Must be Hercules

Many readers of A Story To Tell will perhaps be most familiar with the work of New Orleans' Aaron Neville through his brilliant and oft-revered 1975 cut "Hercules", an absolutely fantastic slice of down-tempo funk. Heads may also be aware of roles with the Meters, surely the very funkiest of the funky, and although few might admit it, we all know of his late-80's cheese-fest duets with Linda Ronstadt, led by the massive-selling "Don't Know Much". My own introduction to Aaron Neville involves none of these routes however, but comes through a somewhat bizarre but incredible 1970s side project for Neville, with the one-off formation in 1976 of The Wild Tchoupitoulas.

This album, with its cover art of Mardi Gras Indians in full dress, and it's deep down dirty Louisiana funk and celebratory theme, was a key record in my childhood and as such was seared into my memory from an early age. I have spoken before on these very pages about the special fondness held for New Orleans, and especially the R'n'B and funk music that emerged from there in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, and it has always amazed me what a connected scene it was, giving the impression of an ongoing musical jam where everyone knows each other and the good vibes and great music emanate from this interaction and familiarity.

Legendary names such as those of the various Neville Brothers, Allen Toussaint, George Landry (the Nevilles' uncle), Lee Dorsey, Dr John, amongst many others, crop up again and again on each others music, and The Wild Tchoupitoulas is no exception, with Toussaint on production, the Meters as the backing band, Landry on chief vocals, and the Neville Brothers combining brotherly efforts together for the first time. They only produced the one self-titled album, released in 1976, but if you are able to get hold of it, this is simply remarkable. Featuring the call and response chant-based vocalising of the traditional songs of the Mardi Gras Indian tribes, a key feature of the Mardi Gras festivities, the album is guaranteed to get you shaking your rump.
Songs are of a similar type and sound but that turns out to be a strength, with the album best listened to as a whole as it blends each track together brilliantly into an organic masterpiece that seems to take in influences from the afore-mentioned Mardi Gras Indian traditions as well as blues, early raw R'n'B, jazz, funk and even calypso and early reggae. It is quite literally a funky gumbo stew, a short and brilliantly simple Cajun party from the Big Easy. I recall being obsessed with the tune "Meet De Boys on de Battlefront" as a young toddler, but it was only as an adult that I really came to appreciate the true worth of this long-player, once more tracing family and musical connections from disparate jump-off points to increasingly interesting unions.

I originally intended this posting to be about a hugely contrasting but equally brilliant Aaron Neville recording, his 1966 ballad "Tell It Like It Is", but for now this will need to be placed on the back-burner. Instead let us just pause and reflect on a truly Herculean effort of musical wonderment. So go get your feathered head-dress, this party really won't stop until the breakadawn.