Album: Various artists, New Orleans Funk Experience (Nascente)

This good-value-for-a-fiver compilation favours entertaining obscurities and the odd hoary old standard (Huey Smith's "Don't You Just Know It") over the usual Crescent City suspects.

Compilers Andy Smith and Dean Rudland might prefer killer breaks to fully functioning songs, but there are enough of both here to maintain interest, with some surprising Northern Soul-sounding dancers among the chicken-scratch guitar and atavistic grunts. Larry Darnell's excellent "Son of a Slave" is a stand-out moment.