Rejuvenation by The Meters

Rejuvenation, the Meters' fifth studio album, came out on Reprise in 1974, with Allen Toussaint, a producer the New Orleans funk band had often backed as hired hands, behind the desk. The lineup is the classic one: Art Neville on keyboards and vocals, Leo Nocentelli on guitar, George Porter Jr. on bass and vocals, Ziggy Modeliste on drums, and Cyril Neville on vocals and percussion.

What you get is the Meters' secret weapon, that tight, melodic groove laid over second-line rhythms from the streets of their hometown, with guitar and keyboards jabbing and chattering on top. Everything is in the pocket and nothing sits still. "It Ain't No Use" alone is worth the price. It never made them stars, but its reputation has only grown: Rolling Stone ranked it 138th on its list of the 500 greatest albums in 2003, and 139th in the 2012 revision.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.