Short Cuts

Two iconic pillars of fantastic, fast ’n furious funkified artistry are the focus for today’s deep funk ’n’ soul edition of our ongoing Short Cuts review series: 1) Fire on the Bayou, the Allan Toussaint-produced, Reprise-released July 1975 sixth LP from New Orleans legends The Meters, and 2) The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend, the lone LP from James “Baby Huey” Ramey, an album that went on to become an influential, and heavily sampled, release for the hip-hop generation.

Before I get into the reviewing of these two compelling, important reissues that were released via Rhino Reserve on June 27, 2025, let’s first focus our microscopes on the underlying DNA behind them. From the official press materials regarding these LPs, we learn that they have been “pressed on 180-gram premium-quality black vinyl locally at Fidelity Record Pressing’s brand-new plant in Oxnard, [California], and cut by the highly respected Chris Bellman from Bernie Grundman Mastering.” (Certain previous entrants in the Rhino Reserve series had been cut by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab.) (Footnote 1)

Both of these LPs have respective SRPs of $31.98, and you can order them via Music Direct by clicking on the MD link graphic following the tracklisting section of each album review below. They can also be ordered direct from Rhino’s official store here, as well as at select indie record outlets. (If any of our cited online outlets happen to be sold out at the time you click on their links, you can request to be notified by email when they’re back in stock.)

In general, I am quite pleased with the Rhino Reserve release series (as is my estimable colleague, AP editor Mike Mettler). The albums sound good and the pressings are quiet, well-centered, and flat as can be. I like that the LPs come to us sealed with a fold-over paper sticker/banner protecting the album, as housed in looser-fitting sturdy plastic outer sleeves but not shrink-wrapped (reducing chances of warping). Essentially, this is Rhino Reserve’s own twist on the packaging concept started with those Tone Poet and Acoustic Sounds series reissues some years back.

The cover art is of high quality and printed on heavy white cardboard stock, so it’s a different production aesthetic than these two albums’ original pressings — which, in those early/mid-’70s-era times, generally had paper-printed artwork pasted over brown cardboard stock. However, these two releases don’t feel inconsequential at all, as it’s clear to us here at AP that some love and care went into their making.

My only tiny little nit to pick is that the producers didn’t reproduce the original label designs for either of these releases, instead choosing to go with a new Rhino Reserve stock design. This is a branding choice akin to Rhino’s High Fidelity audiophile series releases, so I get that it doesn’t necessarily aim to be 100 percent period-accurate when it comes to the album art, even though they try to be respectful in representing and recreating the original look and feel of the albums at hand. That said, this label anomaly is a little nit can live with — “it is what it is,” as the saying goes.

And with that, let’s get on with the really big show here, and explore this pair of fine/fun releases.

THE METERS
FIRE ON THE BAYOU
180g 1LP (Reprise/Rhino)
MUSIC: 9
SOUND: 8

The Meters’ sixth LP — the Allan Toussaint-produced, Reprise-released July 1975 LP classic Fire on the Bayou — was somewhat lost at the time of its release, which came at the crossroads of the dawning of disco and the emerging punk scene. But over the years, its reputation has grown, and Bayou is now considered a timeless classic by this legendary New Orleans band.

I assume that, if you are a fellow analog lover, then you are at least basically familiar with the funk-soul pioneering Meters (a.k.a. The Funky Meters), the frontline (if you will) of N’Awlins-bred soul fusion groovers. The Meters soared to initial public attention in 1969 with their No. 23 Billboard Hot 100 instrumental hit “Cissy Strut,” but never fully became household names in the way that, say, The Jackson Five and James Brown did.

However, The Meters’ influence is no less worthy, and perhaps even more important, in the grand scheme of things. While researching this review, I learned that “Cissy Strut” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2011, and that the band received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. The Meters have also backed other iconic performers like Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, Robert Palmer, and Lee Dorsey, among many others. and are widely considered a backbone of funk music as we know it today.

For years, I looked and looked for an affordably priced and clean copy of Fire on the Bayou. Eventually, I lucked out and found one at a garage sale for a dollar, just a few years ago — but that is not a common occurrence, especially these days. Checking Discogs at the time of this posting, a sealed original pressing of Bayou will run you upwards of $100, while a VG+ copy ranges from a rarified low of $25 to a more common $50-$60. Even the 2022 Vinyl Me Please reissues sell online for upwards of $50-70 these days, so getting access to a generally good-quality edition of Bayou cut from original source tapes for around $30 holds some very strong appeal, imo.

Overall, I’m quite pleased with this Rhino Reserve Fire on the Bayou reissue. It is mastered a little more loudly than my original pressing, but it is sounding pretty solid. Since this album is a classic mid-’70s production, there is a bit of a compressed feeling on the original LP’s mastering. That vibe is less prominent on the new edition, which has a brighter and somewhat more airy high end.

I’m not sure if the tapes have aged some or if there was a mastering challenge originally, but while most of the album sounds fine, I noticed that, for example, on the latter half of “Can You Do Without?” (Side B, Track 1), a bit of fuzzy distortion became more audible around the edges of the vocals. Also, the snare drum pops a bit hotter here than on the original. I am just guessing, but perhaps some compression applied in the original disc mastering might have mitigated some anomalies inherent in the master tape. It’s also conceivable the master tape might have degraded a bit over time, something that can — and often does — happen with analog sources.

That said, the cymbal hits on the new edition of Bayou are really nice and they decay very naturally, as they are much more present than on the original. Again, there may have been EQ/compression on the original pressings that kept that kind of thing more reined in.

I could go on with this sort of hairsplitting, I suppose, but I think you get the overall idea that this is quite a good reissue regardless. The Music is a 9 and the Sound is an 8, so I have no problem recommending this new edition of The Meters’ Fire on the Bayou (ditto, sayeth AP editor Mettler!), as it generally sounds solid and ultimately is very enjoyable.

THE METERS
FIRE ON THE BAYOU
180 1LP (Reprise/Rhino)

Side A
1. Out In The Country
2. Fire On The Bayou
3. Love Slip Upon Ya
4. Talkin’ ’Bout New Orleans
5. They All Ask’d For You

Side B
1. Can You Do Without?
2. Liar
3. You’re A Friend Of Mine
4. Middle Of The Road
5. Running Fast
6. Mardi Gras Mambo

BABY HUEY
THE BABY HUEY STORY: THE LIVING LEGEND
180g 1LP (Curtom/Rhino)
MUSIC: 10
SOUND: 8

The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend, the lone LP release by James “Baby Huey” Ramey — which was issued posthumously in 1971 by Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom label — went on to become quite the influential release for the future hip-hop generation. This was one of those records I used to see around all the time back in the day — and, for a while, I’d come across it in those cutout overstock bins — but I never knew anything about it, nor anyone who had heard it. I was just starting to get deeper into the basics of soul and funk music in the late ’70s and early ’80s, so I had my own learning curve to follow. Thus, stupid me, I never grabbed a copy of it — my bad.

Today, an original Curtom The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend LP is a highly sought after collector’s item that also happens to be a pretty badass listening experience start to finish. Produced by no less than Curtis Mayfield himself, The Baby Huey Story has gone on to become revered as a classic of hard rockin’ deep funk soul sounds.

If you don’t know the history behind this artist, there is much already written about him on the interwebs, but I will summarize that Baby Huey’s tale is a sad tragedy of a young artist with great talent leaving us way before his time. Thankfully, he at least left behind one brilliant, passionate, smoking, hard-rocking funky slab of vinyl for generations ahead to embrace.

And embrace it they did. In fact, The Baby Huey Story is especially renowned for its grooves, which have been sampled extensively in modern hip-hop music. For perspective, noted research site WhoSampled lists 124 samples and 13 cover versions of Baby Huey’s tunes, including some big names in the world of hip-hop, including Ice Cube, A Tribe Called Quest, Biz Markie, Ghostface Killah, Eric B. & Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, and many others.

Not surprisingly, given its sampling pedigree, original pressings of The Baby Huey Story fetch some fairly hefty prices on the collector’s marketplace. For example, at the time of this posting, there were only two original U.S. copies of the album on Discogs in just VG/VG+ condition, ranging in price from $200 to just under $600! Even European originals command some pretty hefty coin as well. So, yes, a good reissue of this album was most especially overdue.

As I don’t have an original copy to compare this with, I can only vouch that this new edition of The Baby Huey Story sounds pretty sweet! Baby Huey’s voice is quite fantastic here, and you can hear how he takes James Brown’s screams to the next level, pre-echoing the kind of off-the-hook wails you sometimes hear on certain Parliament Funkadelic tracks. At points, Baby Huey’s music reminds me of a somewhat edgier twist on his contemporary Buddy Miles — yes, he of Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys fame, among many other alliances, and an artist who careened from the ’60s into the ’70s between the buttons of rock, soul, and funk and into the Top 40 of the albums chart around this time with his June 1970 hit LP on Mercury, Them Changes.

Huey’s take on The Mamas & The Papas’ “California Dreamin’” (Side 2, Track 3) is a killer jam that I could easily imagine artists like Sly Stone and Janis Joplin grooving on. That said, Baby Huey’s cover of Curtis Mayfield’s “Running” (Side 2, Track 4) also would have been another great one for Janis.

Overall, I am loving Baby Huey’s music here, which dances around the hippie fringes of rock, soul, jazz, and future funk. Parts of it remind me of early Chicago (yes, there are huge horns!), early Santana, Sly & The Family Stone, and (again) Buddy Miles. Be prepared for an occasional flute solo, and plenty of groovy organ — plus, Huey’s signature scream is just awesome!

I give the Music a 10, and the Sound an 8. Yeah, The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend is quite a kick — and if you don’t have a copy already, this new Rhino Reserve edition should be at the top of your list to pick up.

BABY HUEY
THE BABY HUEY STORY: THE LIVING LEGEND
180g 1LP (Curtom/Rhino)

Side 1
1. Listen To Me
2. Mama Get Yourself Together
3. A Change Is Going To Come

Side 2
1. Mighty, Mighty
2. Hard Times
3. California Dreamin’
4. Running
5. One Dragon Two Dragon

Author bio: Mark Smotroff is an avid vinyl collector who has also worked in marketing communications for decades. He has reviewed music for eCoustics, among others, and you can see more of his impressive C.V. at LinkedIn.