Art Neville released his first recording in 1954. Over the course of more than half a century, the Neville family has been responsible for some of the finest music to have ever come from the Crescent City. In fact, some would contend that they have been responsible for some of the finest music… PERIOD!

The Nevilles' personal histories have been told in depth in TV and film documentaries, magazine articles and their collective autobiography, "The Brothers Neville" (©2000, Little, Brown and Company.) Biographical information can also be found on each of the Nevilles' official websites and MySpace pages. Go to the LINKS page for a list of these sites.)

However, many fans are still unaware of the enormity of the Nevilles' recorded output. It is the goal of this site to set the record straight once and for all.

Several hundred recordings have been made during the past five decades, many of which never found their way outside New Orleans. Still others remained completely unreleased until decades later when the advent of the compact disc motivated record companies to mine their vaults for any releasable recordings.

I was introduced to the music of the Nevilles back in 1988 and began collecting their recordings almost immediately. As my collection grew more and more out of control, I decided that I needed to keep track of it in some way. After some time, I decided to expand the project and document every known Neville recording, even if the recording was not in my own collection. This included solo recordings by Art, Charles, Aaron and Cyril, guest appearances on other artists' recordings, and recordings by members of the extended Neville family as well.

Unlike a traditional discography (which lists the LPs, 45s, CDs, etc. by a given artist) I have chosen to chronicle the Nevilles' recordings on a song-by-song (rather than album-by-album) basis.

The list is arranged in a table format (ie simple rows and columns.) I believe that this format is very easy on the eye and very simple to follow. The tracks are listed in chronological order (with a few exceptions. This is explained in greater detail in the following section.)

In late 2003, after more than ten years of researching and compiling information, Pat Alvarado (at that time one of the Nevilles' managers) became aware of my project and worked with me to make it available to the public. A year later, scans of disc cover artwork were added for almost every disc listed. A short time after that, I added a NEWS page to the site. The most recent additions have been separate discographies for each Neville family member and a TOURDATES page (featuring show dates for Charles, Ivan and Cyril.)

Since its inception, many recordings have been added to the site and I expect it to continue growing indefinitely. New tracks are being recorded on a regular basis. Guest appearances on other artists' recordings are discovered almost as frequently. As recently as January 2007, unreleased recordings from the 1960's were appearing for the first time. With such a massive (and ever-growing) number of recordings being chronicled, there are (without a doubt) many others of which I am unaware.

I enthusiastically welcome any corrections to this information.

The discographical information on this site is presented in a table format. Each table is divided into three columns. Above each table is the release date (or, in some instances - as described below - the approximate recording date) of each song.

Column 1 features the song titles. Songs originally issued as singles are listed on their own. Songs originally issued as part of an LP are listed along with the other tracks on that LP. In some instances (such as Aaron's "Tell It Like It Is" album and the three Meters albums on the Josie label) LPs were not recorded as albums; they were merely collections of previously issued singles (with some filler tracks added to pad out the release to album-length.) As such, the songs on those LPs are listed individually rather than collectively.

An asterisk (*) preceding a song's title indicates that the track remained unissued for at least ten years after its date of recording. As mentioned above, these "previously unreleased" tracks are listed in the (approximate) year of their recording rather than the year of their eventual release. For example, the Meters' "Live on the Queen Mary" was recorded in 1975 but not released until 1992. That album is listed as a 1975 recording.

Column 2 identifies the Neville(s) involved in that recording and the principal performer with whom he or she may have collaborated. In some instances, involvement by two or three of the Nevilles will still be listed as the Neville Brothers.

Column 3 identifies the record label and catalogue number of the recording's original release as well as a good source of the recording at this time. Despite the ongoing debate that vinyl is superior to compact discs, CDs are listed as the "best source" whenever possible. The designation "LP" (following the catalogue number) indicates a full-length compact disc unless vinyl is specifically notated.

The catalogue numbers for some discs have been obtained from CD catalogues and reference guides. Hence, the catalogue numbers listed may not match the exact number on the disc itself.

In most instances, you can click on the record label name and catalogue number to see a scan of the disc's cover artwork.

Three asterisks (***) in the fourth column indicate that the track is only available on an unauthorized release. Even though a given song may be readily available, the source is NOT listed here if it is one that is not authorized or approved by the band or its representatives.

As the same track is often available on several releases, the "best source" listing is based on personal preference. In many instances, the same track can be found on two or more different releases in equal quality. It is NOT the purpose of this project to catalogue every appearance of a given recording. (Aaron's original recording of "Tell It Like It Is" has been included on well over one hundred different compilations. Cataloguing all of those sources is beyond the scope of this project!

 

One major leap of faith made while compiling this information is the trusting of information sources. In compiling the information in the discography, no access has been granted to recording studio documentation or any similar "official" documentation. Much information was derived from CD/LP liner notes and other published sources. Until more definitive information become available, the sources used so far are presumed to be reliable.

In many instances, it has been assumed that certain CD tracks are, in fact, the same as the original single mixes. This is a MAJOR leap of faith. Until copies of the original 45s can be compared to the CD releases, the assumption that CD releases include the original 45 versions will stand. Many unauthorized compilations include versions of Art's "Bo Diddley" and Aaron's "Show Me The Way," "For Every Boy There's A Girl," "I've Done It Again (Once Again)," "Hercules" and "Mojo Hannah" which are NOT the original mixes, so it's reasonable to assume that other CD tracks are actually NOT the 45 versions. If anyone who owns any of the many early Art and Aaron 45s wishes to send cassette or CD-R copies of the original vinyl releases to us, we will compare the different releases and make a more definitive assessment of these tracks.

As previously stated, It is not the purpose of this project to catalogue every appearance of a given recording.

To date, I have not included the Meters' many contributions to other artists' recordings. This is a separate project in and of itself and not one that I have been able to undertake to date. Hopefully, this information WILL be added eventually. If anyone is interested in undertaking this project, please contact me at the e-mail address at the bottom of the page!

"Dance remixes" and "single edits" have not been catalogued yet, but MIGHT be added eventually.

The information presented at NEVILLETRACKS.COM is the culmination of many years of research. I have had assistance from many friends along the way and would be remiss if I did not acknowledge as many of them as possible. If I have missed anyone, please accept my whole-hearted apologies. (If I have misspelled anyone's name, please let me know so I can correct it!)

First, I must thank the Nevilles themselves. Without their music, this project would not exist. Without their music, my life would not be the same. (A special "thank you" to brother Charles. On more than one occasion, he has informed me of recordings to which he had contributed!)

Thanks to everyone who has come and gone from the Nevilles' backing band. To me, your musical support has always been as important as the voices of the Nevilles themselves!

Thanks to Pat Alvarado (formerly of the Elevation Group) for finally making this project available to everyone!!!

Thanks also to Amy Turner (also formerly of the Elevation Group) for her help.

Big thanks to the Nevilles' manager, Kent Sorrell for all of his help along the way.

Thanks to Charley Murphy for turning me on to the Nevilles' music in the first place.

A HUGE "thank you" goes to my good friend, Tony Supriano whose knowledge of Neville recordings exceeds my own. Tony has helped to fill in many of the holes in this recording chronology during the many years that he and I have been friends. His contribution to this project is immeasurable! Above and beyond his contributions to this project, he has been a really great friend over the years.

Thanks to Len Fico of Fuel 2000 for filling me in on some of the history of Art and Aaron's earliest recordings. Len has been both informative and an extremely nice guy to deal with. Among their many reissues, his company has reissued some great Neville recordings (including the Funky Meters' "Fiyo at the Fillmore.")

What can one say about George Porter, Jr.? The man takes the time to be an integral part of the message boards on his own site, the funky Meters' site AND the Original Meters' site! George has answered many questions over the years and many of his contributions have helped fill in the gaps in this project.

Lots of love and thanks to all the folks I've met through the Nevilles' website (and at Neville shows) who have shared their knowledge of the Nevilles' music with me over the past decade: Steve Ridolfisch, Tanya Hyatt, Delvera Crook, Geana Sorensen, Debra Clark, Sue Sherman, Brad Brewster, Josh Provosty, Mary Alice Moore, Andy Levin, Bill "The Rhino" Schemp, Jilda Deline, Bob King, Heather Hennessy, Janet Sobers, Timothy Gott (in the UK), Jim Patrick, Billy Iuso, Frank Garcia, Andy Jackson (in the UK), Derek Henderson (in the UK), Denise Sullivan, Sakis Pavlakakis (who provided a lot of invaluable info about the Eleni Dimou album to which Charles contributed) and I'm sure there are others I've left out.

Lastly, I'd like to give special thanks to Steven Chabaud (formerly of Neville Productions.) We've never met face to face, yet I feel that Steven is a good friend. I can't even begin to list all of the ways he has helped me out over the years, but I hope he knows that every thing has been very much appreciated!

God bless you all. You have all helped with this project to some degree. More than that, you have all touched my life and I love you all.

- Jon Tyler