G. Love and Special Sauce

If the Meters’ classic drum sound (which you’ve heard, whether you know it or not) were a stack of pancakes, G. Love‘s reproduction of that sound would be a stack of pancakes topped with a gallon of butter. It’s a bit much. Not that Love and his cohorts aren’t faithful. In fact, that’s just it — maybe they’re a little too faithful. Sure, it doesn’t sound like the guy’s trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes, and you can certainly credit him for picking (and loving) such great influences, but Love’s sittin’-on-a-porch-in-the-Delta shtick seems out of sauce where it felt like a clever breath of fresh air a decade ago. So what’s the secret to his longevity? Well, the body just can’t resist a good groove up close and in the flesh. Special Sauce has been at this so long (with the same personnel) that it’s become second nature. You can spin Meters records all night long, and they’re still not going to sweat on you. — Saby Reyes-Kulkarni

G. Love and Special Sauce. Saturday, May 27, at the Blue Note in Columbia. Also Wednesday, May 31, at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre (opening for Dave Matthews).