The Funky Meters
Tipitina's
New Orleans, LA
5/6/2001

Neumann TLM-170 (1 card + 1 omni) -> Apogee AD1000 -> Denon DTR-80p (@16 bit/48 khz)

Transfer: Sony R500->Sound Devices 722

Mastered: Soundforge Pro 10.0b - *All file manipulation in Soundforge done at 24 bits*. Volume normalization, sample rate conversion 48khz to 44.1khz using iZotope 64-Bit SRC set higher than "Highest Quality" setting w/anti-alias filter, then dithered back to 16 bits using using iZotope MBIT+ with Ultra noise shaping, High dither settings. Tracked in CDWav.

1. intro
2. Fire On The Bayou ->
3. Here Comes The Meter Man ->
4. Africa ->
5. Just Kissed My Baby ->
6. Chicken Strut ->
7. Bass solo ->
8. Funkify Your Life
9. banter - wake that guy up
10. Seven Desires
11. Funky Miracle ^ ->
12. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 ->
13. Funky Miracle ->
14. Sing A Simple Song ->
15. Drum solo ->
16. All Shook Up ->
17. Iko Iko ->
18. Hey Lappa ->
19. Jambalaya ->
20. Mardi Gras Mambo ->
21. Love the One You're With * ->
22. Chug-A-Lug * ->
23. Be My Lady *+ ->
24. Ain't No Use
25. banter - another band after
26. He Stopped Loving Her Today (tease)
27. Look Ka Py Py
28. Cissy Strut ->
29. Papa's Got A Brand New Bag ->
30. Cissy Strut
31. outro

^ = w/Day Tripper tease
* = w/Cyril Neville on vocals
+ = w/Jason Neville rap

Art Neville - keys, vocals
George Porter, Jr. - bass and vocals
Brian Stoltz - guitar and vocals
Russell Batiste - drums

My suggestion for a disc flip would be just after Seven Desires (track 10)

Transferred, Mastered, and Tracked by Scott Bernstein (5/16-17/2010).

Taper Notes:
This is BARN39, the 3rd in my New Orleans Jazzfest appreciation series, and it was recorded on the same night, in the same location in the same venue as BARN38, the Steve Kimock Band show from Tipitina's. This, the semi-official closing show of Jazzfest 2001, featured The Funky Meters, in their hometown venue -- a slam dunk. As we all know, The Funky Meters are not/were not "The Meters" -- and they had off nights and on nights -- probably more "off" nights than nights that they were TRULY on/on fire. I mean, I'm a huge Meters/Funky Meters/George Porter-in-any-form fan, but you were not always guaranteed a funk THROWDOWN at a Funky Meters show. This show is the exception -- the band is on fire from start to finish -- kicking from song to song, never lingering too long on any groove, playing tightly, hitting unexpected places (Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women..."?! The crowd ATE it up singing the "Everybody must get stoned" refrain at the top of their lungs! ...And "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag?" Nice!). The Cyril Neville sit-in definitely takes things to the next level -- Chug-A-Lug is such a great funky song. And I'm not sure I've ever seen any Meters incarnation play "Be My Lady" before or since. Such a great song -- and oh, George's playing on it is sublime.

The astute among you may wonder -- what's up with using 2 different mic patterns? Well, it was purely a mistake. One mic got switched to the wrong pattern somehow and I didn't notice until after the set. I fixed it before the Steve Kimock set later on.

Enjoy!

Scott

