Louisiana Blues & Zydeco [Bonus Track] (CD - 1965)

Personnel: Clifton Chenier (vocals, accordion); Cleveland Keyes, Felix Benoit (guitar); Elmore Nixon (piano); Fulton Antoine, Joe Morris (bass); Bob Murphy, Madison Guidry, Robert St. Judy (drums); Cleveland Chenier (rubboard).

Principally recorded in Houston, Texas in 1965.

Re-mixed for the first time in Stereo!!!

Personnel: Clifton Chenier (vocals, harmonica, accordion); Clifton Chenier; Fulton Antoine (bass guitar); Cleveland Keyes (guitar); Elmore Nixon (piano); Robert Peter St. Judy, Madison Guidry (drums); Cleveland Chenier (rub-board).

Liner Note Author: Chris Strachwitz.

Recording information: Bill Quinn's Gold Star Studio, Houston, TX (05/11/1965); Gold Star Recording Studios, Houston, TX (05/11/1965); Sierra Sound Laboratories, Berkeley, CA (05/11/1965).

This was the first full album by a zydeco artist to be released by Arhoolie. It became something of an advance scout as the Cajun accordion army began to spread its music outside of the Louisiana bayous, with Clifton Chenier winding up with a Grammy for his efforts, as well as performances all over the world. This album puts together a few different instrumental lineups for recording at Houston's Gold Star studios, a facility with an important place in Texas blues history. Nonetheless recording sound is a tad thin, as perhaps the engineers were frightened by some of the manic moves of a few of the instrumentalists. Although this style of music is known mostly for the accordion and rubboard antics as featured on the second side, the tracks on the first side also include some ferocious piano and electric guitar playing. Some tracks just really cook and should put any listener in a good mood. The instrumental "Hot Rod" has a great drum part and accordion improvising that sounds totally relaxed, followed by an under-recorded but nasty-sounding guitar solo. Too bad it fades out so quickly. Altogether, lots of variety, plenty of creative musical ideas, and some deeply soulful singing delivered by this great zydeco artist just as his career was starting to lift off. ~ Eugene Chadbourne

These dozen and a half songs span the couple years on either side of Chenier's big introduction into the blues world at the 1966 Berkeley Blues Festival in California. Immediately embraced by this audience, the Bay area label Arhoolie began recording him regularly. What's reassuring is how the intense and honest power of his Texas recordings was maintained in these new environs. Working with his core band (most notably his brother Cleveland Chenier on rub-board), the were a well-seasoned unit made strong from playing endless dances throughout the Bayou region. The album's title is a succinct bit of truth in advertising--it is indeed a winning set of blues and zydeco. Besides being a wonder on the accordion, Chenier possess a voice equally at ease with bluesy balladry and boastful strutting.

Right in the beginning of his career as the "King of Zydeco", Clifton Chenier recorded an album for an upstart Arhoolie. At the time, the genre was just starting to spread outside of the bayou proper, and the album is one of the landmarks both for Chenier and for the industry and genre. Unfortunately, the recording quality was never particularly good. Some of the parts were recorded only weakly, there was some scratchiness -- the usual. Thirty or forty years in, however, Arhoolie has remastered the old classics and re-released them in stereo. The compositions themselves are largely the same as previously, but they sound vastly better. Perhaps the bigger treat here though is the clump of unreleased material that comes along for the ride. There are a pair of alternate takes from the originals added in, and four items that were never included in any form. Admittedly, unreleased tracks were often excluded because they weren't as good as those that were selected in general. Nonetheless, it's an additional lump of fine music from one of the true masters of the genre. If you've already got the old version, you can still give this one a listen for the increased quality. If you don't, though, this one's a definite first stop on any exploration of Chenier's work. ~ Adam Greenberg minimize