New Orleans R&B and rock ‘n’ roll just doesn’t get any better than pre-Dr. John Mac Rebennack. While his vocals were then limited to harmonizing with like-minded running partners such as Ronnie Barron (the pair later masqueraded as Drits and Dravy for Harold Battiste’s AFO label), his instrumental capabilities were in full force at countless sessions cut at Cosimo’s Studio during the late ’50s and early ’60s. His productions of friends and band mates such as Roland Stone and Jerry Byrne crackle with Crescent City electricity. Unfortunately, for fans of his ’59-’61 shenanigans, Storm Warning only tells part of the story; Westside’s 2000 release, Return Of The Mac, contains nearly all of the tracks collected here as well as a good deal more, still standing as the very best representation of Rebennack’s earliest work.

For those more interested in a general overview, Storm Warning does offer seven early ’60s tracks cut for Texas producer Huey P. Meaux that point towards the sound that Mac would fully embrace when he emerged as Dr. John later in the decade, but again, fans would be better served with a purchase of the complete Meaux recordings.