Artist: Dr. John
Album: Gris-Gris
Year: 1968
Normally, within the first thirty seconds of an album, I have a pretty strong sense of how much I'm going to end up liking it. By then the aesthetic is pretty well established and I can tell whether or not I'm going to be able to connect with the music or not.
Dr. John's Gris-Gris bucks that trend. Within the first minute of this album, I pretty much couldn't stand it. Spooky instrumentals, raspy vocals, annoying backing vocals, nonsensical lyrics--not my favorite combination. But by the end of the album, this album had completely drawn me under its hypnotic spell, to the point where I didn't want it to end--so I listened the whole way through a second time.
I'd have to say I've never heard an album anything like this one before. I can't say I've ever heard Cajun music before, but I guess it's best described as a mix of blues with Caribbean rhythms. A few of the songs here are really spectacular, like "Danse Fambeaux" and especially the closer "I Walk On Guilded Splinters." That song is bluesy, melodic, hypnotic, catchy, mysterious, exotic...only so many adjectives to describe what stands as one of the most unique songs I've heard among these albums.
Well worth checking out...and if at first you don't like it, just keep listening...
Rating: Worth a listen
No comments:
Post a Comment