In 1975, New Orleans favorite son Allen Toussaint took advantage of Warner Bros.' celebrated creative freedom to record a solo pop album that aspires to greatness. A conceptual testimony to his Creole upbringing, especially in its trippy title track, Southern Nights uses instrumental codas to create a woozy nocturnal mood in songs like "Country John"—which recalls vintage Robbie Robertson—and blue-to-the-bone "Cruel Way to Go Down." Louisiana has rarely sounded so sumptuous.