Ernie K-Doe
"Absolutely the Best"
Fuel 2000 302 061 157 2

"'Satan' should be her name / To me they're about the same / Mother in-law," sang Ernie K-Doe (Kador) in 1960. That guy. Oh yes, and there was also "A certain girl I've been in love with a long, long time / What's her name? / I can't tell ya," later quoted by the Yardbirds and several other acts. Around New Orleans, where you inhale the funky music along with the humidity until it starts coming out of your own pores and surrounding you 24/7, there were other songs, too. Great songs and great performances, right up until the self-styled "Emperor of the Universe" died last year. Even after that, actually. As could only happen in New Orleans and in the case of Ernie K-Doe, his funeral out-spectacled the liveliest stage shows of most of his bandstand competitors and emulators.

The "Emperor's" anthology, recently released on CD, is a thorough tour of New Orleans pop at its peak. Capstan wraps (the trick of speeding recording tape up during playback by wrapping a few spins of scotch tape around the tape deck's spindle to obscure the song's key to make covers difficult) are plainly evident on some of these cuts, particularly on piano. An almost-patter style vocal delivery, necessary to get more syllables than actually fit into a musical passage, shows up frequently.

Less quirky but just as much in evidence is Allan Toussaint's production. "Te-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta" rivals Sam Coke's most expensive, most lush recordings in both density and warm vocal quality, if not in lyrical merit. Addressing that aspect, K-Doe's greatest accomplishment may have been surmounting poor verbiage. Even the best of his hits offer nothing beyond mere cleverness, yet they are put across by the New Orleans style of recording, production and playing.

In fact, this anthology captures the legends of both Ernie K-Doe and New Orleans pop as well as legends can be captured. This is the sound major labels sent their best artists to the Crescent City to find. Thanks to Fuel 2000 Records, you can find it at your local record store today.