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Apr 4, 201280No matter which era or what record you prefer, as an album, Locked Down stands with Rebennack's best.
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Apr 10, 201280John has always had that deep gruff rasp, but backed by raw swamp boogie with lots of baritone sax, creepy female backing vocals and treated keyboards, he's sounding as dangerous and spooky as when laying down the gris-gris on "I Walk on Gilded Splinters" back in 1968.
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Mar 29, 201280The voice is still there, as is the attitude, and Auerbach has done an excellent job bringing an artist who will never be out of date into the 21st century.
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Apr 26, 201273People shouldn't expect a "completely Dr. John" record, but there is a lot to enjoy from the simplicity and overall throwback feel to Locked Down that provides a positive and hopeful experience.
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Apr 3, 201284An album that could've easily come from other Mississippi River stops where horns and funk pump through the bloodstreams-Chicago, Memphis or St. Louis.
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Apr 3, 201290His latest is the closest he has come to making a masterpiece in a very long time.
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Apr 10, 201288The legendary pianist sounds reinvigorated on "Locked Down" (Nonesuch), in part because he's not plugging into a formula, but animating it with some feisty new sidemen.
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Apr 4, 201280A mystical brew of funk, gospel and delta rock.
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Apr 5, 201270Dr. John and Auerbach come together to capture a rich, evocative, almost apocalyptic party on Locked Down, an album that makes you dance while wondering about the state of the world.
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Mar 30, 201280Most impressively of all, it comfortably lives up to the promise that Auerbach apparently made to the Doctor that he would help him craft 'the best record you've made in a long time.'
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Mar 29, 201291There's no denying the vintage voodoo--or the palpable disgust--the Doctor summons with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys.
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May 7, 2012100With one or two exceptions, this CD never lets up, epitomizing his biz-wise mastery of rhumba boogie and the second line. The two pop hits lead. The gris-gris tracks are songs not shtick.
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Apr 3, 2012100It is one of the best of his career.
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Apr 6, 201260Sharp and well-recorded, but although Rebennack's distinctive voice is featured front and center, there's a sacrifice of his artistry. [#86, p.53]
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Apr 25, 20128010 of the funkiest tracks Dr. John's been involved in since the '70s. [May 2012, p.93]
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Apr 4, 201290The legions who bought and enjoyed El Camino are sure to enjoy this unofficial second helping and those who yearn for more of the freakier blues of Rebennack's 1960s heyday are certain to agree this brilliant gumbo is just what the doctor ordered.
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Jun 28, 201280Locked Down is the result of a synergy between musicians of different generations – both have something to bring to the party, and the combination is compelling. It is an album of rare energy, heat, sweat and motion, and a salutary lesson to all that age need not diminish one's mojo.
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Apr 26, 201280There are a few moments when Auerbach's production touches threaten to distract from the grooves, but the overall quality is so impressively high that the occasional misstep is quickly forgotten.
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Apr 4, 201290A sweeping confession of sanctification, embrace and glory, this is deliverance personified.
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Apr 3, 201275This album still stands out among his recent work, not so much for the leap of faith he took collaborating with Auerbach but because it turned out so damn well.
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Apr 13, 201270Dr. John is Dr. John. He's a star, and is on fire at the center of this.
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Apr 24, 201280[Locked Down] offers a vivid reminder as to why his myth has endured for so long. No one else comes close to sounding like this. [May 2012, p.96]
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Apr 3, 201280Full of muscled, vintage R&B grooves, fevered soloing, psychedelic arrangements and oracular mumbo jumbo, it's the wildest record Rebennack has made in many years.
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Apr 17, 201283The album is at once classic and modern, and while it's short on timeless songs like "Glowin'," "Loop Garoo" and "Mos' Scocious," on the whole it's a more engaged, eclectic, and ornery set than these types of revivalist projects usually are.
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Apr 3, 201288One of his best, no doubt, and arguably one of the best-sounding records so far this year.
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Mar 29, 2012100No one makes music like this: the Night Tripper rampages inimitably through swamp blues, voodoo funk and Afrobeat, with his trademark piano.
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Mar 29, 201280The result is a dark, steamy sound that comes crawling from the Louisiana swamp like a mean-tempered 'gator.
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Apr 2, 201280For once all that languorous muck is refreshing.
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Apr 2, 201280What emerges from their empathy is a thoroughly great record that adds punch and groove to Rebennack's humid party music.
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Mar 29, 201290The album feels disciplined and enormously funky. [May 2012, p.61]