The Meters - I don't get it

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Guy Gadbois, Jul 6, 2019.

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  1. Guy Gadbois

    Guy Gadbois Chief Inspector Thread Starter

    I love da funk. Just look at my album collection (link in profile) and you will see lots of funky titles. Most of the music I listen to on the regular is of the soul/funk variety

    I was talking with a fellow vinyl funk lover today and he told me that he thinks the Meters are the greatest funk band of all time. I corrected his mistake and told him that the title goes to the JB's.

    I've listened to the Meters a lot and I don't get the devotion. Most of their stuff is mid tempo and the keys make me feel like I'm at an amusement park.

    I want my funk to hit me HARD. To me the Meters just plod along.

    What am I missing?
     
  2. boe

    boe Forum Resident

    Location:
    western New York
    Everything.
     
  3. dudley07726

    dudley07726 Forum Resident

    Location:
    FLA
    They must be good. Didn’t McCartney hire them during the V&M sessions for that riverboat jaunt?
     
  4. unclefred

    unclefred Coastie with the Moastie

    Location:
    Oregon Coast
    pretty much critic's darlings but I've never been wowed that much. They're ok though and got the grease.
     
    bpmd1962, Grant and Guy Gadbois like this.
  5. dlb99

    dlb99 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    What you like is always a personal thing.

    But with that said, your are totally wrong, The Meyers / Rejuvenation is my favourite funk album of all time. These guys are pure funk.
     
  6. rednoise

    rednoise Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston
    Concentrate on the drums. If you don't get it after that, give up.
     
    Vintage1976, benzo, bobc and 10 others like this.
  7. johnt23

    johnt23 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oregon
    Music can be funky at any tempo.
    As a musician, I think the slow funk is really difficult to play and really lock-in rhythmically. The Meters were masters at that. You can set a watch
    to their playing. And the drummer was insane, adding these little flourishes throughout.
    The first 3 albums were mostly instrumental funk, all are killer. Check out Rejuvenation and Cabbage Alley for more song-oriented stuff. I happen to love their singer too. Lots of personality and soul in his voice.
     
  8. E.Baba

    E.Baba Forum Resident

    Yeah, but I really don't rate that gig for anything outstanding.
    It hits a groove workout but I've heard others just as good.

    Rejuvenation is my pick but I'm not a Meters devotee.

    I've got a funk section in the collection. Nothing wrong with pick and choose. Go some solo Maceo even.
     
    Bluesman Mark likes this.
  9. notesofachord

    notesofachord Riding down the river in an old canoe

    Location:
    Mojave Desert
    They’re not a pure funk band, but rather they’re masters of the New Orleans sound.
     
  10. Elliottmarx

    Elliottmarx Always in the mood for Burt Bacharach

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I think Ziggaboo on drums has the greatest feel of all the funk drummers, perhaps any drummer of that era. Lazily behind the beat, but just so - always in a comfortable pocket with Leo and Porter. I love the Meters. Deeply and profoundly. I don't think there is a magical combination of words that I can string together that will make you appreciate them more than you do. That combination of men with those tunes in that studio - it's just a wonderment.
     
  11. uzn007

    uzn007 Watcher of the Skis

    Location:
    Raleigh, N.C.
    They play a different kind of funk than the JB's. New Orleans funk is its own unique beast. It doesn't hit you hard. It lopes (not "plods") along. It's just a different thing, and not your thing, so move on.

    It is interesting, now that I think of it, how two such different rhythmic styles get classified together as "funk".
     
    Cousin It, jvcforce, jmczaja and 16 others like this.
  12. Adam9

    Adam9 Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй.

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Do you like Dr. John's "Right Place, Wrong Time" or "Such A Night"? Those are the Meters backing him.
     
  13. Danby Delight

    Danby Delight Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston
    Nobody has to like everything.

    And "I don't get it" threads are just barely veiled hate threads.
     
  14. beccabear67

    beccabear67 Musical omnivore.

    Location:
    Victoria, Canada
    They got that strut, that's what! :cool:
     
  15. davmar77

    davmar77 I'd rather be drummin'...

    Location:
    clifton park,ny
    That says if all. Great band! On a related note, they toured Europe in the early 90s with the jb horns. They released two live albums from that tour if my memory serves. I never saw the original lineup but saw them many times later.
     
  16. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Totally different thing to JB, both are great though. Some of their later albums move towards a more JB style funk.
     
  17. 4-2-7

    4-2-7 Forum Resident

    Location:
    SF Peninsula
    OK I got it, we need to check with @Guy Gadbois before we say we like something, or something is our favorite. Can we get your phone number and email, I don't want to be in a store and pass something up without checking in.
     
    Bluesman Mark likes this.
  18. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    I don't get it either, man! I'm a big funkster but never understood all the praise The Meters ever got. I think a lot of people are influenced by one or two so-called professional rock critics from Rolling Stone or something.

    Yup. The only people i've ever read praising them were the rock critics. And, you know how they are, they find a little-known artist or band that almost no one knows about and they lavish praise on them like some exclusive club. Some yahoo comes along, reads their review and thinks: "Oh man! Robert Christgau loves them so they must be great!". Well, if I recall, he learned about soul music somewhere in the late 70s.

    Bottom line: if you want to know where the funk is, listen to the people, not some old rock critic who makes his living writing.

    When I think of da funk, I think of George Clinton, The JB's, Bar-Kays, Sly Stone, Rick James, The Brothers Johnson...
     
    Last edited: Jul 6, 2019
  19. bmoregnr

    bmoregnr Forum Rezident

    Location:
    1060 W. Addison
    A long weekend in New Orleans.
     
  20. 4-2-7

    4-2-7 Forum Resident

    Location:
    SF Peninsula
     
    Papi Hipbone323 and bmoregnr like this.
  21. Combination

    Combination Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Orleans
    This man is right on target. ;)
     
    bmoregnr likes this.
  22. 4-2-7

    4-2-7 Forum Resident

    Location:
    SF Peninsula
     
    Davido, Guy Gadbois and bmoregnr like this.
  23. Roland Stone

    Roland Stone Offending Member

    The Meters first three albums and the odds and ends comp, ZONY MASH, are all funk essentials.
     
  24. 4-2-7

    4-2-7 Forum Resident

    Location:
    SF Peninsula
     
    kevinsponge likes this.
  25. HappyFingers

    HappyFingers Forum Resident

    Location:
    London, England
    [​IMG]
    Totally agree. It's those Josie albums and 45s about which all the fuss should be made. The stuff after that is still good but not a patch on that early groove.
     
    john hp, Evethingandnothing and g.z. like this.
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