| Cabbage Alley | ||||
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| Released | May 11, 1972 | |||
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| Length | 47:10 | |||
| Label | Reprise | |||
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| The Meters chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Cabbage Alley | ||||
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Cabbage Alley is the fourth studio album by the American funk group the Meters, produced by Allen Toussaint and Marshall Sehorn and released in May 1972 by Reprise Records. It was the band's first album for the label, following the demise of Josie Records a year earlier. The signing afforded the group a higher recording budget and re-introduced organist and keyboardist Art Neville to the lineup, having briefly left the band some time earlier.
The Meters used the album to explore a variety of musical styles, including reggae, rock and boogaloo, while retaining the group's distinctive second line-based, syncopated funk style. The music is softer and jammier than the group's earlier records and also sees them increase the use of chants and vocals, particularly from Neville, marking a further departure from the group's instrumental beginnings. The group also incorporated then-popular studio effects like tape delay and phasing. The album is named for a then-recently demolished back alley in the group's native New Orleans which had been a centre for the city's second line funk music, while the surrealist album sleeve was inspired by the art of René Magritte
The title track and "Do the Dirt" were issued as singles. On release, Cabbage Alley received wide acclaim from music critics, some of whom deemed it the group's best album yet. Despite the reviews and the album's smoother sound, it was a commercial disappointment, which was partly attributed to Reprise's poor marketing. The album has been re-released several times, including by Sundazed Records in 2000.