meters cissy strut

Opinion

Awwwww, yeah.

I discovered the Meters around 1992, based on a recommendation from a hip friend. I picked a UK Meters collection on Charly Records called Funky Miracle, which included nearly all of their three albums on Josie (The Meters from 1969, Look-Ka Py Py from 1970, and Struttin' from 1970) plus a few singles. It was (and still is) the tightest four-piece funk I have ever heard. If you want the grooviest background music for your party, you throw on a Meters album.

I'd always thought that the Meters records weren't all that successful when they came out, as if they were hidden gems that were exposed only well after they were released, much like the Nick Drake records. Nope; "Sophisticated Cissy" and "Cissy Strut" both hit the top 10 on the R&B chart. They were real hits at the time.

Groovy.

Mono

The 45 of "Cissy Strut" was mono.

Your choices on CD are limited:

• Audiofidelity's Super Oldies Of The 60's Volume 6 - awful in every way; avoid
• Rhino's Beg, Scream & Shout! The Big Ol' Box Of '60s Soul (1997) - delightful in every way; lots of rare mono on this set; I *highly* recommend it
• Real Gone Music/Rhino Special Products' A Message From The Meters (The Complete Josie, Reprise & Warner Bros. Singles 1968-1977) (2016) - I don't have it, but it looks great

For the mono version, I heartily recommend Rhino's Beg, Scream & Shout! The Big Ol' Box Of '60s Soul (1997).

Stereo

"Cissy Strut" was side 1, track 1, on their very first album, 1969's The Meters. It's stereo on the album. From a quick scan through Discogs, it appears that the US albums were all stereo.

Lately, the Meters stuff seems to get new reissues every few years. The first proper CD issue of The Meters was in 1999, but my discs are all compilations that are older than that. I'll give a few mastering details.

The oldest CD I have with the stereo version is Rhino's The Best Of New Orleans Rhythm & Blues Vol. 2 (1988). Interestingly, it fixes a small glitch at the beginning of the very first note after the intro. It's a minor glitch, which could be a tape splice or some other artifact from the recording process. As a result, the first note occurs just a teeny bit earlier (about 0.03 seconds) than on all the other CDs I have, including the mono versions. The same analog transfer is used on:

• Rhino's promo Mardi 'Til You Drop (1991, PRO 90061)
• Time-Life's Rhythm And Blues Vol. 13 1969 (1991) - swaps left and right channels, fades about 2 or 3 beats sooner, and seems to have the glitch intact (I don't know what to make of that)
• Time-Life's Solid Gold Soul Vol. 4 1969 (1991) - is identical to the R&B disc, so it also swaps left and right channels, fades about 2 or 3 beats sooner, and seems to have the glitch intact
• Rhino's In Yo' Face Vol. 0.5 (1994)
• Rhino's Phat Trax Vol. 2 (1994)
• Shanachie UK's Standing On The Verge The Roots Of Funk 1964-1974 (1997)

There's a different analog transfer on Charly UK's 2-CD Funky Miracle (1991), which doesn't sound all that great and swaps the left and right channels. Avoid for this track.

Finally, Rhino gave us a brand new analog transfer on their 2-CD Funkify Your Life The Meters Anthology (1995), which sounds great. It has a slightly longer tail to the fade, so that it runs about 2 or 3 beats longer than the 1988 CD. It also runs a teeny bit slower than the 1988 CD. It also leaves the opening-note glitch intact, so that the opening note occurs about 0.03 seconds later than the 1988 CD. The same analog transfer is used on:

• Rhino's promo Deep In The Groove In-Store Play Sample Fall '95 (1995, PRCD 7156)
• EMI's 4-CD Crescent City Soul - The Sound Of New Orleans 1947-1974 (1996)

For the stereo version, I recommend Rhino's 2-CD Funkify Your Life The Meters Anthology (1995).

I was talking with a local record store owner a few years back, and he was convinced that all the Meters stuff on CD was taken from vinyl. Basically, he believed that none of the 2-track mixdown tapes survived from the 1969-1970 time frame. I thought that was interesting.

Edited by crapfromthepast