The Night Tripper – Gris-Gris

Through The Band and The Last Waltz and Exile On Main St I stumbled across the great Doctor... and bought the two albums I once owned on CD, this one and Sun, Moon, Herbs... my memory: interesting... but not my cup of tea.
So now this one is back. Wow!!! It's like listening to something completely unknown before, to be honest, I did not listen to my CDs all too often. Such a great work!!! And in retrospect- so many "osychedelic" masterpieces of that age, be honest, they are a piece of uninspired crap on tape. This one is marvellous!!!

Bought his album no. 4 in the Speakers Corner incarnation and did not have the money to do the same here... been a bit sad about it before I put this on the player: absolutely great pressing by Optimal (they are the best today of the really big ones, I.M.H.O.) and the mastering is surprisingly GREAT. Nothing to add.
Not such expensive and a fantastic record. Poly-lined inner sleeves.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

You are there in the swamp with him. Watch for allilgators. Absolutely stellar pressing here.

One of my top ten records. This version is so awesome, treated in exactly the manner it deserves. Love it, but I have to return my copy for having a nasty scratch on side one - very sad.

From the very clever/smart album cover to the decent 180g slab of black vinyl ,this is a win-win item all round.
This is my 1st Dr John (vinyl) record that led me to purchasing more of his wonderful music on vinyl & cd.
With his early Louisiana Blues, Fusion, Bayou Funk style the Dr IS properly "in surgery" here,there isn`t a filler(bad track)
in site all tracks just flow naturally from each other with bayou funk ease.

My copy is flat and well centred on the spindle slightly noisy(but fine for the price!)this "adds to the authenticity" to it sounding like a OG 68" record!
Great music great writing excellent sound quality - this one was done right for a modern day vinyl record pressing.
Five Stars Highly Recommended.

Music 5*
Sound quality 4.5*
Mastering/pressing 4.5*

System:
Turntable:Rega P3
Cartridge: Roksan Corus Goldring G1042 stylus tip
Phono Stage: Whest Audio TWO.2

Sounds really good. Go this at my local record store for $40, but mines pressed in a green vinyl.

Faithful to the original in the mix and levels. Pressed on top quality vinyl, cut at 45 with tons of room to breathe (especially on the closing track 'IWOGS'), incredibly quiet vinyl, and pristine packaging. Not sure how this could be beat sonically and for overall presentation unless AP issues a 33/non-gatefold version for the traditionalists.

I SO wanted this to be worse than the excellent 2018 KPG Speakers Corner cut in order to flip abit less, but annoyingly its better....bigger, richer and just that bit more life. Its a short-ish record where a 33rpm should be fine but this one does win out for me. I get that feeling where it sounds like the tracks have been turned into 12in 45rpm singles... and they always have the most life! Obviously the packaging is lovelier than the Speakers Corner which is perfectly decent but not on this AP's level. In fact im finding AP simply nowadays at least do album art repro BETTER THAN ANYONE PERIOD.

This must surely be the definitive version of this crazy, swamp-psych-blues record and it remains one of Dr John's four must have records. My only - almost pointless - criticism is that AP did the 'In The Right Place' album first and of the 4 Dr.John albums they are putting out, thats the only one that sounds like an audiophile demo disc as its recorded far better than the earlier murkier stuff! Shoulda released ITRP last so as not to spoil us lol

I also bought the recent modern Mono re-issue --this OG Monarch Stereo beats it handily. Sold the Mono.

Very nice pressing. There is some crosstalk listenable at the very beginning of side one, such that you can hear the beginning of the song faintly before it actually begins. I wonder if that is with other pressings of the record as well.

This is a landmark stew of psychedelic Afro Bahama gumbo. RIYL Exuma