RECORD RACK

After getting low-key and safe with albums of standards and such, the New Orleans legend felt it was time to get back to the swamp. Surprisingly, he headed to London to play with a bunch of young British rockers--and it worked. Perhaps his best album in 25 years, this is a full evocation of the Night Tripper, the gris-gris man persona he assumed early in his career. It’s deep, dark, spooky and trippy, a walk through the graveyards and bayous where Louisiana magic is real.

Not that the Brit-kids’ contributions are so pronounced--this is Dr. John to the core, plumbing the mystique of his persona and music. But it was their reverence for his music (which Dr. John discovered while he was doing sessions for the band Spiritualized’s last album) that stimulated the gravel-voiced musician to get hoodooed again. Spiritualized returns the favor on two tracks, “Hello God” and “John Gris,” and the cultural gap was no barrier to the vibe or the Creole funk.

Paul Weller and members of Supergrass, Primal Scream, Portishead and Ocean Colour Scene also make spirited contributions, under the guidance of English rock producer John Leckie. Even without them, though, on such tracks as the haunting saga “The Olive Tree,” featuring Dr. John’s regular New Orleans band, it’s a rich poke around the shadows of Mardi Gras. Dr. John will play the B.B. King Blues Festival next Sunday at Universal Amphitheatre.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four stars (excellent).

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* Excerpts from these albums and other recent releases are available on The Times’ World Wide Web site. Point your browser to: https://www.latimes.com/soundclips