CD Review...Best of Clifton Chenier

For those of you in the record business, Happy Street Date! Records, like bishops, are released on Tuesdays. We have a very good bishop in His Excellency, Most Rev. Allen Vigneron, and he is not retiring, so we have no bishop new release to look for today, but we have a new record!

Arhoolie Records, ARH CD 474, Clifton Chenier, The Best of Clifton Chenier - The King of Zydeco & Louisiana Blues. Available at your local independent record store (or most Towers, Virgins, some Borders, and Wal*Marts in Louisiana) or directly from Arhoolie Records. Here is a capsule review a writer happened to drop my way:

Clifton Chenier
The Best of Clifton Chenier
Arhoolie Records
***1/2 (three and a half stars)

Subtitled "The King of Zydeco and Louisiana Blues," this collection features a mix of Chenier’s classic Zydeco standards, like "Ay, ai, ai" and "Zydeco Sont Pas Sale" as well as some great blues numbers. One of the strengths of this title, as well as a weakness, is that longtime Chenier producer Chris Strachwitz, set out to highlight Chenier’s blues abilities, which are considerable. Chenier was an outstanding blues singer, but the price for the inclusion of each blues number is the exclusion of a Zydeco masterpiece. Overall, though, the album is outstanding, with some of the best Zydeco music ever made, interspersed with top-notch blues and topped off with a fascinating interview, which, along with a previously unreleased version of "Zydeco Sont Pas Sale" make this interesting even to a long-time Clifton Chenier fan.

-Pete Flowers
peteflowersmusic@aol.com