Kickback

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Kickback
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  1. Audio CD: Release Date 2001-03-20
  2. Publisher: Sundazed Music Inc.
  3. Artist: Meters
  4. Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
  5. Sales Rank in Music: #154054

Product Review

No city marches to a funkier beat than New Orleans, and no Crescent City band ever upheld the joyous second-line tradition with prouder panache than the Meters. Their eight classic 1969-1977 albums for Josie, Reprise and Warner Bros. -- all of them available on Sundazed -- signaled a new and exciting era of Big Easy funk. Now it's time to dig a little deeper: Kickback -- in essence, the Meters album that never was -- gathers precious rarities from the Meters' mid-'70s Fire on the Bayou / Trick Bag period, including previously unissued gems, newly unearthed alternate versions and a treasure trove of blistering funk sure to delight fans of the legendary group.

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For completists of these quintessential Crescent City funksters, this collection of mid-1970s outtakes and alternate takes will fill in some important gaps. Rock covers rule the day here, including a wonderfully nasty nine-minute reading of Neil Young's "Down by the River." Stephen Stills, the Stones, and the Beatles also get the Meters treatment, and the program is filled out by several New Orleans favorites such as "Big Chief," Hank Williams's "Jambalaya," and a rock & roll medley that includes cuts associated with Huey Smith and Fats Domino. For an album of leftovers, Kick Back is actually about as good as the albums whose sessions it comes from--1975's Fire on the Bayou and 1976's Trick Bag. Like those two records, this one is far from prime Meters, but has just enough high points and low-down grooves to be a worthwhile listen. --Marc Greilsamer
Title Tracks for Kickback

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review
3.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Funky Outtakes, December 7, 2005
J P Ryan (Waltham, Massachusetts United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Kickback (Audio CD)
For anybody interested in more than a 'best of' from New Orleans' seminal funk band, the Sundazed reissues are the way to go. The label issued all of the group's studio albums in expanded editions as well as two volumes of singles and outtakes. Sonically they are superior to both the 1995 comp on Rhino and the Rounder collections from the early '90s. Start with any of the Josie material (recorded 1968 - 71)including the original albums "Look-Ka-Py-Py"('70), the slightly harder-edged "Struttin'('70)", "The Meters('69)" and the superb collection of non-lp singles and outtakes "Zony Mash". By the time the group signed with Reprise they had begun to integrate more vocals and a broader array of influences. The first two Reprise/Warner Bros. discs - "Cabbage Alley" ('72)and the classic "Rejuvenation" ('74)- are their best for the label, and the uneven "Fire On The Bayou" ('75) also has some very strong material. "Kickback", compiled from mid-70s outtakes, is much better than the Rounder...Read more


3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Rumpshakin' outtakes, November 17, 2001
E. Taylor Atkins (Sycamore, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Kickback (Audio CD)
Anyone who really likes the Meters will have most of these tracks on The Meters Jam and Good Ol' Funky Music. But the tracks that are not on those discs are well worth the price, and some of the duplicated tracks are alternate mixes ("He Bite Me," for instance, has got a lot more vocal action!). Sweet stuff--not for completists only. Meters rejects are funkier than most folks' master takes!


3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars Sundazed is usually great, but with this one they can make like the dragon..., June 5, 2007
Sambson (North Carolina) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Kickback (Audio CD)
Sundazed has done a great job reissuing each Meters album, but with this one they can make like the dragon. All but two of these 'rarities' have been released elsewhere in some form, while two of these titles are keepers as they're significantly longer versions of the more common ones. The KICKBACK version of "He Bite Me" is so excellent it's nearly worth the price of admission. A faster, more harmonized, less electrified guitar version with extra lyrics and devastatingly supreme "dragon breath" keyboards. Wow! Though not as different as say; Funkadelic's two different versions of "Red Hot Mamma", these two are just as essential for any geeked out funkophile. Both "Honky Tonk Woman" and "Hang 'Em High" were featured on the 1976 album TRICK BAG, as they are here; though if all you have is the trimmed version of "Hang 'Em High" found on the second disc of the FUNKIFY YOUR LIFE compilation, you'll find this original far superior. "Love The One You're With" only ever appeared on the LIVE...Read more

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