Victory Mixture
Encyclopedia
Victory Mixture is a 1990 album by Willy DeVille
Willy DeVille
Willy DeVille was an American singer and songwriter. During his thirty-five year career, first with his band Mink DeVille and later on his own, Deville created original songs rooted in traditional American musical styles. He worked with collaborators from across the spectrum of contemporary...

. The album consists of cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

s of New Orleans R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...

 and soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

 classics by DeVille’s musical idols. Trouser Press
Trouser Press
Trouser Press was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow Who fan Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" ...

 said about the album, “A rootsy
Roots revival
A roots revival is a trend which includes young performers popularizing the traditional musical styles of their ancestors. Often, roots revivals include an addition of newly-composed songs with socially and politically aware lyrics, as well as a general modernization of the folk sound.After an...

 covers collection, Victory Mixture provides a welcome antidote to Miracle's
Miracle (Willy DeVille album)
Miracle is an album by Willy DeVille. Recorded in 1987, it was the first album that Willy DeVille recorded under his own name. Prior to Miracle, DeVille recorded six albums with the band Mink DeVille, the last four of which were really solo albums by Willy DeVille in that no members of the...

misguided modernity, making the most of the singer's relocation to New Orleans with backup from such local legends as Allen Toussaint
Allen Toussaint
Allen Toussaint is an American musician, composer, record producer, and influential figure in New Orleans R&B.Many of Toussaint's songs have become familiar through numerous cover versions, including "Working in the Coalmine", "Ride Your Pony", "Fortune Teller", "Play Something Sweet ", "Southern...

, Eddie Bo
Eddie Bo
Edwin Joseph Bocage was an American singer and New Orleans-style pianist. Schooled in jazz, he was known for his blues, soul and funk recordings, compositions, productions and arrangements...

 and Dr. John
Dr. John
Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. , better known by the stage name Dr. John , is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist, whose music combines blues, pop, jazz as well as Zydeco, boogie woogie and rock and roll.Active as a session musician since the late 1950s, he came to wider...

.”

Victory Mixture is unusual in that it was recorded without the use of overdubbing
Overdubbing
Overdubbing is a technique used by recording studios to add a supplementary recorded sound to a previously recorded performance....

 or sound editing, the idea being to record the songs in the same manner as they were recorded originally in the 1950s and early 1960s — without soundboard
Mixing console
In professional audio, a mixing console, or audio mixer, also called a sound board, mixing desk, or mixer is an electronic device for combining , routing, and changing the level, timbre and/or dynamics of audio signals. A mixer can mix analog or digital signals, depending on the type of mixer...

 technology.

The album was released in Europe on the French Sky Ranch label; it was released a year later in the United States on the Orleans Records label, that label's second offering. The success of Victory Mixture in Europe ensured the label's continuing operation.

Origins of Victory Mixture

In 1988, Willy DeVille relocated from New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 to New Orleans. He told Leap in the Dark: "I was tired of being 'Willy DeVille,' walking out of my building and having to be the guy who was up on stage all the time, even when I wasn't performing. I wanted to get away from that. So I got down there (to New Orleans) and it was if this famous guy had come to town, and I didn't want that. So I decided to do an album with a bunch of the musicians from down there, the music of New Orleans."

DeVille told Sheila Rene about the beginnings of Victory Mixture:
A friend of mine (Carlo Ditta) who owns Orleans Records here in New Orleans approached me with the idea of working with him on a Delta
Mississippi Delta
The Mississippi Delta is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers. The region has been called "The Most Southern Place on Earth" because of its unique racial, cultural, and economic history...

 record, a blues record where you just play acoustic and do what you want to do. There's so much good material here in New Orleans from the early 50s and 60s, and he still had a box of 45s
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

. We went through them, and there were all these hit record
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...

s that weren't hit records; maybe regional hits by artists from New Orleans. I picked out the stuff that worked with my voice.

I got all the original guys to come back in, like Earl King
Earl King
This article is about the musical artist. For the Earl King convicted of murdering a ship's officer, see Earl King, Ernest Ramsay, and Frank Conner...

, Dr. John
Dr. John
Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. , better known by the stage name Dr. John , is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist, whose music combines blues, pop, jazz as well as Zydeco, boogie woogie and rock and roll.Active as a session musician since the late 1950s, he came to wider...

 and Eddie Bo
Eddie Bo
Edwin Joseph Bocage was an American singer and New Orleans-style pianist. Schooled in jazz, he was known for his blues, soul and funk recordings, compositions, productions and arrangements...

. Allen Toussaint
Allen Toussaint
Allen Toussaint is an American musician, composer, record producer, and influential figure in New Orleans R&B.Many of Toussaint's songs have become familiar through numerous cover versions, including "Working in the Coalmine", "Ride Your Pony", "Fortune Teller", "Play Something Sweet ", "Southern...

 played side piano. I brought in the rhythm section of The Meters
The Meters
The Meters are an American funk band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Meters performed and recorded their own music from the late 1960s until 1977...

 on a couple of cuts. We call it the "little" record. It's funny, because I was just trying to get them money, the writers of the songs, 'cause they all got ripped off in the 50s and 60s. They were all fascinated, and Dr. John convinced them that they wouldn't get ripped off by this northern white boy. That's when I crossed over to being a local here in New Orleans.

We were all pleased with it. It's recorded the way it was originally done back then. It's live with no overdubs
Overdubbing
Overdubbing is a technique used by recording studios to add a supplementary recorded sound to a previously recorded performance....

 anywhere, no digital, no editing. We played the song several times and just picked the best take
Take
A take is a single continuous recorded performance. The term is used in film and music to denote and track the stages of production.-Film:In cinematography, a take refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot or "setup"...

...the one that was the most natural.


Producer Carlo Ditta described the birth of the album this way:
Back in New Orleans I got the word that Willy DeVille was living in town and asking after me. I showed up with my latest CDs, including my Guitar Slim, Jr.
Guitar Slim, Jr.
Guitar Slim, Jr. is an American New Orleans blues guitarist and singer. Over his lengthy playing career, Slim Jr., has worked with various blues musicians...

 Grammy
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

 nomination, and convinced him that I needed to produce a reverse-crossover roots record on him. I played him a bunch of my old New Orleans R&B 45s, including sides by Ernie K-Doe
Ernie K-Doe
Ernie K-Doe , born Ernest Kador, Jr., was an African American rhythm and blues singer best known for his 1961 hit single "Mother-in-Law" which went to #1 on the Billboard pop chart in the U.S.-Early career:...

, Earl King, Irma Thomas
Irma Thomas
Irma Thomas is an American Grammy Award-winning soul and rhythm and blues singer from New Orleans. She is known as the "Soul Queen of New Orleans"....

, Huey Smith and the Pitter Pats, Oliver Morgan
Oliver Morgan
Oliver Morgan was an American R&B singer.-History:Morgan was born and raised in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Louisiana, alongside Fats Domino, Jessie Hill and Smiley Lewis....

, and Champion Jack Dupree
Champion Jack Dupree
William Thomas Dupree, best known as Champion Jack Dupree, was an American blues pianist. His birth date is disputed, given as July 4, July 10, and July 23, in the years 1908, 1909, or 1910. He died on January 21, 1992.-Biography:...

, and with the help of Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, Leo Nocentelli
Leo Nocentelli
Leo Nocentelli in New Orleans, Louisiana is one of the founding members of the New Orleans funk band, The Meters. He has been credited for popular funk songs such as "Cissy Strut", "People Say" and "Hey Pocky Way"...

, George Porter
George Porter, Jr.
George Porter, Jr. is a musician best known as the bassist and singer of The Meters. Along with Art Neville, Porter formed the group in the mid 60's and came to be recognized as one of the progenitors of funk. The Meters disbanded in 1977, but reformed in 1989...

, Kerry Brown and a host of other local talent, we crafted an album at Sea Saint Studios titled Victory Mixture. I licensed it to my old friend, Phillippe LeBras, and he put it out in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 on his new label, Sky Ranch. It sold over 100,000 units in Europe very quickly—our first gold disc
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...

.

"New Orleans Revue" Tour

In the summer of 1992, DeVille toured Europe with Dr John, Johnny Adams, Zachary Richard
Zachary Richard
Zachary Richard is a Cajun singer/songwriter and poet. His music is an innovative combination of Cajun and Zydeco musical styles.-Biography:...

, and The Wild Magnolias
The Wild Magnolias
-History:A group calling itself the Wild Magnolias, participating in the local "Indian masking" traditions and performing New Orleans Mardi Gras music, extends at least back into the 1950s. The group's lead member was called the Big Chief, and at least three Big Chiefs are known to have headed the...

 as part of his "New Orleans Revue" tour. He told Leap in the Dark, "The travel, buses, and planes and the accommodations had to be some of the worst I've ever experienced, but the shows themselves were great. At the end of each show we'd throw Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras
The terms "Mardi Gras" , "Mardi Gras season", and "Carnival season", in English, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday...

 rows out to the audience, you know strands of purple and gold beads, and they'd never seen anything like it and they loved it.”

Other information

Victory Mixture was produced by Carlo Ditta, the founder of Orleans Records. Ditta met DeVille in 1980 when DeVille was touring with Mink DeVille
Mink DeVille
Mink DeVille was a rock band known for its association with early punk rock bands at New York’s CBGB nightclub and for being a showcase for the music of Willy DeVille. The band recorded six albums in the years 1977 to 1985. Except for frontman Willy DeVille, the original members of the band played...

, and Ditta joined the band in an after-hours jam session
Jam session
Jam sessions are often used by musicians to develop new material, find suitable arrangements, or simply as a social gathering and communal practice session. Jam sessions may be based upon existing songs or forms, may be loosely based on an agreed chord progression or chart suggested by one...

 at the Beat Exchange, a New Orleans punk rock hangout.

This album was the first time DeVille recorded with guitarist Freddy Koëlla (credited on this album as Frèdèrick Koella), who would record and tour with DeVille for many years to come. The two were introduced by guitarmaker James Trussart. Said DeVille, "I adore (Trussart). He made my guitar and introduced me to my guitarist, Fred. A fabulous guitarist. He can play like Ry Cooder
Ry Cooder
Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing...

, he can play the Spanish style... He knows it all, his play is very subtle, very sophisticated. On stage I always have to tell him to play louder; he's afraid of stepping on me. That's a good guitarist. I'd like to play more the guitar, the slide particularly, but when I listen to him I stay paralyzed." Koella played in Bob Dylan's backup band in 2003 and 2004.

Victory Mixture was also the first time DeVille sang with background vocalists
Backing vocalist
A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...

 Dorene and Yadonna Wise, who would tour with DeVille in The Mink DeVille band in years to come. Allen Toussaint
Allen Toussaint
Allen Toussaint is an American musician, composer, record producer, and influential figure in New Orleans R&B.Many of Toussaint's songs have become familiar through numerous cover versions, including "Working in the Coalmine", "Ride Your Pony", "Fortune Teller", "Play Something Sweet ", "Southern...

 introduced the Wise sisters to DeVille.

The songs "Teasing You," "Beating Like a Tom-Tom," and ”Who Shot the La-La”
Prince La La
Prince La La born Lawrence Nelson , from the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, was a songwriter and vocalist who released a couple of classic R&B recordings before his death from a drug overdose at 27....

 can also be heard on DeVille's Big Easy Fantasy
Big Easy Fantasy
Big Easy Fantasy is an album by Willy DeVille and the Mink DeVille Band. It was released in Europe on the French New Rose label in 1995. The album is a mixture of studio tracks and concert recordings made in New York and Paris. The "big easy" of the album's title refers to New Orleans...

album (1995). The songs have slightly different horn and background-vocal arrangements.

Track listing

  1. “Hello My Lover” (Clarence Toussaint
    Allen Toussaint
    Allen Toussaint is an American musician, composer, record producer, and influential figure in New Orleans R&B.Many of Toussaint's songs have become familiar through numerous cover versions, including "Working in the Coalmine", "Ride Your Pony", "Fortune Teller", "Play Something Sweet ", "Southern...

    ) - 3:33
  2. “It Do Me Good” (Huey Smith, Brenda Brandon) - 3:06
  3. ”Key to My Heart” (Edwin Bocage
    Eddie Bo
    Edwin Joseph Bocage was an American singer and New Orleans-style pianist. Schooled in jazz, he was known for his blues, soul and funk recordings, compositions, productions and arrangements...

    ) - 3:38
  4. ”Beating Like a Tom-Tom” (Ernest Kador
    Ernie K-Doe
    Ernie K-Doe , born Ernest Kador, Jr., was an African American rhythm and blues singer best known for his 1961 hit single "Mother-in-Law" which went to #1 on the Billboard pop chart in the U.S.-Early career:...

    ) - 4:21
  5. ”Every Dog Has Its Day” (Edwin Bocage) - 2:38
  6. ”Big Blue Diamonds”
    Big Blue Diamonds
    "Big Blue Diamonds" is a song written by Earl J. Carson in 1950 and published by Lois Music, BMI. It was first recorded by Red Perkins and originally issued as a 78rpm single on King Records #903 b/w "Rag Man Boogie" in 1950...

      (Earl "Kit" Carson) - 2:51
  7. ”Teasin' You” (Earl King
    Earl King
    This article is about the musical artist. For the Earl King convicted of murdering a ship's officer, see Earl King, Ernest Ramsay, and Frank Conner...

    ) - 3:07
  8. ”Ruler of My Heart” (Naomi Neville
    Allen Toussaint
    Allen Toussaint is an American musician, composer, record producer, and influential figure in New Orleans R&B.Many of Toussaint's songs have become familiar through numerous cover versions, including "Working in the Coalmine", "Ride Your Pony", "Fortune Teller", "Play Something Sweet ", "Southern...

    ) - 2:42
  9. ”Who Shot the La-La”
    Prince La La
    Prince La La born Lawrence Nelson , from the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, was a songwriter and vocalist who released a couple of classic R&B recordings before his death from a drug overdose at 27....

      (D. Burmak, Edwin Bocage, T. Terry) - 2:57
  10. ”Junker's Blues” (Willie Hall) - 3:19

Personnel

  • Wayne Bennett
    Wayne Bennett (blues guitarist)
    Wayne Bennett was an American blues guitarist.-Biography:He was born in Sulphur, Oklahoma, and died in New Orleans Louisiana. He worked with blues musicians such as Bobby Bland, Boxcar Willie, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker and Elmore James, as well as with jazz musicians, including Cannonball...

     – guitar
    Guitar
    The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

  • Samuel Berfect – Hammond organ
    Hammond organ
    The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...

  • Eddie Bo
    Eddie Bo
    Edwin Joseph Bocage was an American singer and New Orleans-style pianist. Schooled in jazz, he was known for his blues, soul and funk recordings, compositions, productions and arrangements...

     – piano
    Piano
    The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

  • Isaac Bolden - piano
  • Ross Brady – background vocals
    Backing vocalist
    A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...

  • Kerry Brown – drums
    Drum kit
    A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

  • Rene Coman – bass guitar
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

    , upright bass
    Double bass
    The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

  • Brian "Breeze" Coyolle - tenor sax, baritone sax
  • Willy DeVille
    Willy DeVille
    Willy DeVille was an American singer and songwriter. During his thirty-five year career, first with his band Mink DeVille and later on his own, Deville created original songs rooted in traditional American musical styles. He worked with collaborators from across the spectrum of contemporary...

     - guitar, vocals
  • Keith Fazarde – vibraphone
    Vibraphone
    The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....

  • Barbara George
    Barbara George
    Barbara George was an American R&B singer and songwriter.Born Barbara Ann Smith, she was raised in New Orleans and began singing in a church choir. She was discovered by singer Jessie Hill, who recommended her to record producer, Harold Battiste...

     – background vocals
  • Bill Gregory - guitar
  • Porgy Jones - trumpet
    Trumpet
    The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

  • Frèdèrick Koella - guitar
  • Allison Miner
    Allison Miner
    Elizabeth Allison Miner was a music promoter and manager who was instrumental in the early production of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and the later career of pianist Professor Longhair.- Biography :Allison Miner was born Elizabeth Allison Crowther in Baltimore,...

     – background vocals
  • Leo Nocentelli
    Leo Nocentelli
    Leo Nocentelli in New Orleans, Louisiana is one of the founding members of the New Orleans funk band, The Meters. He has been credited for popular funk songs such as "Cissy Strut", "People Say" and "Hey Pocky Way"...

     - guitar
  • George Porter, Jr.
    George Porter, Jr.
    George Porter, Jr. is a musician best known as the bassist and singer of The Meters. Along with Art Neville, Porter formed the group in the mid 60's and came to be recognized as one of the progenitors of funk. The Meters disbanded in 1977, but reformed in 1989...

     - bass guitar
  • Mac Rebennack (Dr. John)
    Dr. John
    Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. , better known by the stage name Dr. John , is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist, whose music combines blues, pop, jazz as well as Zydeco, boogie woogie and rock and roll.Active as a session musician since the late 1950s, he came to wider...

     - piano
  • Allen Toussaint
    Allen Toussaint
    Allen Toussaint is an American musician, composer, record producer, and influential figure in New Orleans R&B.Many of Toussaint's songs have become familiar through numerous cover versions, including "Working in the Coalmine", "Ride Your Pony", "Fortune Teller", "Play Something Sweet ", "Southern...

     - piano
  • Johnny Vidacovich
    Johnny Vidacovich
    Johnny Vidacovich is a contemporary jazz drummer from New Orleans, Louisiana. Playing since the early 1970s with the quartet Astral Project , he has become widely renowned as a prominent and sought after New Orleans musician as well as contributing to New Orleans cultural heritage...

     - drums
  • Dorene Wise - background vocals
  • YaDonna Wise – background vocals

Production

  • Roger Branch – engineer
    Audio engineering
    An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...

  • Carlo Ditta – producer
    Record producer
    A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

  • Mark Hewitt - engineer
  • Barry Kaiser - photography
    Photography
    Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...

  • Owen Murphy - photography
  • Hank Waring – digital remaster
    Remaster
    Remaster is a word marketed mostly in the digital audio age, although the remastering process has existed since recording began...

    ing
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