Buckwheat Zydeco Ils Sont Partis Band: Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural, Jr. (vocals, accordion, piano, organ, keyboards); Lee Allen Zeno (guitar, bass); Selwyn Cooper, Jimmy Reed (guitar); Calvin Landry (trumpet); Nat Jolivette (drums); Elijah Cudges (rubboard).

Recorded at Blue Jay Recording Studio, Carlisle, Massachusetts in April 1983 and April 1985. Includes liner notes by Scott Billington.

Personnel: Buckwheat Zydeco (vocals, accordion, piano, organ); Lee Allen Zeno (guitar, bass); Selwyn Cooper, Jimmy Reed (guitar); Calvin Landry (trumpet);

Elijah Cudges (rubboard); Nathaniel Jolivette (drums).

Producer: Steve Billington.

Compilation producer: Steve Billington

Recorded at Blue Jay Studio, Carlisle, Massachusetts in April 1983 and April 1985. Includes liner notes by Steve Billington.

Digitally remastered by Toby Mountain (Northeastern Digital).

Personnel: Stanley Dural (vocals, accordion, piano, organ, keyboards); Jimmy Reed Jr., Lee Allen Zeno, Selwyn Cooper (guitar); Calvin Landry (trumpet); Nathaniel Jolivette (drums); Elijah Cudges (rub-board).

Audio Mixers: Glenn Berger; Gregg Lunsford; Tina Hanson; Mark Wessel; Rob Feaster.

Liner Note Author: Scott Billington.

Recording information: Blue Jay Recording Studio, Carlisle, MA (04/1983-04/1985).

Illustrator: Christian Clayton.

Photographer: Rick Olivier.

Arranger: Stanley Dural.

A smart, and with seventeen tracks, generous, collection culled from Buckwheat's two Rounder albums. ZYDECO PARTY includes a previously unreleased and absolutely blistering version of "Hot Tamale Baby" that's actually even more exciting than the slick remake done for Island the same year (1987).

As usual, Zydeco and his crack band avoid purism. There's lots of authentic zydeco ("Madame Pitre," "Lache Pas La Patate") to be sure, but there are also cover versions of two '50s rock standards (Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" and Fats Domino's "Walking to New Orleans," both of which sound fresh as paint here), a pulsating big band blues ("Someone Else is Steppin' In"), and even a reggae version of Lee Dorsey's "Ya Ya." Great stuff, brilliantly played.