kingpin to behave?
Well, yes, it is. Zydeco – the dance-hall music of French-speaking Louisiana blacks – may be one of America's oldest and most buoyant forms of music, but it's not just for purists. It is, first and foremost, music designed to keep 'em hopping in clubs. Toward that end, Buckwheat has long employed sleek uptown horns (here courtesy of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band) and funky electric guitars alongside accordions and scraping rub boards, and he's covered Little Richard and Lee Dorsey on earlier LPs. Hence, Buckwheat hasn't changed much for his leap to the majors: his Ils Sont Partis ("They're off") Band locks tightly into every groove, and his music remains one big party, where anything goes.
In fact, the record is structured much like a night at any club in southern Louisiana. It gets off to a crack start with "Ma 'Tit Fille," a frolicking Dural original in which his squeeze box duels with Dirty Dozen horn blasts. The festivities continue with two more dance workouts, "Buckwheat's Special" and "Zydeco Honky Tonk." Then it's onto the covers of the evening: the title song, by Bob Dylan, and Dave Alvin's "Marie Marie" become back-porch romps, as does Booker T. and the MGs' "Time Is Tight," with Buckwheat's accordion taking the original organ part. The record heats up with Chenier's mile-a-minute "Hot Tamale Baby" before winding down with a slow-dance number, "People's Choice."
Throughout the record, Buckwheat heaps on bogs of thick, robust accordion chords and reels off brash solos. His singing remains merely serviceable, and overall, On a Night Like This doesn't represent a major leap forward from his two wonderful Rounder albums, particularly 1984's Turning Point. But considering how major labels have previously treated Cajun and zydeco musicians – think back to Doug Kershaw's overproduced albums and the one-shot treatment of Rockin' Sidney ("My Toot Toot") – consistency is truly a virtue. As Buckwheat himself says at the end of one tune, "Whew!" You don't have to be French to understand that. (RS 511)
DAVID BROWNE
