DR. JOHN – Anutha Zone

LP – Limited & Numbered 180g  Gold Coloured Vinyl (only 1,000 copies)

For those of us who long for the days when Dr John smeared himself with face paint, wore impossibly large headdresses, and sang about gris-gris, gumbo ya-ya, and croker courtbullion, Anutha Zone is indeed a heartening development. In the late 60s Dr. John was a visionary musical alchemist, working with psychedelic imagery and funky rhythms to nab the rock crowd, then plying them with spooky swampland mythology and raw Southern R&B.

On Anutha Zone, Dr. John digs deep into that murky musical well once again, with stunning results. John Gris, Party Hellfire, and Soulful Warrior brilliantly fuse slow-burn grooves, sly musicianship, and Dr. John’s elegantly gruff vocals, conjuring images of dark revelry down French Quarter back alleyways. This was the comeback of 1998, hands down.