I have known and loved (some of) Gris-Gris for ages, but I have listened to it several times and quite actively while I was reading Two-Headed Doctor. It has made me perceive a depth I hadn't previously and love it even more. Gris-Gris is such an improbable album, both in its inception (a lot of evolving composition as the album was being recorded), production (odd decisions on panning, instrumentation and more give it a very eerie feel) and, of course, the music itself. Not all of it is easy listening, and neither can it easily fit into the rock categories of the time. "Gumbo Ya-Ya", "Mama Roux" and "I Walk on Guilded Splinters" are kind of the most mainstream tracks on there, forging the Dr John the Night Tripper character and his mishmash of voodoo roots that would not only inform his subsequent albums of the early 70s but his whole carreer. "Danse Kalinda Ba Doom" and "Danse Fambeaux" could easily fit in a field recording of tribal music somewhere, just no easily recogniseable where. "Jump Sturdy" is pretty straightforward, but seems to come from an entirely different musical brain... And "Croker Courtbouillon" is just insane. And yet as a whole, this is an incredible listening experience. If you don't know Gris-Gris, go listen to it, but keep an open mind and revisit regularly.
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