Tony Joe White - 'Black & White' (1969)

Having been aware of Tony Joe White ever since I heard bits and bobs of his early 70s swamp-rock on a run of great comps that came out a few years back (the two excellent 'Country Got Soul' discs and Warner's equally aces 'Blues & Soul Power' LP), I was entirely unaware - until a Spotify session this evening - just how consistently brilliant he was. Loadsa funk drums, wicked voodoo lyrics, lashings of angry wah-wah geetar, quicksilver hammond...yessir, that's good gumbo. I just think there's a lot here that any open minded fan would enjoy, it's a real melting pot. It has an irreverence to it that appeals, it appeals because White's approach is so Catholic, so anti-purist, and yet so accomplished and determined and full-on that you don't question it. Proper country, proper Elvis-In-Memphis blue-eyed soul, proper funk, proper delta blues, and not a bit of it watered down. This is the straight dope.

So, there's a ton of mighty tasty stuff on every album he made between 1969 and 1973 - but I particularly dig his first LP, 'Black & White', and two cuts in particular. 'Willie & Laura Mae Jones' hits a home run with awesome, swirling 'Ode to Billy Joe' strings, flute flourishes, clattering drum fills, a heavenly gospel-soul choir an utterly deranged fuzz guitar coda. 'Don't Steal My Love' is a wild, all-chugging, all-frugging wah-wah wig out monster, pure menacing drone, definitive swamp rock, with added tambourine. With due respect, this is '69, and if Tony's sound was setting the benchmark for funky, get-live populist roots RnB, The Beatle's 'Let It Be' missed the mark by a mile.

Like Ike & Tina Turner, Tony has a back cat so good and so varied and so damn danceable that I can imagine going out on a DJing gig armed only with his records in my box. It would appear that he's been re-recording a bunch of his stuff recently, and good luck to him or whatever, but the new versions are lame, and it's the originals you want. If you haven't hooked yourself up with Spotify yet, do so, and treat yourself to Tony.