Look-Ka Py Py - The Meters

Rating: 5.5/10
Sound Quality: 320 kb/s
Format: Mp3
Record Label: Rhino
Year Released: 1969
Album Covers: Included
Pass: radiodada
Links: rapidshare

About The Meters

The Meters were an American funk band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Meters performed and recorded their music from the late 1960s until 1977. While the band never enjoyed significant mainstream success, they are considered one of the progenitors of funk music, and their work influenced many other bands, both contemporary to their work, and after their heyday.

Art Neville, the group's frontman, launched a solo career around the New Orleans area in the mid-1950s, while still in high school. The Meters formed in 1965, with a line-up that included keyboardist and vocalist Art Neville, guitarist Leo Nocentelli, bassist George Porter Jr. and drummer Joseph "Zigaboo" Modeliste later joined by percussionist/vocalist Cyril Neville. They became the house band for Allen Toussaint and his record label, Sansu Enterprises.

In 1969, the Meters released "Sophisticated Cissy" and "Cissy Strut", both major R&B chart hits. "Look-Ka Py Py" and "Chicken Strut" were also hits the following year. After a label shift in 1972, the Meters had difficulty returning to the charts, but they played on several important records, working with Dr. John, Ernie K. Doe, Paul McCartney, King Biscuit Boy, Labelle and Robert Palmer, among others.

In 1974 Paul McCartney invited the Meters to play at the release party for his Venus and Mars album aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones was in attendance at the event, and he was greatly taken with The Meters and their sound. The Rolling Stones invited the Meters to open for them on their Tour of America in 1975. That same year, the Meters recorded one of their most beloved and successful albums, Fire On The Bayou. From 1976-77 they played in The Wild Tchoupitoulas with George & Amos Landry and the Neville Brothers. The band broke up in 1977. Toussaint claimed the rights to the name "The Meters", so they played under various other names and in various combinations for the rest of the decade.

They appeared on Saturday Night Live on March 19, 1977.