I prefer The Meters' Josie label era (about '68 - '70). This is mostly instumental music, roughly the New Orleans counterpart to Memphis' Booker T. & The MG's better-known efforts, but in more of a funk, less soul vein, with a higher ratio of originals to covers. Both groups were long-time studio house bands for singers hailing from and/or recording in their respective cities' scenes. The Meters went on to somewhat wider major label success for a while in the early-to-mid 70's on Warners/Reprise, and while those records are worthwhile in a more mainstream way, I feel it's really the earlier stuff that ultimately distinguishes them most - and what sublime stuff it is. The classic lineup was Art Neville on keys, Leo Nocentelli on guitar, George Porter Jr. on bass, and the inimitable Ziggy Modeliste on drums, the same group perhaps most famously heard backing singer Lee Dorsey's mid-60's Amy label hit singles (Working In A Coalmine, Ride Your Pony, Get Out My Life Woman). There have been many repackages and reissues of the Josie material, both imported and domestic, over the years, and I don't know what's currently available on what labels, but you probably couldn't go far wrong with any assemblege of this period's output which looks respectably put together. Some standout singles tracks to keep an eye out for: Sophisticated Cissy, Sehorn's Farm, Cissy Strut, Ease Back, Dry Spell, Look-Ka Py Py, Chicken Strut, Hand Clapping Song...
(Hint: Listen for the all the grooves sampled by rap artists during that genre's mid-80's-early-90's heyday.)
(Hint: Listen for the all the grooves sampled by rap artists during that genre's mid-80's-early-90's heyday.)