Earlier in the year I gushed about Dr John's new album - and it will easily make my end of year best-of-2012 list, right near the top. Recently I was given a copy of the LP - lovely new sealed vinyl - as a birthday present. A very nice treat indeed. I would say with all certainty that Locked Down is my most-played album of 2012.
I was certainly grateful to receive an advance-copy of Locked Down - meaning that I was well on board with its sound long before the album was released officially. The advance-copy is a scarcity these days - when one arrives you almost question whether it is supposed to be placed in an ordinary CD player.
But Locked Down has been a catalyst for major Dr John re-evaluation/re-appreciation. And that's what I'm truly grateful for - that might even be one of the things I love best about the new album. I know some fans were upset at its sound, not hearing anything special, suggesting there is too much Dan Auerbach and not enough Mac Rebennack - or that the geese-honking baritone sax is all wrong, the sound is not swampy and soulful enough, it's too clipped, too slick, trying too hard to be seen as hitting the right notes when it merely traces around the face of the sound...
I understand these criticisms - but to me it's simple: Locked Down sounds and feels as good (to me) as I think a Dr John album should sound (and could sound) in 2012. And then, from there, it's even better than I expected.
It is certainly not Babylon or Remedies or Gris-Gris or In the Right Place - but those albums are otherworldly, those albums are just something else; so special. And Locked Down has taken me back to those albums - so that is part of its strength. Part of its legacy is that it celebrates (and circumnavigates) the Dr John legacy.
I first heard Dr John - as far as I know, anyway - when I was about 10 years old. My favourite thing to watch, and I wore out a VHS copy of this, was B.B. King and Friends. Home from school each day I would set up this videotape and watch all my new heroes jamming - Eric Clapton and B.B. King and Chaka Khan and Gladys Knight and Stevie Ray Vaughan and Albert King and Phil Collins (on drums!) This TV special, filmed by mum and dad late one Sunday night, enjoyed by the whole family many times after, became an obsession for me. I would watch this show day after day, five times a week, seven times a week, sometimes more.
And Dr John was part of this show too.
His duet with the great Etta James (I'd Rather Go Blind) made such an impact on me that early on in the life of Blog on the Tracks I wrote about it, calling it the best duet in the world. I stand by that. For me, it's the best - it's had the most impact, it carries the most weight. I am stunned, still, by this performance. If I had to ever defend my obsession with music, try without using words to defend what I do, why I do what I do, what this art form means to me - I would show whoever was asking that video-clip.
And then, in the chronology of my life, Dr John turned up on The Last Waltz. And that became a new favourite concert to watch over and again.
I bought 1992's Goin' Back to New Orleans because by this point I was a devotee of guitar and drum magazines and when I saw ads for albums in the pages of Guitar World and Modern Drummer I was always curious. I hadn't listened, all the way through, to a Dr John album until I bought Back to New Orleans.
There's been no turning back since buying that cassette tape from a crummy wee shop in Hastings 20 years ago.
This year - thanks to Locked Down, particularly - I've been listening to my Gris-Gris and In the Right Place LPs more than I have in previous years. I've gone back to the recent albums - the compilation, The Best of the Parlophone Years, City That Care Forgot, Mercernary, Duke Elegant, N'Awlinz: Dis Dat or d'Udda.
I was inspired to visit the library to check out Dr John's autobiography. A great read.
What I got from that book - which you get from his music, certainly - is that this is a guy who never wanted to be a star, who never had any interest at all in "the business", who has no room for ego, for lifestyle/image clichés that are played up and played upon. In his book he dismisses Keith Richards for being an arrogant jerk, for playing up the rock-star/junkie aesthetic, for trying it on, modelling it for kudos. He also joins the long line of people ready to point out that Van Morrison is probably the rudest man in the industry - but he sums up Morrison's career longevity by suggesting that when he opens his mouth and that unique sound comes out all is forgiven, all is forgotten.
The version of The Rolling Stones that Dr John saw - and heard, and played with - were, as far as he could see, and hear, a pack of pretenders. They weren't, at all, the real deal. Now I love the Stones, sure, but I got what he was saying. I understood his take on it. Respected where he was at. Because for Dr John it's never been about being industry, about being part of anything - beyond living inside the music; living to love the music, to serve the music, to honour the tradition and to chip away at the work, offering your life up to the cause.
I respect that. So much. I take so much in from listening to this man at his best. And this year I've returned to so many of the albums I've learned about and loved over the years - Van Morrison's A Period of Transition being another example. Always a favourite - but great to listen to after hearing about its difficult gestation period.
There is so much to love from Dr John. Such a character, such a huge presence - that voice, that sound. That feel. The groove. The soul. The attitude. He serves the music. He carries the voodoo. The gris-gris. The shuffle and funk and soul and feel of New Orleans is there, living inside his songs. Psychedelic rock is there. Jazz. Blues. Drama. Great songs he's written, great songs he's rewritten.
I just wanted to tell you that. I guess. It seemed about time.
So any Dr John fans out there? And what do you like about the man? Favourite albums? Favourite songs or sessions from the extensive work he has performed with other musicians? And what of this ethos he seems to represent - of caring only for being a musician, never interested in being a rock-star? To me he's one of the greats. And we're lucky to have his kind, lucky to have him still dishing out the good-goods.
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My first introduction to Dr. John was my dad playing his duet with Ricki Lee Jones (Makin' Whoopee) - funky, soul, tight, quality...
Haven't listened to him a lot - but picked up Locked Down for my father as I knew he was a huge fan... will give him another go soon...
When i was about 15 i was obsessed with The Last Waltz just like you were with the earlier concert. Thats where i discovered Dr. John. I love Locked Down and it is also my most played album of 2012. By the way, my son and his friends are Dr. John fans so there is a younger generation of fans out there too.
I've been a bit slow to get into his work, but I had a moment a month or two ago when I realised how much great music I've missed out on.. Of course, I noticed him in The Last Waltz, but it was until his appearance in Treme that I kind of got what he was about. So now I'm working backwards from 'Locked Down' and discovering lots of stuff I like, some stuff I don't, and a whole heap of great collaborations I've missed.
Could someone please recommend the essential 3 or 4 Dr John albums to start a collection with? No borderline calls - just the clear best. Dr John's equivalent to Low, Heroes and Lodger. I have always liked what I have heard of his music, and I reckon now it is time to leap in.
Dr John is one of my favourites...from the funk of Qualified to the soul of that Etta James duet (love it) and the sense of fun that so many of his songs carry (accentuate the positive). His album Mercernary is worth a listen just for his take on You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby. That last waltz concert is my hangover cure...play it loud and you can't help but feel good.
I have been lucky to see the Dr in concert twice. Once in Wellington at a disapointingly half full Michael Fowler Centre on a whim not knowing any of his music but having an interest in blues. When he played at the Civic a few years ago, as did Peter above, I made the trek North to see him now a fan of his music. He is a fantastic live performer and Peter is right he don't move to fast but he can sure entertain a crowd. Somehow I think I would love to see Dr John in some smoke filled music hall in New Orleans sipping on a Bud and eating Cajan wings - I think that would be the best way to live Dr John's music. I agree with the comments above, Locked Down is a fantastic album and his best one for years but as Peter mentioned that $19.99 early album package is a must have for the true fan of the Night Tripper and I am certainly one of those!
Ditto on Treme Luke #4. Actually Treme has introduced me to a lot of music I've never noticed over the years.
I've been a fan of his for years. That voice of his is beyond compare. the book is a good read too, especially his rationale on his heroin intake. I saw him at the AK town hall concert a few years back; I was in 7th heaven.
freaky -just bought tickets for Dr. John in San Francisco for 2 weeks time then log on to stuff and what do you know...
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Saw Dr John at the Civic Theatre a few years ago, he wasn't moving too fast, but still had that magnificent voice. There's a great budget boxset of the 1st five albums he did that is available, got it from JB Hifi for $19.99. Each cd comes in a mini LP sleeve w orig cover art.