Clifton Chenier – Live! At Grant Street CD 487

Description

CD 487

15 Previously Unissued Recordings. Over 70 minutes of pure Clifton.

This was Clifton Chenier’s gig all the way! The undisputed King Of Zydeco was inspired and in fine form that night of April 28, 1981 when he and his Red Hot Louisiana Band were booked to play a dance at Grant Street in his home town, Lafayette, LA.

Clifton personally arranged and paid for this recording, had his band in top shape, obviously gave it his all, and succeeded in taping one of his best “live” performances ever. Cliff delivers his vocals with incredible vigor and conviction, plays his new electronic accordion with remarkable feeling, and has the Red Hot Louisiana Band cooking behind him in a solid groove, and the audio crew truly captured that night’s spirit of fun and joy.

1. Mon Fait Mon L’ide (I Made Up My Mind)
2. You Got Me Crying (With Introduction)
3. Wrap It Up, Baby
4. What Am I Living For
5. My Dog Jumped A Rabbit (Rock House)
6. All The Things I Did For You
7. Zydeco Rock
8. I’m Back Home
9. Ay-Ye-Yie Zydeco
10. You Don’t Have To Go
11. Mardi Gras Zydeco
12. I Got The Blues
13. Johnny Can’t Dance
14. Tout Chacun Apres Parler (Everyone Is Talking)
15. Tit Mam’s Zydeco
16. Goodnight

REVIEW

“Zydeco great Clifton Chenier had this live recording done when he took his Red Hot Louisiana Band into the Grant Street Dance Gall in Lafayette, La., in April 1981. The master tapes never translated into a release, however. Arhoolie founder Chris Strachwitz acquired the masters from Margaret Chenier in 1989, and, finally, we’ve got this terrific record of Chenier and his band throwing down an outstanding live set. Chenier was just about the bluesiest zydeco man who ever toted an accordion, and this album testifies to that fact. Standard three-chord blues tunes like ‘I’m Back Home,’ ‘You Got Me Crying,’ and ‘I Got The Blues,’ which are thoroughly in the tradition of the New Orleans blues of Fats Domino, were as typical of Chenier’s repertoire as two-step numbers like ‘Mon Fait Mon L’Ide,’ ‘Johnny Can’t Dance,’ or the ladies’ choice tune ‘Tout Chacun Après Parler.’ Chenier was a zydeco renaissance man, and it’s great to hear him turn it loose in a dance-hall setting.”

(Billboard Magazine)