What makes the concept of The Meters’ singles collection so intriguing is that the New Orleans funk band wasn’t especially successful on the singles charts. The Meters only reached the Billboard R&B top 10 twice, both times in 1969, with “Sophisticated Cissy” and “Cissy Strut,” and never crossed over into the trade publication’s Top 10 at all—the latter came closest, peaking at number 23 on the Hot 100. Still, most of their best-known tunes were, at some point, issued as singles, and they’re all collected on these two discs, 40 A- and B-sides, in chronological order. That layout is a fascinating way to study the evolution of the group, whose key members—Art Neville, Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste, Leo Nocentelli and George Porter Jr.—are revered today by virtually every musician entranced by the art of the groove. In much the same sense as underground rock bands like the MC5 and the Stooges, The Meters failed to sell in big numbers during their lifetime, but have since been lauded as having inspired entire new streams of music. Their earliest jams, the above-mentioned two as well as “Look-Ka Py Py” and “Chicken Strut,” in particular, and several mid-‘70s workouts (“Hey Pocky A-Way”), have since been dissected, inch-by-inch, by jamband denizens and hip-hop producers alike, but the originals can never be touched in terms of innovativeness and durability. Much of what’s included here was previously gathered on the 1995 Rhino set Funkify Your Life: The Meters Anthology, but A Message From… provides a fresh, timely reexamination (they’ve been nominated for induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the fourth time) of one of the cornerstones of so much contemporary music.