Absolutely magnificent funk classic!
StatMan89 | 10/04/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Wilson "Willie Tee" Turbinton, his brother Earl, and their New Orleans Project band were the first to provide full musical backing to the Mardi Gras Indian street chants and thus expose this culture to the world. The rhythmic dexterity behind these tunes is just stunning--and I'm especially fond of Earl's soaring soprano sax solo on "Smoke My Peace Pipe." This set contains the complete contents of "The Wild Magnolias" (1974) and "They Call Us Wild" (1975), with all bonus tracks from the 1993 CD release of the former. The 1994 CD release of "They Call Us Wild" was the first in the US--after almost 20 years! The newcomer to digital format is the single mix of "Smoke My Peace Pipe." Besides being shortened from over six minutes to 2:39, the single replaces the verse beginning with "There's nothin' like a real good high..." with more innocuous lyrics to make the tune more radio-friendly.
I have the Polydor discs, but this would be worth buying on CD for the booklet as described in the editorial review. Even so, you haven't seen Indian costumes until you've seen them in person. And on the subject of booklets--hey Amazon! When will you have digital booklets as iTunes already does?
Sadly, this work is now part of the Turbinton brothers' legacy. Earl passed away on August 3, 2007, followed by Wilson on September 11.
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