Dr. John - Locked Down

Reviewed by the Active Listener. (9/10)

I'll admit that before Locked Down came out, the most contemporary Dr John album I'd heard was "In The Right Place" from the early seventies, so I'm not ideally placed to say how this compares to the rest of his more recent output. I can say however that this is without a doubt the best new album I've heard so far this year.
Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys apparently approached the good Doctor back in 2010 and offered to help him make " the best record you've made in a long time". Handling production, guitar and co-songwriting duties, Auerbach's personality is all over this record, but the most important input he had was in steering Rebennack away from piano and towards more esoteric and unusual keyboard sounds - Farfisa etc.
Recapturing the swampy voodoo groove of his early Night Tripper work this alternates effortlessly between tight, structured numbers like first single, Revolution and looser, organic jams like the fabulous Lies.
Definitely one for those who enjoyed the retro soul influences of the Black Keys "Brothers" album over their rockier recent effort "El Camino".
It sounds great on vinyl too.
Buy It On CD Here Or On Vinyl Here
You can hear another track from the album on last week's Active Listener Radio Show