Track Listing

1. Right Place, Wrong Time
2. Same Old Same Old
3. Just the Same
4. Qualified
5. Traveling Mood
6. Peace Brother Peace
7. Life
8. Such a Night
9. Shoo Fly Marches On
10. I Been Hoodood
11. Cold Cold Cold

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17872 in Music
• Released on: 1990-06-28
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com essential recording
Start with the Meters, whose hard funk is so efficient there's not a wasted note or out-of-sync beat. Add producer Allen Toussaint's wonderful vocal and horn arrangements. Top them off with seven Rebennack originals plus four well-chosen covers, and you have an album that seemed to arrive out of nowhere at the time of its original 1973 release. It still sounds garden-fresh today, not just the monster hits, "Right Place, Wrong Time" and "Such a Night," but also the chain-gang funk of "Same Old Same Old," the verbal insults of "Qualified," even the second-line soul of "Shoo Fly Marches On." The closest thing to a weak link is "Peace Brother Peace," in which Rebennack anoints himself the Dr. Feelgood of love and happiness. But the Meters sound as if they believe every word he's singing, so who are we to argue? --Keith Moerer

Customer Reviews

Dr. John the Nighttripper in all his glory
This is a straight reissue of the 1973 album release. A scant 34 minutes and no bonus tracks. Not even any liner notes -- which might just be the way the disc was originally issued.

Backed by the Meters (Leo Nocentelli, Arthur Neville, George Porter and Joseph Modeliste), augmented by the multi-instrumentalism and production of Allen Toussaint, Dr. John stretches out in more funky and soulful directions than the previous year's reading of New Orleans classics, "Gumbo." Dr. John wrote or co-wrote 8 of the 11 tracks here, with three more Crescent City treats (James Waynes' "Traveling Mood", Allen Toussaint's "Life" and Alvin Robinson's "Cold Cold Cold").

The disc leads off with Dr. John' only top-40 hit, "Right Place Wrong Time" (#9 in June of '73). This is one of those great productions that at the time just slipped right into the stream of things, but looking back at it now it's a wonder to think it actually made it into the popular conscious. It's a similar feeling to realizing that Johnny Nash's "Hold Me Tight" or Desmond Dekker's "Israelites" brought ska and reggae sounds to the American top-40 without ever really saying so. There's a soulfulness to this, an r'n'b sound in the horns, organ and background vocals, that just defies the sort of prefabricated pieces that usually make the charts.

The rest of the disc continues in the soulful vein, feeling much like the Neville Brothers work at points. It moves from the upbeat and funky (the title track, "Qualified") through gospel-tinged pieces ("Peace Brother Peace") to quiet, more soulful ballads ("Just the Same") There's some interesting interplay between Dr. John's piano and Art Neville's organ. Nice horn playing throughout from the Bonaroo horn section.

Overall a great piece of funky early 70's New Orleans soul, all filtered through Dr. John's nighttripper persona.

dr. john's 'in the right place' for sure-in my top 10
dr. john's 'in the right place' for sure-in my top 10. i listened to this album when it first appeared and am still loving it like it is the first time. definitely a top 10 all time album pick. simply sophisticated without the trappings. no tricks, just great stuff.

No Funkin' Around
Funk, in its purest form, is hard to come by these days. That's because we don't have the kind of wreckless visionaries that the 70s had, like Dr. John and George Clinton. These guys were so far gone into their music that they bordered on being parodies of themselves, and somehow that translated into the kind of raw and unprecedented energy that makes their music so saturated in what one would ideally define as 'funky'. Take Dr. John: the dude is basically the white George Clinton, with his crazy head dresses and honky tonk muppet voice. Put him in front of a piano, get the Meters to lay down the tightest funk grooves you've ever heard, and add producer Alain Toussaint's canjun roots and you've got an exceptionally enjoyable album in "In The Right Place". The music is uplifting and listenable; The Meters take the house down with some thick bass riffs, brilliantly arranged horns and tight-as-hell percussions. Dr. John wails like a drunken canjun cartoon character, which is such an endearing and appropriate compliment to this musical experience that you will not know how to listen to this kind of funk without a voice as original and funky as this.

While the entire album provides a consistent line-up of quality jams, the two stand-outs that have become two of Dr. John's greatest hits are "Right Place, Wrong Time" and "Such A Night". "Right Place, Wrong Time" would fill any dance floor with its danceability factor, while "Such A Night" is a kind of honky tonk interpretation of a faster-paced soul ballad, with great backing vocals and a nostalgic, Bugsy Malone-sounding keys section.

This album is a must-have for any self-respecting fan of the funk. Dr. John is a true pioneer in the genre and, while most of his work is worth owning, this is nonetheless one of his best albums to prove it.