Clifton Chenier Zodico Blues & Boogie

Clifton Chenier (1928-1987) may not have invented Zydeco (or "Zodico," as it's sometimes spelled), an accordion-driven, blues-drenched variant of Cajun music, but he almost single-handedly defined the style as we know it today. Compiled and annotated by British researcher Ray Topping, this compact disc of Chenier's mid-Fifties Specialty sessions--the ones that first helped to bring him attention beyond the bayous--brings together his three singles for the label, two cuts from his Specialty LP, and a dozen previously unissued takes, presented for the first time in their raw, rollicking glory, without overdubs or edits, the way the King Zydeco laid them down nearly four decades ago.