When a CD proclaims on its cover that it’s “the Big Easy version of the Buena Vista Social Club,” it’s only inviting criticism. Granted, Big Easy Boogie has its moments, but the Big Easy version of the Buena Vista Social Club it’s not. Woods gets a good groove going early on (who wouldn’t with Herb Hardesty, Dave Bartholomew and Earl Palmer in the pits?) but jeez, every New Orleans cliché gets used in the lyrics—“crawfish pie,” “Tipitina’s,” “Mardi Gras Day,” “Rockin’ Pneumonia,” “turn this mother out,” “Ooh Poo Pa Doo”—in the first two songs! If they filmed an MTV video, there’d be guys in top hats parading around his piano with umbrellas and handkerchiefs. Woods does get down to business on the very Domino-ish “Fallin’ For You,” and “Counting the Days” has got some New Orleans bounce. But then he takes a step back on “Mojo Mambo,” a song so riddled in Crescent City trite that it’ll make you toss your Iko Iko.

Woods does radiate on the 88s on “Crescent City Flyer” and “New Gert Town Blues,” and he excels on slower numbers like “Heart And Soul To You” and “Back In My Arms Again.” But just when the CD gets a head of steam going, along comes a clinker like “I Left My Baby At the Mardi Gras Cryin’.” I’m guessing Woods is trying to portray a fictitious New Orleans to the Seattles and Hartfords of this world. Unfortunately, that not the New Orleans that stares back at us in the mirrors of Gentilly, Mid-City or the Lower Ninth, especially in a post-Katrina world. Big Easy Boogie’s highlights may come in the informative DVD that includes valuable interviews with heroes such as Cosimo Matassa and Earl Palmer, as well as some entertaining live material.