Dr. John- Locked Down

I love Dr. John, but I won’t recommend him. I’m capable of it, I have the necessary rhetorical ability, but I won’t for the simple reason that I know that people will either love him or hate him, and there’s nothing I can do to change that kind of opinion. The reason it’s a love or hate proposition is because of Dr. John’s sound, best described as “voodoo.” By “sound” I mean a style that permeate everything the man writes. That voodoo sound comes from a mixture of several different styles of Louisiana music to create something that sounds like it rose out of the bayou under a full moon. That’s only helped by Dan Auerbach’s production. He’s better known as the guitarist for The Black Keys, and he brings his own darkness to the project. At it’s best the album sounds like a voodoo ritual, with Dr. John as witch doctor.

It’s at its worst when Dr. John decides to get political, like on the second track “Revolution” where he asks “Rebellion, Revolution/Is this the final solution?” The phrase “Final Solution” sticks out like a curse word in a Cat Stevens song. It just has no right being there, because the rest of the political “commentary” on this album is so generic. The invocation of the Holocaust also brings that generality to the forefront, because I’m looking for something to justify it, and there just isn’t anything there. Besides that one strange specific, Dr. John is about as a specific as any old man mourning the state of the world. “Things are bad, ain’t that weird” is the general message. Insightful or incendiary it is not, but I get the sense that Dr. John thinks it is.

3/5 I thought about giving this a four but decided against it because I wouldn’t want this to be anyone’s introduction to Dr. John. That being said check out “Locked Down,” “Big Shot,” “You Lie,” “Eleggua,” “My Children, My Angels” if you either want a taste of the voodoo sound or if you’re already a fan.