“Awwww yah!” With that intro to “Cissy Strut,” the Meters burst from backing band anonymity to funk gods. The paradigm shift they enacted on soul and funk was so profound that it continued to reverberate through hip-hop and R&B a decade or two on for good measure. House band for Toussaint and a generation of New Orleans belters and crooners, the band chucked off the lead singers and brass sections, streamlining their sound and stripping away anything that didn’t further the funk. Full of hairpin turns, with guitar and organ solos as tightly coiled as copperheads, the Meters could be sweet and stinging at once. Not bad for a band that for the most part was too young to legally belly up at any bar in New Orleans at the time of this recording.