Ever since I first saw him crooning "Such a Night" with The Band and those wonderful horns behind him, I've always had an appreciation for Dr. John -- his gritty voice, his bizarre swagger, and his commitment to New Orleans music and culture.
His new album Locked Down is one of those quintessential redefining albums by artists who are decades into their careers. What tends to be true about those albums is that these artists who killed it in the 60s and 70s finally quit the schlocky gloss of their 80s and 90s "adult contemporary" output and turn one of two corners. They either get back to some degree of musical roots and produce a killer of a record that sounds just like their old stuff. Or they can draw upon a young producer and mesh their songwriting with a current sound.
Dr. John kind of goes both ways with Locked Down. For all the talk of this being a return to the music of his Gris-Gris era, that's not entirely true. The record doesn't sound much like his early Cajun psychadelia. That stuff was great because it was loose and hazy, but still soulful. This new record is burning, its horns and drums locked in to precision. My favorite example is the nu-Afrobeat groove of "Ice Age". It'll take a few listens for me to start paying attention to what the Nite Tripper's actually saying on that cut and most of the others. But for now I'm happy just taking in these sweet, dark, and fiery grooves.
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