Fire On the Bayou

Although they might not have realized it at the time, the Meters took another small step toward evolving into the outfit known as the Neville Brothers on the 1975's Fire on the Bayou: Keyboardist Art was joined by brother Cyril Neville on percussion. Fire, again co-produced by the band and Allen Toussaint, was a bit slicker than the previous Rejuvenation. But the record, even with its moves toward mixing some white rock stylings into the funk — they cover the Three Dog Night hit “Liar” — is still drenched in the Meters’ idiosyncrasies. Among these are the pre-rock rhyme of “bottle of wine” with “dollar and a dime” on the title track, not to mention the uproarious playing-the-dozens novelty of “They All Ask’d for You.” And of course those rhythms.