I'm hatching a mythology around Dr. John's discography:
- Gris Gris: a mysterious zombie rises from the bayou, terrifying the scant populace he shambles past.
- Bablyon: the mysterious swamp man is revered as a god, and leads the people of New Orleans to a higher ground.
- Remedies: the swamp man is just a man, Dr. John, who becomes a local musician.
By now much of the magic has burned off of Dr. John's persona and he's just making rock and roll albums, sounding a bit like the influences mentioned a couple of reviews down, now predicting the Rolling Stones' bluesy, soulful, horn-dusted Exile on Main Street.
The songs are tighter and more listenable than on Babylon, escaping that muddy middle ground of melodic and weird to come out the other side. The exception is the sidelong closer Angola Anthem, which tries to summon up that old Hoodoo magic, but can't quite get the pieces in place: Dr. John's hand has been tipped, he's just a man now, one with a fairly creaky voice that seldom really works for me, making perfectly servicable, swaying, soulful albums that can't be mistaken anything more transcendent 3/5
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