Album: Dr John, Locked Down (Nonesuch)

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Andy Gill Author Biography

Andy Gill

Andy Gill is The Independent's Music Critic.

More articles from this journalist

Friday 30 March 2012

Frequently in danger of slipping into heritage-artist cruise-control, on Locked Down Dr. John has received an energy transplant from producer Dan Auerbach, singer/guitarist with The Black Keys.

Auerbach's intention was to re-boot the doctor with the psychedelic voodoo spirit of his classic debut, Gris-Gris, to which end he's surrounded the pianist with spooky-sultry female backing singers, brooding horns, and occasional patina of jungle noises, and his own astringent blues guitar. With Dr. John's epigrammatic boho-hipster lyrics sketching contemporary social travails – "Economy, conning me out of my sanity"; "Religious delusions, stone confusion" etc – over a psych-funk gumbo of staccato organ and electric piano, the result is a dark, steamy sound that comes crawling from the Louisiana swamp like a mean-tempered 'gator.

DOWNLOAD THIS Locked Down; Big Shot; You Lie; Revolution

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