Customer Reviews
a novice writes.... - By: ted maul, 16 Apr 2008 
I don't know too much about later Dr John. I have had this album on my Ipod for ages without listening & it is with a slightly shamed face that I say I only really sought it out again after hearing cher's (!!)version of Walking on Gilded Splinters on the david Holmes/Cherrystones CD. Like nothing else I own, but fantastic. I treasure the day that I got bored & drunk on the train from Charing X & gave it a go. vocal-wise the nearest comparison is capt. beefhart, but it is far more accessible than that. Just. Really. Really. Good. If you're reading this review - forget Cher, concentrate on the Davis Holmes & if that sounds right then give it a pop. late edit: reading other reviews I would just say that the running time might be short - but give me 30 minutes of this over 120 minutes of benign Coldplay/keane/Snow Patrol any day of the week. It's good. And it is interesting. What more can you want?
unique - By: Desk, 26 Nov 2007 I'm no great fan of the doctor's blues piano he was later famous for, but this album is different from that & unlike much else you're likely to hear. Harold Battiste's arrangements make Dr John's songs sound weird & wonderful. The mixture of styles somehow work together herein a way that he has not achieved since. Everyone I've played this to loves it. Definitely one to buy.
It just works - By: S. King, 03 Jan 2004 I can still remember the first time I heard this record. I fellin love with the magic of it. I was also shocked as I'd heard a fair amount of Dr John but nothing like this. I gained a whole new respect for him off the back of this album.
It's very different & I'm very poud to have itin my collection. Odd moments include raspberry blowing & pig noises...??? But it all fits nicely.
A great album, treat yourself to something different, [in hippy voice] open your mind man.
Recorded in a basement on a cassette machine? - By: , 26 Jan 2001 
Which only goes to show that you don't have to be 24 bit digital to be magical. I first heard thisin 1970 & it's every bit as compelling as it was then. This was that brief mock-Voodoo Night Tripper episode before Mack decided to show off his piano playing skills instead. Nonetheless, great songs, arrangments & delivery.
Classic, but Short Playing Time. - By: atomictom@ireland.com, 27 Sep 2000 I think the first edition of the rolling stone record guide gave this album, like, 2 stars. I discovered itin my flatmates record collection, & have always found it's voodoo tinged atmosphere with it's haunting female backing vocals very compelling, especially the opening & closing tracks. I bought a best of Dr John album lately, but his other stuff was very differenty from this, & not really what I hoped it would be. This album however, is the bees knees.
