The Wild Tchoupitoulas (album)

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The Wild Tchoupitoulas
Studio album by The Wild Tchoupitoulas
Released	1976
Recorded	Sea-Saint Recording Studios, Inc., New Orleans
Genre	Mardi Gras Indian Music
Length	34:53
Label	Mango
Producer	Allen Toussaint, Marshall E. Sehorn, Arthur & Charles Neville

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
Robert Christgau	(A)[3]

The Wild Tchoupitoulas is a 1976 album by the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian "tribe" The Wild Tchoupitoulas.

The album features "call-and-response" style chants typical of Mardi Gras Indians. Vocals were provided by George Landry, as "Big Chief Jolly", as well as other members of his Mardi Gras tribe. Instrumentation was provided in part by members of the New Orleans band The Meters. The album also notably features Landry's nephews, the Neville Brothers, providing harmonies and some of the instrumentation. While not a commercial success, the effort was well received critically and the experience recording it encouraged the four Neville brothers to perform together for the first time as a group. Meaningful of the geographic location of New Orleans as a Caribbean city, Meet de Boys on the Battlefront is based on the melody and rhythm of Trinidadian calypso artist Lord Invader's 1943 Rum and Coca Cola made famous in the U.S.A. by The Andrew Sisters in 1944.^[4][5][6] In 2012 the album was added to the U.S. Library of Congress' National Registry, a designation of "cultural, artistic and historic importance to the nation’s aural legacy."^[1]

Track listing

All tracks composed by George Landry; except where indicated

1. "Brother John" (Cyril Neville) – 3:37
2. "Meet de Boys on the Battlefront" (melody and rhythm based on Rupert Westmore Grant aka Lord Invader's Rum and Coca Cola– 3:24
3. "Here Dey Come" – 4:07
4. "Hey Pocky A-Way" (Art Neville, Ziggy Modeliste, Leo Nocentelli, George Porter, Jr.) – 3:59
5. "Indian Red" – 7:21
6. "Big Chief Got a Golden Crown" – 4:01
7. "Hey Mama (Wild Tchoupitoulas)" – 4:46
8. "Hey Hey (Indians Comin')" (Landry, Cyril Neville) – 4:00

Personnel

• Aaron Neville - piano, background vocals
• Art Neville - keyboards, background vocals
• Charles Neville - percussion, background vocals
• Ziggy Modeliste - drums
• Cyril Neville - congas, background vocals
• Leo Nocentelli - guitar
• George Porter, Jr. - bass
• Teddy Royal - guitar
• George Landry, Willie Harper - background vocals
• Norman Bell - vocals
• Album Jacket Design and Photography - Paul Howrilla

References