"Simply brilliant compilation. I LOVE the CD: it came in this morning and I played it at least six times today."

"A few record companies have seen fit to put together a series of compilation recordings this year that feature various artists celebrating the spirit of Mardi Gras in places such as Louisiana, Brazil and California. One of the first CDs to be sent to me comes from Globe Records based in Mill Valley, California. The CD entitled "West Coast Mardi Gras Party" is very well done and features tracks by such California favorites as: Zydeco Flames: the California Cajun Orchestra: Andre Thierry; Gator Beat; and Eddie Baytos and the Nervis Brothers. What "West Coast Mardi Gras Party" does is bring together some very talented acts from the West Coast to prove that the popularity of Cajun, Zydeco, and Jazz is very much alive and seriously thriving outside of the confines of New Orleans and the parishes of Louisiana. But then again, serious Zydeco fans already knew this."

"West Coast Mardi Gras Party" also succeeds at capturing the diversity of the music, as it currently exists in parts north of the bright lights of Los Angeles. Among the many musical offerings featured are the Zydeco Flames hard driving "You Can Dance (All Night Long)." The Flames can cook with the best of the zydeco acts around today and somebody has to get these guys out onto the broader Zydeco Road. Northern California can't be the exclusive stomping ground for such a talented group of musicians. The very pleasing sounds of The California Cajun Orchestra featuring the late Danny Poullard can be heard on "Chicot Two-Step," and, there are many other good tracks among the thirteen others on the CD including, "Quelle Etoile" by Frog Legs, "Boss Hog" by Andre Thierry; "Mamacita" by Motordude Zydeco, and "Back to Louisiana" by The Pulsators."

"West Coast Mardi Gras Party" proves that they can zydeco in Simi Valley and two-step out at Big Sur. You can add this neat three-pepper package to your collection by visiting the Globe Records website at www.globerecords.com."

"West Coast Mardi Gras Party CD - Just when you thought you'd had enough Gumbo, along comes a delightful new CD titled "West Coast Mardi Gras Party" on the Globe label. It's a festive parade featuring performances by West Coast Artists. 15 Tracks of Party Music (Cajun, Zydeco, New Orleans R&B, Funk and even a tad of Dixieland)."

"Put on your Dancin' Shoes, clear out the furniture & slip this baby into the player. Voila! You'll be treated to an engaging and refreshing cavalcade of Mardi Gras music that'll have you movin' and shimmyin' right out of your socks! (that's if you're wearin' em')"

1. You Can Dance...The Zydeco Flames
2. Chicot Two-Step...California Cajun Orchestra
3. Open Up The Barn Door...Rhythmtown Jive
4. Quelle Etolie...Frog Legs
5. Swamp Feet...Tom Rigney and Flambeau
6. Mardi Gras Song...Gator Beat
7. Boss Hog...Andre Thierry
8. Postman...Eddie Baytos
9. Big Life...Mumbo Gumbo
10. High Octane Gas...S. E. Willis
11. Mamacita...Motordude Zydeco
12. Back To Louisiana...The Pulsators
13. Original Dixieland One-Step...Golden Gate Rhythm Machine
14. Zydeco Show...Tee Fee Swamp Boogie
15. Limbo Jazz...Brass Monkey

"Make no mistake, this is a real good one!!!
Let the Good Times Roll, baby."

"Thanks a ton !! A great album !"

"A few years back, the culture police created a stink over the traditional sounding music created by the gifted singer-songwriter Gillian Welch. Her crime? She was Los Angeles raised, not a product of the Southern mountains her critics believed was a requirement to produce such work. Odd, isn't it, the assumption of who is entitled to produce music? By the standard of the Welch critics, jazz would be limited to the Mississippi basin, blues to African-Americans, Western classical music to Vienna, and djembe drumming to West Africa. With a reasonable respect for the cultural origins of a genre, who's to say who gets to work within its ambit? So here we arrive at the collection of West Coast Mardi Gras Party collection. That's Northern California for anyone who thinks Cajun, Zydeco, and Dixieland ought to be relegated to Highway 61 and the Louisiana south. Mardi Gras Party is a sampler, kicking off with the hot Zydeco Flames ("You Can Dance (All Night Long)"). One cut each from bands such as Gator Beat ("Mardi Gras Song"), Frog Legs ("Quelle Etolie"), Mumbo Gumbo ("Big Life"), S.E. Willis ("High Octane Gas"), and The Pulsators ("Back to Louisiana"). I tend to give high marks to any recording with packaging that's honest about the recordings. West Coast Mardi Gras Party is that and more and proves again how migrations of people and music enrich America. This warrants being recommended, whether for wake-up, party, or energizing housecleaning music. Let these folks show it off. You'll be pleased."

"Globe Records has done a nice job of collecting fun party songs from West Coast bands that play pretty authentic "Mardi Gras" music. Some of it leans toward Zydeco, but most of it is just upbeat party music that you'd really enjoy around Fat Tuesday. www.globerecords.com.

Every song on this CD is a good choice, although they don't all fit in one particular niche. Some are Zydeco songs, some are just "Mardi Gras" style party tunes, while others are Bluesy. They even toss in some Dixieland for good measure.

The best songs? Big Life from Mumbo Gumbo is a fun party tune with good vocals and a nice beat. Another upbeat, danceable number is Boss Hog by Andre Thierry, which features some good Zydeco accordion play. The Zydeco Flames contribute "You Can Dance All Night," a good party Zydeco song. And, for down-right good Cajun fiddlin', check out TeeFee Swamp Boogie's "Zydeco Show," which is much more Cajun in style than the title would infer. The CD wraps up with a tuba-boppie cover of Duke Ellington's Limbo Jazz - very upbeat and very Mardi Gras.

If you want a CD that is a mix of likeable tunes from several Louisiana genres, and you want to feel like you just left Mardi 2001, check out this first-rate CD."

"Featuring some of the most fun and boisterous performances of 2001, West Coast Mardi Gras Party is a great collection of Cajun music that reaches out to several other genres for inspiration. Country, jazz -- it all blends together on these 15 tracks to create a good soundtrack to a Louisiana-style good time. The best tracks here are probably the most jazz influenced; a good example is "Postman," a wonderful track from Eddie Baytos & the Nervis Brothers that uses the typical blues structure and blends big Dixieland horns and zydeco style rhythm to create an awesome track. Another great song, the Pulsators' "Back to Louisiana," is a roots rock ballad filtered through Cajun rhythms, creating the only real slow point of the album...when the album picks up, it really picks up...Overall, this is a wonderful collection that should appeal to not only fans of the genre, but anyone who even wants to give Cajun music a chance for the first time."

Vier Punkte

Die Zydeco- und Cajunszene Louisianas ist längst zum Fixbestandteil der Worldmusic geworden. Nun wird diesen Stilen aber auch in anderen Gefilden gehuldigt. Etwa an der amerikanischen West Coast! Fünfzehn derartiger Beispiele bietet dieser Sampler, von New-Orleans-R´n´B bis zu Cajun, Zydeco, Funk und Dixieland. In der Tat geriert sich die Westküste als größte Cajun/Creole/Zydeco-Szene außerhalb Louisianas. So wie Musiker aus dem Delta dem Highway 61 nach Chicago folgten, begaben sich Creolen und Cajuns nach Kalifornien. Von Nachahmung kann daher keine Rede sein. Die meisten der Künstler auf vorliegender CD kommen auch aus dem Großraum der San Francisco Bay Area. Geboten wird gospelinfizierter Zydeco ebenso wie Two-Step-Cajun-Instrumentals, bläsergestützter R´n´B, Creolische Tradition, viel Fiddle, „lateinamerikanischer" Cajun mit Flöte und Akkordeon, Dr.-John-Piano aber auch Dixieland und die gute alte Brass Band. Ein Partyalbum mit hohem Spaßfakor!

"It's a fantastic album I will use a lot."

"Globe Compilation 2000 / Happy New Millennium" serves a double purpose: first it is a single, and second it is a compilation sampler of the Globe Records roster of artists. The title track (and single) features several of the Globe artists on a tune that has a Latin beat, and features the chorus sung in English, and spoken in nine other languages. An edited take of the song opens the CD, but you have to wait until the end to hear the full unexpurgated version.

The sampler features several different musical styles, with something for just about everybody, including a number of tracks from the blues genre. As samplers go, it is pretty good stuff, and there are a couple of bands that merit further investigation. In particular, Rhythmtown Jive, who serve up a honking sax R&B tune called "Jet Stream", and the laid back musings of the Christmas Jug Band (Big Boy Crudup's "That's His Red Wagon" and Frank Loesser's "What Are You Doin' New Year's Eve?") come out ahead of the rest. Joe Goldmark also deserves special mention for doing a pedal(?) steel guitar version of the Beatles "I'm Only Sleeping," whilst most amusing song title goes to "First Bratwurst of Summer" (MP3 sound file) (Steaming Shockwave sound file) by the Germanic sounding band called Those Darn Accordions!

Overall "Globe Compilation 2000" is something of a musical smorgasbord rather than a blues CD as such. As a sampler it offers a useful insight into what Globe Records are up to. Most of the material sits in fairly safe mainstream territory within its own particular style, so do not expect any exciting new fusions of different styles. Good clean fun, nonetheless.

Le titre le dit "Joyeux Millénaire", une collection sortie pour célébrer le passage à l'an 2000 avec des artistes issus du vivier de la baie de San Francisco. Deux versions du Happy New Millenium réunissant des musiciens appartenant aux différents artistes du label Globe. L'une des formations prometteuses de San Francisco, le Rhythmtown Jive, plonge dans le rythme avec "Jet stream!", un titre très rock'n'roll, avec de puissants échanges entre le sax et le piano de l'invité de luxe, Johnnie Johnson. Du zydeco californien pour suivre, "Mamou Two-step" par Gator Beat, avec le piano à bretelles en fusion! Le Christmas Jug Band lui , reprend le "That's his red wagon" d'Arthur Crudup en swing jug!! Dans, ce groupe, des anciiens musiciens de Commander Cody, Dan Hicks et Norton Buffalo, d'ailleurs le leader du Rhythmtown Jive, Tim Eschliman, faisait lui aussi partie de ce groupe légendaire. Folk rock rythmé pour Solid Air et "Little bird", une bien jolie mélodie champêtre avec des voix cristallines rappelant Richard et Linda Thompson. Frank Goldwasser, alias Paris Slim, vient gratter de la slide avec bonheur sur son "Molly's backyard girl". L'atmosphère se fait country, lorsqu'arrive la pedal steel de Joe Goldmark, jouée de manière très créative, sur une mélodie signée Lennon-McCartney, "I'm only sleeping". Vous l'avez deviné, beaucoup de variétés, mais sans doute trop peu de blues à se mettre sous la dent.

"Great music and everything will definately be played."

"Great Comp!"

"This is fun. Love Susie Davis! Thanks!"

"They sound fresh, strong, and powerful"

"Would love to hear more of these artists!"

"Thanks, we'll use it!! Will play from entire CD!!"