Dr. John - Introduction to Dr. John

In 1967, gravel-voiced New Orleans expatriate Mac Rebennack adopted the sobriquet of Dr. John, the Night Tripper, cooking up a wild and occasionally shocking stage presentation permeated in eerie Crescent City voodoo tradition. He cut a series of funk-soaked Dr. John albums for Atco that earned him cult hero status and eventually a fair amount of mainstream reaction when he posted his 1973 hits Right Place Wrong Timeand Such a Night. Prior to his breakthrough, Mac made assorted demos and masters for a variety of record producers. One of those behind-the-glass characters was Texas-based Huey P. Meaux, who billed himself as the Crazy Cajun and supervised hits for Jivin' Gene, Barbara Lynn, and plenty more Gulf Coast luminaries. The pair went back quite a ways; Rebennack reportedly played bass on Lynn's Meaux-helmed '62 R&B chart-topper You'll Lose a Good Thing. Mac left quite a bit of his own stuff behind in the Crazy Cajun vaults along the way enough to comprise this collection, which first came to light in the wake of Dr. John's success.

1) The Time Had Come
2) Women
3) Shining As Hard As I Can (Dying in the Forest)
4) Which Way
5) A Little Closer to My Home
6) Make Your Own
7) You Said It
8) Bring Your Own Along
9) Somebody Tryin' to Hoodoo Me
10) Don't Want No Monkey in My Business
11) I Pulled the Cover Off You Two Lovers
12) The Ear Is on Strike
13) Go Ahead on
14) Chicky Wow Wow
15) I Got Lonesome-Itis
16) Dog House Blues
17) Listen Now!