Staff Reviews

Dr. John - Locked Down

Review by David Edwards

A lean, bare-chested and sweat-bathed beast of an album; it rattles along with energy, mystery, swirling swamp-mist and a delectable gumbo of cultural influences and razor-sliced spice.»

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new orleans legend dr john's nonesuch debut, produced by black keys guitarist and uber-fan dan auerbach, distils half a century of this rock and roll hall of fame inductee's picaresque musical history, melding his shamanistic stage persona with the authority of a consummate studio musician, the cosmic conjurer with the street-savvy poet. the ten new songs on 'locked down', written by dr john with auerbach and a handpicked crew of backing musicians, combine incantatory chants ('eleggua') and often politically charged raps ('revolution') with candid and soulful reflections ('my children, my angels'), swaggering r&b ('big shot'), and a healthy dose of hypnotic, simmering funk ('the king of izness'). as with much of what this multiple grammy-award winning singer and composer has recorded over the last five decades, 'the big easy' is the musical and spiritual jumping-off point, but these new tracks incorporate a world's worth of influences, from gospel and blues to psychedelic rock and afro-beat.
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