Life Is a Carnival

Life Is a Carnival

Bo Dollis and his Crescent City tribe the Wild Magnolias make quintessential Mardi Gras Indian music, brimming with the hedonistic pageantry of gaudy costumes; syncopated, "second-line" beats; and gruff, exhortatory vocals. <i>Life Is a Carnival</i> comes close to delivering the same sprawling splendor as one of the tribe's town square gigs, with only the title track sacrificing its substance to big-name tourists like Bruce Hornsby and the Band's Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, and Rick Danko. Many of the tracks are glorious, polyrhythmic jams, including the relentless "Tootie Ma" (written by Dr. John), the raucous "Herc-Jolly-John" (with everyone from Cyrille Neville to Rockin' Dopsie Jr. to Monk Boudreaux sharing the mike), and "All on a Mardi Gras Day" (which moves from a bass drum solo to some wild and woolly interplay by the Black Bottom Brass Band from Osaka, Japan). But there's also the ethereal groove of "Cowboys and Indians"; the prancing strings and brass of "Black Hawk"; the slinky, rap-inflected "Who Knows"; and the retro Creole R&B of "Battlefield." <i>--Britt Robson</i>