One of those “legendary” rock albums relegated to obscurity by the rush of musical (and commercial) activity in the late 1960s, Ton Ton Macoute! derives its notoriety mainly from the contributions of Duane Allman (and other Allman Brothers band members). But what really distinguishes this excellent reissue is the bare-bones, Mississippi-cotton-field, voodoo-tinged production that sets each tune in just the right stripped down, percussion laden, steamy brew.
Ton Ton Macoute! also reminds us of the strong link between Mississippi blues and New Orleans voodoo funk, the kind of connection the young Muddy Waters made frequently. Appropriately, the album’s strongest cut is a version’ of Muddy Waters” “Rollin’ Stone,” accompanied only by rhythm guitar, bass, foot stomping, and Duane Allman’s celestial slide guitar.
The program also contains a couple of New Orleans songs, leading oil with Dr. John’s “Walk on Gilded. Splinters” and including a rough-hewn version of Chris Kenner’s “Sick and Tired” as well as a couple of dirt-floor, darkly colored blues (Sleepy John Estes’ “Leaving Trunk,” in an arrangement similar to Taj Mahal’s, and “Dimples,” co-written by John Lee Hooker).
Johnny Jenkins is not one of those commanding vocalists of the type that emerged at the height of the Memphis-Muscle Shoals era; instead, he brings a kind of authenticity and even frailty to the proceedings that belongs. More properly in country blues. The production strategy here serves him perfectly, allowing even Bob Dylan’s “Down Along the Cove” to be made over into a triumphant blues shout.
And although featured on only four cuts, Duane Allman’s dobro, slide, and electric guitar work is in a class by itself, conveying maximum emotion with subtle and sublime technique. The CD contains a couple of extra cuts, both serviceable Southern rock-band blues, but what makes this reissue worth checking out is the power producer Johnny Sandlin managed to generate setting up a little night-tripping, gris-gris action inside a bona fide, Mississippi juke joint. Play it on a full moon night at your own risk
–Roger Hahn
