale: a musical idea can be sustained and explored rather than quickly replaced. Try following the bass or drums throughout instead of concentrating on melody and refrain. On this double-LP edition, the track shares a side with “Hey Pocky A-Way”, preserving their original sequence.
Hearing the spaces between parts
George Porter Jr.’s contribution is a useful starting point for listening across the ensemble. Move your attention from bass to guitar to drums, and consider where one part leaves room for another. That way of hearing connects the vocal material to the group’s earlier instrumental work. An arrangement is shaped by those spaces as well as by the notes occupying them.
From “People Say” to “Africa”, the nine-track programme accommodates concise songs and extended playing within the same four-piece identity. Rejuvenation does not need to settle on just one of those approaches. Its interest lies in how much movement the band finds within its established language, including room for a guest guitarist and a substantial long-form performance.
This edition
Analogue Productions’ AAPR 017-45 belongs to the Acoustic Sounds 40 Series. The nine original tracks are spread across two 180-gram LPs at 45 RPM, pressed at QRP and housed in a Stoughton tip-on gatefold. The publisher specifically identifies the original analogue master tape as the source. It does not name a mastering engineer or describe the subsequent transfer chain for this title, so an entirely analogue process is not established. This is a separate edition from the Vinyl Me, Please LP.
Also on SACD: Rejuvenation
More by The Meters: Fire On The Bayou
Customer question: Buying Analogue Productions records in Europe
Series: Acoustic Sounds 40th Anniversary – all 25 albums, recommendations and musicians
Musicians
Documented selection of participating musicians. Personnel may vary by track; this list does not claim to be complete.
| Name | Instrument / role |
|---|---|
| Ziggy Modeliste | Vocals, Drums |
| Art Neville | Keyboards, Vocals |
| Leo Nocentelli | Backing vocals, Guitar |
| George Porter Jr. | Backing vocals, Bass |
| Lowell George | Slide guitar |
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