Royal Pains

Acis and Galatea (HWV 49) is a musical work by George Frideric Handel with an English text by John Gay. The work has been variously described as a serenata, a masque, a pastoral or pastoral opera, a "little opera" (in a letter by the composer while it was being written), an entertainment and by the New Grove Dictionary of Music as an oratorio. The work was originally devised as a one-act masque which premiered in 1718.

None of these Louisiana funk/soul obscurities (none of which postdate 1975) were on big labels. And almost none of the performers have any name recognition value among general listeners, with the possible exception of "Count" Rockin' Sidney (better known as the zydeco artist of "My Toot Toot" fame) and Katie Webster. That doesn't mean that such material isn't of possible interest, of course. But the questions that arise are: is it good, and does it have a distinct regional identity? Those are hard to answer with authority. This soul-bleeding-into-funk crossover is solid, but nothing to make the Meters sweat, being more derivative of national trends (particularly James Brown) than innovative of their own paths; some passing traces of Stevie Wonder, Bill Withers, Jean Knight (of "Mr. Big Stuff" fame), and other major soulsters of the time can also be whiffed from time to time.

AVID Jazz continues with its Five Classic album series with a re-mastered 2CD release by Tony Bennett complete with original artwork and liner notes.