Art Neville

Listen/Download Art Neville – Bo Diddley Pt1

Greetings all

I hope the day finds you well.

The tune I bring you today is a storming bit of funky, Crescent City soul from one of that burgs leading lights.

Art Neville has been waxing groovy music for almost 60 years (?!?), starting with the Hawketts ‘Mardi Gras Mambo’ in 1954, recording a number of solo singles for a variety of New Orleans labels (Specialty, Instant, Cinderella and Sansu) before co-founding the mighty Meters.

Though he found himself behind the keys in the Meters, he was no slouch in the vocal department. His excellent Eddie Bo written/produced ‘Hook Line and Sinker’ from 1966 is a lost classic, as is the tune I bring you today.

Neville recorded two 45s for Sansu, both in 1968, right near the end of that label’s first incarnation.

The tune I bring you today was the first of those, his raucous reworking of Bo Diddley’s epic, 1955 debut, ‘Bo Diddley’.

Interestingly enough, Art dispenses with the standard Bo Diddley beat (it’s in there, sort of, but sped way up). Backed by the guys that would shortly become the Meters, he rips through the tune, skirting the edges of funk like a Second Line on fast-forward.

The arrangement is credited to Allen Toussaint. As wild as this 45 is, considering the flights of rhythmic imagination the Meters would soon embark on, they (especially Zig) almost seem restrained.

Nevilles follow up 45 (and his last for Sansu) has an even more traditional bent, with a cover of Raymond Lewis’s old-school NOLA classic ‘I’m Gonna Put Some Hurt On You’.

It is a groovy 45, and especially interesting considering that the Meters would blast off a year later.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

 

 

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived!

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They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US).

Click here to go to the ordering page.
Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

 

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

2 Responses to “Art Neville – Bo Diddley Pt1”

1. Kris Holmes says:

   June 26, 2013 at 6:41 pm

   love this 45

2. Larry Grogan says:

   June 26, 2013 at 6:43 pm

   Yeah, right? Kind of slept on.