''Struttin is the third studio album by the

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

group The Meters. It is the band's first album featuring vocal performances.

Background

The album was recorded in

Cosimo Matassa Cosimo Vincent Matassa (April 13, 1926 – September 11, 2014) was an American recording engineer and studio owner, responsible for many R&B and early rock and roll recordings. Life and career Matassa was born in New Orleans in 1926.Komorowsk ...

's studio and released in 1970 by

Josie Records Josie Records was a subsidiary of Jubilee Records in New York City that was active from 1954 to 1971. The label's best selling bands were The Cadillacs ("Speedoo"), Bobby Freeman and the Meters. Other hits for Josie Records included the Chip ...

. It is the band's first album featuring full vocal performances by

Art Neville Arthur Lanon Neville Jr. (December 17, 1937 – July 22, 2019) was an American singer, songwriter and keyboardist from New Orleans. Neville was a staple of the New Orleans music scene for over five decades. He was the founder of the funk band ...

on three tracks, "Wichita Lineman", "Darling, Darling, Darling" and "Ride Your Pony".

Reception

Stephen Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

noted a continuation of the band's sound in comparison to previous albums and called it "organic, earthy funk". He noted a stylistic divergence in tracks "Joog", "Hand Clapping Song" and the vocal tracks. He called the music enjoyable but noted a lack of coherence in the song collection.

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

had a favorable view and wrote of the band's style: "The New Orleans M.G.'s swing, but not smoothly, the way a big band does--their Caribbean lilt is pure second-line, as elliptical as a saint's march." The first single was the song "Chicken Strut". It reached #11 on the U.S.

R&B Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

chart and the album reached #32 on the U.S.

R&B Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated J ...

chart.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

and

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

. ;The Meters *

– organ, keyboards, vocals *

Leo Nocentelli Leo Nocentelli (born June 15, 1946) is an American musician and songwriter best known as a founding member and lead guitarist of the funk band The Meters. He wrote the original versions of several funk classics such as " Cissy Strut" and "Hey P ...

– guitar * George Porter Jr. – bass guitar *

Ziggy Modeliste Joseph "Ziggy" Modeliste (born December 28, 1948), also known as Zigaboo, is an American drummer best known as a founding member of the funk band the Meters. He is widely considered an innovator in the funk genre and New Orleans style drumming. ...

– drums, percussion ;Production *

Allen Toussaint Allen Richard Toussaint (; January 14, 1938 – November 10, 2015) was an American musician, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was an influential figure in New Orleans rhythm and blues from the 1950s to the end of the century, descri ...

– producer *

Marshall Sehorn Marshall Estus Sehorn (June 25, 1934 – December 5, 2006) was an American A&R man, songwriter, music publisher and entrepreneur who played an important role in the development of R&B and popular music in New Orleans between the 1950s and 1970 ...

– producer *Tim Livingston – project manager *David Smith – recording and mixing engineer *Bob Irwin – mastering *Rich Russell – package design

References

External links

''Struttin' ''at discogs
{{Authority control 1970 albums The Meters albums Albums produced by Allen Toussaint Josie Records albums