The Meters Albums Ranked
The Meters are an American funk band formed in 1965 in New Orleans by Zigaboo Modeliste (drums), George Porter Jr. (bass), Leo Nocentelli (guitar) and Art Neville (keyboards). The band performed and recorded their own music from the late 1960s until 1977 and played an influential role as backing musicians for other artists, including Lee Dorsey, Robert Palmer, Dr. John, and Allen Toussaint. Their original songs “Cissy Strut” and “Look-Ka Py Py” are considered funk classics. Here are all of The Meters albums ranked.
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7. Second Line Strut (1980)
“Picked this up on the suggestion of my guitar instructor as we decided to learn some of these tunes. Very tasteful selection of 60’s and 70’s R&B. The drummer is outstanding and the bass lines are beyond solid. The guitar work is darn good as well. This album has a very infectious groove that flows throughout. Fans of R&B should pick this up as it easily surpasses much of the stuff that’s out now.”
6. Struttin’ (1970)
“The drumming is incredible, the constant pulse never leaves, yet the syncopation keeps the beats from ever getting boring or repetitive. Leo’s guitar playing is tight and chopy, that crisp tele through a fender amp sound very reminiscent of the MoTown players or of Steve Cropper. Art and George work very well together on this album too, never letting bass and organ interfere with each other’s lines. “
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5. Cabbage Alley (1972)
“‘Cabbage Alley’ consequently finds the band keeping their sound intact but changing a lot of their style and instrumentation. This album makes more of an effort to create coherent song structures and vocal arrangements. Another surprise is that especially on the driving “You’ve Got To Change (You’ve Got To Reform)” and “Stay Away” there’s a prominent influence of the funk/acid rock fusion with loud drums and a grittier guitar sound-more in keeping with Sly,Jimi Hendrix and Funkadelic then Crescent City R&B.”
4. Fire On The Bayou (1975)
“It’s sort of obvious that Middle Of The Road, a non-characteristic, aimless 8-minute modal jam, is a huge clunker and should have been omitted; while the next track, Running Fast, shouldn’t have been cut short. Very weird choices. The first 7 or 8 tracks, though, are more classic funk from one of the 70s’ great bands; the highlight for me is the cover of Three Dog Night’s (via Argent) Liar.”
3. The Meters (1969)
“The drumming is incredible, the constant pulse never leaves, yet the syncopation keeps the beats from ever getting boring or repetitive. Leo’s guitar playing is tight and chopy, that crisp tele through a fender amp sound very reminiscent of the MoTown players or of Steve Cropper. Art and George work very well together on this album too, never letting bass and organ interfere with each other’s lines. I can’t stress enough here how this should be a benchmark for any band trying to figure out how to work together for the benefit of the song, rather than to show off individual talent.”
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2. Look-Ka Py Py (1969)
“They’re all instrumentals with deceptively simple structures but definitely not in the interactions between the players. Syncopated drumming, guitars that chop, scrape and all of sudden strum beautiful chords. Unbelievably placed guitar chords at that. Great old school organ.”
1. Rejuvenation (1974)
“Tight rhythm section and some great tunes, I bought this after listening to more of Aaron Neville and his brother (who features in The Meters). Some recognisable parts of songs have been sampled by rap acts of the late 80’s and early 90’s (Public Enemy for one). Highly recommended if you like classic 70’s funk music.”