New Orleans Party Classics

It's not perfect, but New Orleans Party Classics arguably beats out Rhino's collection of the same name, while establishing its own identity as an excellent 2-CD comp.

This new 2-CD set is not to be confused with the Rhino single-disc collection of the same name, released in 1992 and beloved as a good introduction to the classic sounds of the Crescent City. This compilation, however, serves a vital purpose by collecting a number of songs legendary in the Big Easy's R&B scene of the Fifties, Sixties, and Seventies -- hits and rarities both -- and assembling all of them in one set. It doesn't take the place of more expansive sets like EMI's four-disc Crescent City Soul, but as a collection of the bedrock classics, it's near-perfect.

Naturally, you'll find a lot of the city's rock and R&B Mardi Gras hits, but this isn't strictly a Carnival disc; it's merely a happy coincidence that the original recorded versions of "Carnival Time," "Second Line," and "Go To The Mardi Gras" emanated from the city's most creative musical period. The set's sequencing isn't chronological, which can lead to some rather arbitrary shifts in mood, even for a party album. But the major high points are hit -- funk from the late Sixties, raw postwar R&B, proto-soul from the era of Camelot. If you're interested in the big hits, most of them are here, from "Sea Cruise" to "Lady Marmalade," but if you've never been privileged to hear regional hits by famous artists, like Ernie K-Doe's "Te-Ta-Te-Ta-Ta," or obscurities like Oliver Morgan's "Who Shot The La La," this set provides the perfect context. As well as a solid introduction to an underappreciated genre of oldies music.