Rejuvenation is the epitome of groove-laden, hook-rich, in-your-face funk.
By the mid-70s, The Meters, who had risen to prominence as Allen Toussaint’s backing band, were stretching out their grooves. Rejuvenation, their fifth album, marks the point when the New Orleans four-piece became simply unassailable as a tight funk unit. Their dense, repetitive sound, which placed the rhythm section at its very centre, had earned them a mighty reputation. Mick Jagger, no less, was to say that they were “the best motherf****** band in the world”. So although there is material here with the brevity and snap of their legendary early hit, Cissy Strut, Rejuvenation represents a febrile merger of funk and swamp rock.