Anutha Zone

For those of us who long for the days when Dr. John smeared himself with face paint, wore impossibly large headdresses, and sang about gris-gris, gumbo ya-ya, and croker courtbullion, Anutha Zone is indeed a heartening development. For too long Dr. John has paid the bills as a genteel purveyor of tasteful blues and Tin Pan Alley standards, and while it's helped him sustain a career and win Grammies, it's probably used up about an eighth of his true potential as an artist and musician. In the late '60s Dr. John was a visionary musical alchemist, working with psychedelic imagery and funky rhythms to nab the rock crowd, then plying them with spooky swampland mythology and raw Southern R&B. On Anutha Zone, Dr. John digs deep into that murky musical well once again, with stunning results. "John Gris," "Party Hellfire," and "Soulful Warrior" brilliantly fuse slow-burn grooves, sly musicianship, and Dr. John's elegantly gruff vocals, conjuring images of dark revelry down French Quarter back alleyways. This is the comeback of 1998, hands down. --Marc Weingarten