Allen Toussaint - Motion (1978)

Allen Toussaint is an American musician, songwriter and record producer, an influential figure in New Orleans R&B since the 1960s.

1978's Motion was Allen Toussaint's first solo album in three years. He had only released five albums under his own name in over twenty years in the music busines, but his own recording career had always been secondary to his work as a producer and songwriter, which continued with no sign of slowing throughout the 70s (his song "Southern Nights" was a #1 pop hit for Glen Campbell in 1977). The new album was recorded in L.A. with local studio pros including guitarist Larry Carlton, bassist Chuck Rainey and drummer Jeff Porcaro, helping craft a sound quite different to his earlier self-produced New Orleans albums. The result was smoother and glossier, and not quite as distinctive, but nevertheless made for a great record. It turned out to be his last proper solo album for almost twenty years.

Southern Nights (1975) <|> Connected (1996)
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Allen Toussaint - Southern Nights (1975)

Allen Toussaint is an American musician, songwriter and record producer, an influential figure in New Orleans R&B since the 1960s.

Whilst Allen Toussaint had released two fantastic solo albums in the early 70s, they didn’t succeed in getting his own recording career to take off, and so he was still most successful as a producer, helping craft first class New Orleans-flavoured funk and soul for other artists. Amongst the best work he produced in this era was Dr John’s In The Right Place (1972) and Desitively Bonnaroo (1973), and Labelle’s Nightbirds (1974), with its #1 hit “Lady Marmalade”. 

Eventually he released another solo album in 1975. Southern Nights was another collection of cool, funky R&B in his own idiosyncratic style, full of great songs and tight grooves. The title track in particular, a swirling, trippy mirage of a tune, has endured as one of his best known songs - it became a #1 hit for Glen Campbell two years later. Toussaints’s original version was not as successful, and the album itself never made much of an impact on the charts. However it is generally seen as his masterpiece, and he’s apparently referred to it himself as his best album.

Life, Love And Faith (1972) <|> Motion (1978)
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Allen Toussaint - Life, Love And Faith (1972)

Allen Toussaint is an American musician, songwriter and record producer, an influential figure in New Orleans R&B since the 1960s.

Allen Toussiant's second solo album of the 1970s saw him refine the sound he had introduced with Toussaint, honing it to cool and funky perfection. Whilst Toussaint had featured songs that had already been recorded by Lee Dorsey a few years earlier, and a full side of instrumentals, Life, Love And Faith consisted of all new numbers, demonstrating his genius as a songwriter, performer and arranger. It was with this album that he first showed his own idiosyncratic form of New Orleans soul in full force, and is seen today as among his best (if not the best) of his albums.

Toussaint (1971) <|> Southern Nights (1975)
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Allen Toussaint - Toussaint (1971)

Allen Toussaint is an American musician, songwriter and record producer, an influential figure in New Orleans R&B since the 1960s.
 

A native of New Orleans, Allen Toussaint started his music career as a much in demand session pianist, his playing inspired by his hero Professor Longhair. At an early age he got to work with such New Orleans musical legends as Fats Domino and Earl King, and recorded an album of piano instrumentals called The Wild Sound Of New Orleans in 1958.
Throughout the 60s he worked as a producer and songwriter, and this way truly rose to the status of legend. His guiding hand helped define the sound of New Orleans R&B throughout the decade, interrupted only by a brief stint in the army from ‘63 to ‘65. The artist he was most notably associated with was singer Lee Dorsey, who had hits with the Toussaint compositions “Ride Your Pony”, “Get Out Of My Life, Woman“, “Holy Cow”, “Working In The Coalmine” and “Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky (From Now On)”. Other New Orleans artists he wrote and produced for included Irma Thomas ("It's Raining", "Ruler Of My Heart"), Benny Spellman ("Fortune Teller", "Lipstick Traces (On A Cigarette)"), Chris Kenner ("I Like It Like That") and Ernie K-Doe ("Mother-In-Law").
His next album, simply titled Toussaint, didn’t come out until 1971, thirteen years after The Wild Sound Of New Orleans. It was here that he first debuted as a singer, the first side of the album consisting of vocal songs and the second half consisting of piano-driven instrumentals. The music was spectacularly produced, with lots of great instrumentation (including Dr John on organ and guitar) and the brassy horn arrangements typical of New Orleans R&B. It was laid back, cool, and inescapably funky. He also proved to be an excellent singer, and offered his own versions of “Working In The Coalmine” and “Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky”.
The album was a great artistic success, long overdue at the time. Unfortunately it didn’t make much of a commercial impact.

Toussaint has been re-issued numerous times over the years, often under the title From A Whisper To A Scream, which is how you are most likely to find it nowadays. Later versions feature a bonus instrumental which I have put in here as well, as it’s too good to leave out.

The Wild Sound Of New Orleans (1958) <|> Life, Love And Faith (1972)
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