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Zydeco: The Essential Collection
Various Artists:  Zydeco: The Essential Collection

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Album Review

Released: 2002
Label: Rounder
Selection #: 171078
The best from Louisiana and beyond. Buckwheat Zydeco: Hot Tamale Baby; Steve Riley & The Mamou Playboys: J’ai Reveille à Ce Matin; Boozoo Chavis, more.
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1 Let's Go - Nathan & The Zydeco Cha Chas
2 C'est Pas la Peine Brailler (There's No Use Crying) - Delafose, Geno & French Rockin' Boogie
3 Zydeco Boogaloo - Buckwheat Zydeco
4 Lula Lula Don't You Go to Bingo - Chavis, Boozoo & The Magic Sounds
5 J'ai Reveille à Ce Matin - Riley, Steve [1] & the Mamou Playboys
6 I'm on the Wonder - Jocque, Beau & The Zydeco Hi-Rollers
7 We Are the Boys - Ardoin, Chris & Double Clutchin'
8 I'm a Hog for You - August, Lynn & The Hot August Nights
9 Madame Etienne - Daigrepont, Bruce
10 Bad Time Woman - Li'l Brian & The Zydeco Travelers
11 What's in That Bayou? - Ardoin, Chris & Double Clutchin'
12 Keep Your Dress Tail Down - Chavis, Boozoo & The Magic Sounds
13 Give Him Cornbread - Jocque, Beau & The Zydeco Hi-Rollers
14 Friday Night Waltz - Delafose, John
15 Outside People - Nathan & The Zydeco Cha Chas
16 'Tite Monde (My Everything) - Delafose, Geno
17 Hot Tamale Baby - Buckwheat Zydeco
  
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Album Review

As part of Rounder's 30th anniversary celebration, this album collects the finest zydeco available on the label within the last 30 years. As Rounder is one of the premier forces in archiving traditional musics, the liner notes are outstanding, with a nice history of the genre paying heed to the original innovators. Having paid the proper dues to the founders of zydeco, it proceeds to throw the listener into a musical collage of the more previous material (that which has been available on Rounder, that is). This newer material is essentially split stylistically into the followers of Clifton Chenier and those of Boozoo Chavis. In the Chenier camp are Nathan Williams, Lynn August, Li'l Brian Terry, and the outstanding Buckwheat Zydeco. In Boozoo Chavis' camp is Beau Jocque, among others. Every aspect of the genre is covered in some manner or another here, with the high-energy party zydeco of Buckwheat Zydeco, the funk-influenced Beau Jocque, the more Cajun end of it in Steve Riley, and the Delafose family providing numbers. There's even a nod to the founder, Amede Ardoin, in a couple of songs with his descendants, Chris and Sean Ardoin, who show off some incredible accordion work along the way. Throughout the album, it's a rollicking affair as the party-makers from throughout southern Louisiana make appearances with a song or two. As far as zydeco collections go, this is an outstanding one with all the necessary bases touched upon. For the newcomer, then, it's a wonderful album. For the initiated, it's still a good album for its breadth, though single albums by a number of the artists might serve as a longer lesson in the history of the genre. ~ Adam Greenberg, All Music Guide

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