Consumer Guide Album

The Meters: Cissy Strut [Island, 1975]
Unless you happen to be dancing, it takes a slightly inappropriate aesthetic concentration to, er, appreciate a whole album of party instrumentals. But this compilation of thirteen turn-of-the-decade r&b hits (plus album tracks) the Meters cut for Josie is worth the strain. The secret: listen to Ziggy Modeliste. He plays more off-beats and eccentric patterns than any soul drummer you ever heard, yet never breaks up the band's spare, clever riff structures; it's almost as if he's the lead. These cuts are short and catchy. Not one of them is as amazing as Rejuvenation's "It Ain't No Use." But every one works. A-