“You don’t need to go to James Brown!” Art Neville, who’s just introduced himself as “Art The Grinder,” is leading the charge as the Meters lay down one of their most instantly unforgettable songs, and strangely, one the world might never hear. “You don’t need to go to Wilson Pickett!” he testifies. “You don’t need Booker T. and the M.G.’s! Talkin’ about the Meter men right now!!” The song, “Meter Strut,” is built on a soulful four chord melody lifted straight from ’50s rock ‘n’ roll, streamlined with New Orleans street flavor and injected with well-timed breaks that give every band member a chance to go totally wild for a few seconds. Like the other four previously unreleased songs on Zony Mash (the balance of cuts are B-sides and rarities), it easily holds its own alongside anything that saw the light of day during the band’s early years with Josie Records. Likewise, “Good Old Funky Music” is a wall of hard-charging funk that stands proudly alongside the band’s best sides while “Borro” features Art’s organ lines at their choppy, simplified best. The album ends with the far-out rocker “Funky Meters Soul,” wherein Ziggy Modeliste alternates a simple snare bash with some crazed fills and George Porter utilizes the less-is-more philosophy, playing a one-note bass line one minute, then devolving into a simple walk the next. While it has often been opined that the Meters hit their stride when they signed with Reprise in late 1971, Zony Mash is more seamless proof positive that the widely hailed kings of New Orleans funk were at their visceral, spontaneous best during their early Josie Records years.