Cabbage Alley

Cabbage Alley is the fourth studio album by the funk group The Meters.

Cabbage Alley
Studio album by
The Meters
ReleasedMay 11, 1972
GenreFunk
Length47:10
LabelReprise (MS 2076)
ProducerAllen Toussaint, Marshall Sehorn
The Meters chronology
Struttin'
(1970)		 Cabbage Alley
(1972)		 Rejuvenation
(1974)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Christgau's Record GuideB[2]
Rolling StoneFavorable[3]

Background

Cabbage Alley was the band's first album with Reprise Records after leaving Josie Records which went bankrupt in 1971.[1][4] The album's title track "Cabbage Alley" was inspired in part by Professor Longhair's "Hey Now Baby".[5] According to Lionel Batiste Sr., drummer of Treme Brass Band: "Cabbage Alley was around Perdido Street. They had a lot of musicians down there—it was almost like a [red light] district—fast women. Near the battlefield."[6]

Reception

Stephen Erlewine of AllMusic noted less grit and texture in this album as compared to the band's previous works. He wrote, "they still are a remarkably sympathetic, supple group and it's a pleasure to hear them play," however he did not find any particular song compelling.[1] Bob Palmer of Rolling Stone had a favorable view and wrote "even the worst cuts on Cabbage Alley have a little of the rhythmic vitality and emerging roots-consciousness that looks like the most important new development in the black popular music of the Seventies." According to Palmer, "drummer Zig Modeliste is able to impart more rhythmic variety to every bar than any American soul group has yet employed. The rest of the band often doubles on auxiliary percussion, resulting in a percussive complexity that is both a new and natural direction."[3] In his review Robert Christgau hinted at the stylistic ambiguity, or variety, of the collection and gave the album a B-rating.[7]

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."You've Got to Change (You've Got to Reform)"Ziggy Modeliste, Leo Nocentelli5:15
2."Stay Away"Nocentelli5:22
3."Birds"Neil Young4:23
4."The Flower Song"Nocentelli4:51
5."Soul Island"Modeliste, Art Neville, Nocentelli, George Porter, Jr.3:10
6."Do the Dirt"Nocentelli2:36
7."Smiling"Neville3:09
8."Lonesome and Unwanted People"Nocentelli4:39
9."Gettin' Funkier All the Time"Modeliste, Nocentelli, Porter3:19
10."Cabbage Alley"Neville3:30
2001 digitally remastered CD bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
11."Chug Chug Chug-A-Lug (Push and Shove) Part I"Modeliste, Nocentelli3:30
12."Chug Chug Chug-A-Lug (Push and Shove) Part II"Modeliste, Nocentelli3:26

Personnel

Credits adapted from AllMusic.[8]

Production

References
  1. Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Allmusic: Cabbage Alley – review". allmusic.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
  2. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: M". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 7, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  3. Bob Palmer (August 3, 1972). "The Meters: Cabbage Alley". Rolling Stone. Straight Arrow (RS 114). ISSN 0035-791X. Archived from the original on November 18, 2007.
  4. Steve Leggett (2011). "AllMusic: Here Comes the Meter Man: The Complete Josie Recordings, 1968–1970 – review". Allmusic.com. Archived from the original on January 9, 2017. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
  5. Dave Thompson (2001). Funk, Third Ear: The Essential Listening Companion. San Francisco: Backbeat Books. pp. 57, 168. ISBN 0879306297. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
  6. Mick Burns (2006). Keeping the Beat on the Street: The New Orleans Brass Band Renaissance. Baton Rouge: LSU Press. p. 89. ISBN 9780807133330. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
  7. Robert Christgau. "The Meters". RobertChristgau.com. Archived from the original on March 28, 2012. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
  8. "Allmusic: Cabbage Alley – credits". allmusic.com. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
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