Customer Reviews

NRBQ

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ah yes...the tacky cover art...a studio release...does it measure up? Definitely. "Ain't No Horse" should replace "I believe I can fly" in every school in the US: "Ain't no sea can't be crossed, ain't no ship can't be lost"..."Housekeeping" will instantly appeal to any traveller with an 'off' schedule..."Breakaway..." is every dreamers anthem. Of course there's the usual annoying track that seems insurmountable..I'm still skipping "CM Pups". Then again, I initially hated "Immortal" on Wild Weekend. No accounting for taste...;-)

I bought this CD and have been playing it over and over again. It's so funny because most CD's I buy just don't warrent this much attention. But these songs and their attitude behind them just make me have to listen to them. That has always been the NRBQ magic. I miss the three songwriter, singer format they had with Big Al, but I love Johnny's more subtle tasty guitar licks. "Take Me to Your Secret", "Puddin Truck" "Blame it on the World" "Breakaway to My Dreams" "Housekeeping" , the whole album just screams greatness. NRBQ is an experience, not just another boring contrived CD. Go expose yourself to this great band.

This best captures the current sound and lineup of today's NRBQ, a band with a looooong history. Songs like "Blame It On the World" and "Sail On, Sail On" contain exquisite hooks and show why these guys are some of music's best songwriters, even without the great writer Al Anderson on guitar. There's the usual crazy humor. Who else could write songs about hotel housekeeping and termites and make them hummable, besides being great? One or two tunes go over the top: "I Want My Mama." But they're just Terry being Terry. This guy is a fab musician who could keep up with Thelonious Monk if he had wanted to. Fill out your Q collection with this overlooked little gem.

This is the very best NRBQ album of all time. It has everything that you hear on later albums but better because it was new to them then and to us. When I first heard this album in 1969 I couldn't believe what I was hearing and today I still play it a lot. All the range of ideas, musical styles, great arrangements and terrific playing are there along with a very sympathetic production. It is number 5 in my all time top 100 albums and I have over 4000 Cd's, LP's, music cassettes and DVD's in my collection.

All of the other reviews here seem to belong to the 1999 NRBQ CD which is not the same album. If anyone at Amazon is reading this the description above is wrong!!! The link for the Audio Cd takes you to NRBQ 1999. As far as I know this fabulous record has never been issued on CD apart from some tracks on the Stay With We CD.

Come on Columbia/Sony, put it out with all the unreleased third album tracks as bonus tracks. I'm sure you'll sell a few thousand worldwide.

Another great record from the best rock and roll band playing today. This ones got great pop tunes (Sail on), great jams (Housekeeping) and great madness (I want my Mommy). The only thing thats missing is any lead vocals from brother Johnny. Cmon you let him co-write but he's also got a great rock and roll voice, let em sing (dont make him save all his vocals for Incredible Casual recordings). One of the great things about NRBQ (and theres a lot of great things), is they have 3 lead singers (like the Fabs) so you get variety in style. I miss Al Anderson but i'd miss him less if you gave Johnny a chance to shine a little more. All in all aside from my petty complaint, it's a great album guys, live to a 1000.

It's impossible to summarize, or even categorize any NRBQ album- let alone the band itself. This disc has more variety in 15 cuts than most bands do in their entire careers. There's the brief bit of "Birdland" inspired vocal jazz in "Birdman", a poppy, almost Chicago-esque ballad of love lost in "Sail On, Sail On", the bizarre "CM Pups" (which turns an old joke into inspired musical lunacy), the tight harmony and cool changes in "Blame It On The Word".. every song is different, and every song in brilliantly done. In an age of manufactured stars, sound-alike singers and trends that lost a few years, NRBQ are still one of the tightest, and most orginal groups on the planet. Can you tell I really, really like this album?

"NRBQ" is the band's first studio album (if you don't count their children's CD (I know, a redundency if there ever was one) since the lamented departure of guitarist Big Al Anderson in 1994. Sad to say, without Al's songwriting counterbalance to keyboardist Terry Adams' eccentrencies, this record is the band's weakest in many years. Yes, there's some sweet (mostly bassist Joey Spampinato's tunes) and and all-out roadhouse (mostly Adams' tunes). But too many songs are weighted down by hooks straight from previous albums. NRBQ's sense of humor and on-stage surreal moments have always been dead-on, especially for those in on the joke. But here, tunes like, "I Want My Mommy" are just flat-out annoying. Nonetheless, there's the wonderfully swinging "Birdman," and the pounding "Tired of Your Permanent." After 30 years of doing it their own way, NRBQ can still put on live shows that can raise the roof and the hairs on the back of your neck. But minus Anderson's talents and the prodding of the Sun Ra horn section, too much of this new album just sounds tired.

This is not a review, but to alert Amazon that "I'm a Thrett" and the songs listed have nothing to do with NRBQ.

The NRBQ disc starts with "Ain't No Horse", then comes "Sail On Sail On", etc.

Please correct, Amazon.

(By the way, the NRBQ disc is great.)

Even when they're average, they're still pretty good. This is good Q. Maybe it's not their best, but it's still leaps and bounds above that cold, leftover McDonald's burger from last night.

Any doubts about the bands changes are put to rest with this record. A happy thought they're still at it and as good as ever!