Gris Gris

Dr. John is the very definition of a character. I’m sure he has an eccentric and entertaining live presence but on Gris Gris, musically I find there’s a frustrating emphasis on quirk over quality. “That would sound strange” rather than “that would sound good.” I don’t find the core of these songs interesting enough to overcome the slightly annoying vibe given off by the Dr. Not for me!

Is he allowed to do this?

I bet Rachel Doezel flicks her bean to this type of shit

Interesting album from my home state of Louisiana. I honestly wasn’t feeling it. A bit average.

This is a weird one. It has a bit of a Tom Waits vibe at points, though not as good. Parts of this record I really like, and parts sound like haunted elevator muzak or something. It's ok, but I doubt I'll ever circle back to it. 6.5/10

Total weirdo shit. Flute and birdcalls on Croker Courtbullion is like some kind of Les Baxter inspired swamp-exotica. This rocks!

3.5. Weird, wild, and wonderful. It’s easy to hear how much this influenced the Tom Waits stuff I adore.

The inner workings of Jim Morrison’s mind, sung at times by Van, but nowhere near as bad I thought it would be.

Day1018 - the whole album seems like a gimmick and i just didn’t get it

Fascinating representation of New Orleans music in the late 60s. You have this NOLA voodoo bayou music mixed with psychedelia. This should have been fully included in the soundtrack to Mafia 3, but I digress. I always enjoy this, the more I listen to it. So maybe some day this could get to 4 stars. 3.5 rounded to 3

i found this slightly creepy………

I didn’t start listening to Dr. John until Dr. John’s Gumbo. This is a whole different animal. I can see how it didn’t resonate in 1968, but it is a great album. I’ll be coming back to this gem. I love being pleasantly surprised.

Ojämt med "Mama Roux," och avslutningsspåret som höjer sig över resten. Stark tvåa

Första och sista spåret är okej. Men överlag för mycket mumbo jumbo.

Häxktorn John utför sin exorcism med största noggrannhet. Det skramlas å frustas. En kakafoni av besvärjelser. Det krävs uppmärksam lyssning för att uppskattas. Men tar man sig tid utmejslas ett riktigt fint album. Influenser av blues, jazz, kreol, afrokultism smälter samman i en fin kompott. Till och med urflippade Croker Courtbullion fyller sin funktion.

Egensinnig kreolsk gryta. Det blir bäst när voodoo-doktorn själv väser fram texterna. Mindre bra är spåren med bara körer, de känns mer som utfyllnad, vilket inte ska behövas på ett album med bara sju spår. Håller titelspåret som bäst i gott sällskap med den funkiga Danse Fambeaux och den suggestiva I walk on guilded splinters. Dessa tre spår räcker till en stark trea.

Even though I am not a big fan of this kind of music, I must admit I found the album fascinating. I enjoyed the idea of making a voodoo record, and it’s executed perfectly. Also, the vocals reminded me of Tim Armstrong. I won’t listen to it again, though. It’s not something I enjoy with my headphones on

Louisiana. Bet

Awful

doesn't stand out much in any way

#125 - Dr. John - Gris Gris ⭐️ Mercifully, this album is only 33 minutes long. But I still couldn’t wait for it to be over.

As with anything experimental this has some misses along with the hits. On balance, an interesting listen.

Nope. Kinda reminded me in Tom Waits

Some of that good voodoo jazz. Really enjoyed it, but also idk how likely i am to really replay it.

This is not the Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem album I was hoping for.

Haven't heard of him before. I was ready for the worst but this is a rare case where a strange/quirky album is actually listenable 3/5

okay

Wtf

First listen Saved 4/7

6/10

Interesting, really grew on me as it went on. Version on spotify has a terrible sound though, would be nice to hear a better version. 3.5 rounded down Heard before? No Owned: No, 110/441 (24%) Will I get: No

Sly Stone, he slide on down to New Orleans. He fix himself a bowl of jambalaya, he take some of that gris gris medicine and he do the Bayou Junble Boogie. This is a slimy little record, that humps your leg and wanders off without apology. It sounds like it was recorded by musicians who weren't in the same room, or planet at the time. It's catchy in a slightly disturbing way, and leaves you feeling like you want a shower.

Funky, doesn't sound like it's from the 60s. Enjoyable enough, 3* Highlights: mama roux

High 3 I think. It sounded interesting and was nice to have in the background and work to. At first I thought it was going to be too strange and disruptive but it settled quickly for me.

It’s super interesting, wish I enjoyed it more

Dr John was a low 3 for me, interesting psych flavours but nothing sticking

Did not enjoy

Anlther wierd one

Ok ok

Actually bad. Big fail. Horrible

Tom Waits' worst album...

Weird album, but some interesting stuff Standout songs: Danse Fambeaux I Walk on Guilded Splinters

a very, very strong 4. this rules!

It was quite a strange album this right here.

no thanks white boi :-)

Had to fight not to abandon this album after about three tracks. Perseverance paid off, and there is something attractively hypnotic about the later part. Comes across as massively self-indulgent, but scored as a partial success.

Started out fine and just went down hill…

Very experimental and interesting. Some of the elements reminded me of music from African religions' ones, and apparently, this was also the idea

I had never heard of Dr. John before this project, or at least I thought I hadn’t. Once I looked him up, I realized I already knew “Right Place, Wrong Time” and “Down in New Orleans.” So apparently Dr. John and I had met before. I just never caught his name. Gris-Gris, his 1968 debut, got off to a great start. “Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya” immediately pulled me into its strange, swampy New Orleans atmosphere. I ran a Mardi Gras 5K in New Orleans a few years ago and fell in love with the music of the city, so there were elements of this album that were right up my alley. “Danse Kalinda Ba Doom” was strange, but the percussion and chanting gave it a hypnotic quality that kept me interested. “Mama Roux” was catchy enough, but by “Danse Fambeaux” the album was starting to level off for me. “Croker Courtbullion” was where it really began to lose me. Thankfully, “Jump Sturdy” brought me back. That was one of the tracks where the New Orleans sound I love really came through. The long closer, “I Walk on Guilded Splinters,” didn’t quite finish the album on a high note for me. It wasn’t bad, but it felt like it wandered around without really going anywhere. There’s a lot about Gris-Gris that I appreciate. The percussion, atmosphere, and New Orleans influences give it a personality all its own. But the album started much stronger than it finished, and there weren’t enough songs I’d want to return to for me to add it to the collection.

this is the debut album of malcolm john rebannack, using his stage persona dr. john, who's essentially a quirky musical voodoo doctor who can cure all your ills and troubles. the album blends rock, r&b, psychedelia and more, recording between sonny and cher recording sessions, he called various new orleans musicians to create a wonderful and mysterious record. it failed to find any success upon release, but as time went on it's achieved cult status. this one's strange! clearly much stranger compared his other work, even if i haven't heard them yet, haha. like other concept albums, this one too is very clear-as-day. i feel like i'm strapped somewhere, with a group of witch-doctors chanting and draining me of my life essence. it's very wacky at times, maybe a little too wacky... i think when the album turned on it was some real odd and captivating swampy rock funk music, but the more i listened to it it felt like it was just audio of someone sitting in a caldron, a bunch of grandmothers and a guy with a top hat on, all babbling in my ears and shaking salt into the bubbling liquid. i might end up relistening to this one, but this first listen... it was something alright.

Well that’s pretty superb. I Walk on Guilded Splinters is brilliant - I only knew the Paul Weller cover which is good- but this is better! Now I’ve gone down a rabbit hole of covers - Cher, Humble Pie, Johnny Jenkins, Allman Bros…..

I've always enjoyed Dr. John in smallish doses. I've not heard this before & unfortunately it's a bit too 'out there' for my taste.

Cajun psychedelia. Nah...

utter shite

I wish I had known about this album and Dr. John when my college buddies and I started going to New Orleans. But there's a lot I wish I had known back then... A lot of this album sounds more atmospheric than like fully formed songs, but "Jump Sturdy" and "I Walk on Guilded Splinters" sound like later Dr. John, a sign of things to come.

wasn't expecting to enjoy this but it was really interesting

Quite boring. Some parts could have been from the Mamas and Papas - California Dreaming

i'm hoping for the best, but i'm expecting the worst. gris-gris gumbo ya ya--this 5 minute song feels longer than the 13min city, country, city (war / the world is a ghetto) i listened to earlier today. this is fine. not egregious but not something really in my wheelhouse. idk, 2/5? 3/5? i appreciate the instrumentalists--is that a mandolin on danse fambeaux?--and the backup vocals are good, but the ambience is not speaking to me and i don't love dr. john's voice. esoteric music isn't my jam. 15min into the 33min album and i'm calling it. i've done my due diligence.

A relatively unknown album, according to the numbers. Completely unknown to me. It just weirded me out a bit too much to really be seen positively. But there definitely is talent and a knack for good music in there somewhere. 2/5

The cover gives a fair warning: Dr. John sounds just as strange as he looks. His gravelly voice, the chanting, and all that percussion make for a murky, slightly unsettling take on psychedelia. It’s an interesting sound, and I like that he never seems tempted to make it more respectable. Whether it holds my attention for a whole album is another matter. Some passages pull me in, but others leave me waiting for something beyond the atmosphere. I remember the character and the mood much more clearly than the individual songs. An interesting encounter with the doctor, though I’m in no hurry to book another appointment.

um jazz rock bem bacana. nenhuma música ficou comigo, mas entendi o apelo.

Interesting (hadn't heard it or of it before), but not my bag

Minus one star for the gross mouth sounds at the end.

I didn't understand Croker Courtbullion until minute 5. Then it clicked. That's like the rest of this album--you don't get it until you get it. 4 keepers in 7 (57%).

unique, shamanic, psychedelic, pretty cool

A album that lets me get lost in this mad man's vodoo swamp, is an album that I will always love.

Ok. Reminds me of a Joe Cocker or Van Morrison voice.

Dark and dirty. Earthy.

I swear we already had this one...but a quick search does not come up with anything. Is he the inspiration for Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem? Is he an insane Bayou bluesman and jazz mystic? Is he a Voodoo Doctor? Do we have Tom Waits if he does not come first? I don't know the answers but the music is hard to resist. It creeps in at the corners and slowly takes you in with it.

Wonderfully weird, like the missing link between Beefheart and Tom Waits. Perfect longer, too, didn’t outstay its welcome.

A nice vibe throughout. The only other album I knew of his (and owned) was In the Right Place with the hit Right Place Wrong Time, a fun track form 1973 to hear on the radio.

Well it was interesting if nothing else

Sort of cool for a bit but becomes a real slog by the end. The shtick gets old the longer it lasts

huono. ärsyttävä. kolme tuntia jauhettu purkka.

Tykkäsin tän levyn tunnelmasta tosi paljon! Jos oisin kuunnellu heti lounaan jälkeen niin ois voinu helposti yltää neloseenkin, mut olin sen verran nälkäkiukkunen, että se varmaan näkyy arvosanassakin. Tää vois lähtä kyllä jatkokuunteluunkin!

Dr. John is trippin! Ihan ei riittäny omat mömmöt pääsee täyteen potentiaaliin tän kaa, mut ihan kiva seikkailu silti. Perään albumiradiosta pärähtänyt Beefheart oli kyllä hyvä makupaletin puhdistaja ja innostus siitä vahvisti tuomiota että tää kuitenkin vaan kolmonen.

Outo, mutta positiivinen yllätys. Hauska vibe ja teema, jotenkin tollanen eteävaltioiden rämemystiikka on paljon aina puhutellut mua. Enkä selvästi oo ainoa, koska sitä on niin paljon populaarikulttuurissa käsitelty. Nyt tekee mieli googlata, mitä on gris gris.

This is cool stuff. I had always got this confused with Professor Longhair, who I also dig, but this is way less goofy and far more sexy stuff.

# Album Name: Gris Gris # Artist: Dr John # Rating: 2/5 # Comments: Nah not for me. Got to be on psychedelics for this one. # Top Tunes: # Would I listen to it again? No

interesting record considering it’s the 60s

This was so weird. 3/4 of this was pretty bad lol. This was not for me at all. Some songs were fine, but this wasn't good. Such weird moments throughout... Actual Rating...1.5 Liked Songs: "Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya" and "Mama Roux"

This is a case where the album cover perfectly captures the sound: strange, shamanistic, and psychedelic motifs that are nonetheless compelling. Even a decade before the album’s release, its creator, Malcolm Rebennack, was already a highly regarded session pianist; however, he later became fascinated by Voodoo and mind-altering substances. Adopting the persona of "Dr. John" — named after an African witch doctor — he essentially crafted his own musical universe rooted in a languid, slightly eerie brand of psychedelic blues. Listening to the record evokes the feeling of attending a ritual around a sacrificial fire near the muddy swamps of Louisiana; indeed, the album is named after a protective amulet. As was often the case back then, this unconventional blend won critical acclaim but failed to sell — hardly a surprise, given that the music is, at times, rather rough around the edges. Still, it absolutely nails the atmosphere.

Like a prototype Tom Waits, Dr John performs a bizarre ritual. Too strange to be totally successful, but you'll probably remember it.

Really strange swampy sound. Great percussion and atmosphere. Liked it.

I genuinely don’t know what to say about this album. I just know that I didn’t like it.

Who transported me to a creepy witchcraft movie set in 1893 Louisiana? Weird as shit, but in a cool way.

Do not own this one. I've heard Dr. John, but I've never heard this album. I immediately love this. It's weird, spooky, nonsensical. Dr. John himself is entrancing - with the chanting voices in the background swirling from right to left with the drums - that psychedelic mood all over the opening track. This is like all the lore of all of New Orleans coming together to conjure images that are far-distant and ever-present all at once. You can see the image of the candido moving in Congo Square to "Danse Kalinda Da Boom." These grooves are dirty and tropical, shadows on the edge of bright sunshine. There are traces of Van Morrison, Bernstein, Miles Davis, Varese, Howlin' Wolf, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, and an ever-present touch of Ray Bradbury. And I'm reminded of "Autumn Brown" by The Stranglers and "A Girl Like You" by Edwin Collins. I'm sad that I've lived so long without this voodoo magick in my life, but I'm stoked to have found it just as spooky season is beginning. I'm obsessed - 5 Stars.

Ovo je moglo nekako ići u dva smjera, ili da bude genijalna avangardna stvar za koju slučajno niko nije čuo ili da bude teška katastrofa. Bliže je drugom i baš šteta jer je muzika prijatna ali glasovi i ostali zvukovi su mi toliko neprijatni da jedino mogu porediti s Residentsima (dosad najgori album s liste).

Cookoo music.

This is one of those albums that is all about generating a certain feel or atmosphere, in this case a swampy voodoo haze. I can hear how it may have influenced some other things I like eg. Tom Waits or the Stones circa Exile on Main St. Those may have better songs but I am sure there will be times when my mood is such that this just hits the spot, especially I Walk on Guilded Splinters

Too experimental, too hippyish too bizarre amd not that musical jist crazy fuckers doing sounds. Sucks to me

Bit dull

#142 Average track rating: 2.8 | FT: Mama Roux | LFT: Danse Fambeaux Going to try and review these albums at least a /little/ more in-depth or, at the very least, format them so. :--) This album was wonderfully groovy with a real layered, gritty texture. It's interesting as a piece of art because you can so clearly see were he pulled influence from (not just his namesake inspiration) and the love he has for his home. His intonations and approach to building atmosphere has had a clear influence on the 70s that followed, and I loved the echoeing throughout. Unfortunately, there are times when it feels like he is creating a cultural caricature that could very easily have been avoided. Gains points for being the inspiration for the muppet "Dr. Teeth" and loses points for literally being inspired by minstrel shows when he was growing up. Another time or not, that's ridiculous. I do think it is necessary to acknowledge that his adopted persona was inspired by a black Senegalese man; whilst I am ill equipped to comment in-depth on this as someone who is neither black or a practitioner of spiritual practices, it's vital to understand the history of Vodou and the way in which personas such as this encouraged racial stereotypes. See this link for a brief understanding:https://www.anthropology-news.org/articles/ten-facts-about-the-racist-history-of-voodoo/ Anyways, this is why I enjoy engaging with this list because it gave me the opportunity to research further into both musical history and cultural history as a means to understand the context of an album :) I will be rating this a 2 - musically, I think it could be rated higher but the context of the album sours it's listenability. I agree (I think?) with it being on the list, though would encourage people who listen to it to learn about it's context and where his built persona came from. ಄ Albums remaining: 947 ಄ Albums I agree with being on the list: 62 (+1 Gris Gris) ಄ Albums I would consider for my list: 28 ಄ Albums I would not include on my list: 114

This kind of hit in a way that makes me wonder if I'm having a strange day. Mama Roux works. The album had my attention the whole time. This is one of those out there weirdos that need to show up in different artforms It's almost guaranteed this isn't as good as I found it and my day was really weird. High 3, low 4

This is cool. The stereo mixing opened me to the experience. This has that 60s vibe, but if someone told me the album came out this year I wouldn't doubt them. Great album length, it doesn't over stay. I think this worked it's magic on me.

1 - TERRIBLE

This whole album sounds like I wandered into some kind of voodoo ritual in the middle of the bayou. Half the time I felt like I was watching the voodoo parts of "Live and Let Die". There’s chanting, percussion, strange vocals, swampy guitar, and enough weird little noises in the background to make the whole thing feel slightly haunted. “Danse Fambeaux” was pretty cool, and “Jump Sturdy” was another one I liked. “Croker Courtbullion” sounded like some kind of Cajun jazz freestyle, which was interesting in theory but kind of dumb in practice. That one was a little too far out there for me. I definitely appreciate how weird and atmospheric the album is. It sounds like absolutely nothing else from 1968, but the atmosphere was more interesting to me than most of the actual songs.

It gets better every time I listen to it. The last track is clearly the best.

This is a tough one to rate. The instrumentals were really cool in parts and whenever Dr. John wasn’t singing I was like ‘huh, this is pretty cool’, but I was really put off by Dr. John’s whole performance. I don’t know anything about his Bayou bona fides or whatever, but his accent/delivery was so thick that in 2026 it just kind of came off as parody or caricature.

Not really into this