It’s hard to believe that it’s been so long since I reviewed
\nNRBQ, a band who thoroughly impressed me the last time I faced them
\nwith
\nYou Gotta Be Loose<\/i>. But when you’re entering the picture as
\nlate in the game as I am (NRBQ is well into its fourth decade
\ncreating music), it’s sometimes intimidating to find a place to
\npick up the ball and start running.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, I remembered an album that came out when I was
\nstill a DJ in college – 1989’s
\nWild Weekend<\/i>. (I seem to remember that reviewer Tom Lancing,
\nwho I went to college with, stole that disc from the radio station.
\nGood move.) What better a place to re-enter the picture with the
\nalbum that was probably their most promoted effort ever? And while
\nthe twelve tracks on this tape do often highlight the power of
\nthese four quirky musicians, sometimes the effort comes off
\nsounding – how do I say this? – too polished.<\/p>\n
The band – keyboardist\/vocalist Terry Adams, guitarist\/vocalist
\nAl Anderson, bassist\/vocalist Joey Spampinato and drummer Tom
\nArdolino – dared to take the hit from the Runnin’ Rebels in the
\n’50s and put words to it. “It’s A Wild Weekend” is a track that
\ntakes some listening to get used to, especially if you grew up to
\nhearing the original instrumental, but it turns out to be a decent
\nenough track. However, it is hardly the best work on the album.<\/p>\n
That honor is reserved for a few songs. “Little Floater” is an
\nincredible song about a not-so-strange subject for us menfolk – the
\nlove of an automobile. Musically, this is a wonderfully structured
\nsong that shines from note one to the very end. Likewise, “If I
\nDon’t Have You” is a sweet love song – this time to a woman – that
\nis gentle and emotional. While it’s faster tempo guarantees you
\nwon’t hear this one on “Love Notes”, it’s just as worthy a track. I
\nalso happen to like “The One And Only,” another song that shows off
\nthe musicianship of this band.<\/p>\n
In fact, for about three-fourths of the way, NRBQ sails through
\nWild Weekend<\/i> with tracks that are, at the worst, above
\naverage. “Boozoo, That’s Who!” is a little goofy lyric-wise, but is
\na nice tribute to zydeco legend Boozoo Chavis – who guests on the
\ntrack. The only other weaker link, “Poppin’ Circumstance,” is an
\nokay track, but isn’t of the same caliber as the other wonders that
\nmake up most of this album.<\/p>\n
It’s only at the end of
\nWild Weekend<\/i> that things stumble for NRBQ. “Fraction Of
\nAction” just falls flat, while “Like A Locomotive” doesn’t do
\nanything for me. Sadly, these tracks do take away from the overall
\npower that this album has.<\/p>\n
And what about my saying that NRBQ sounded too polished on
\nWild Weekend<\/i>? Simple: Even with my limited knowledge of
\nNRBQ, I expect to hear a little grit in the songs, almost as if
\nthey’re constantly works of art in the making. “Boozoo, That’s
\nWho!” does have a little of this texture. Who knows, maybe hearing
\nmore down-and-dirty versions of tracks like “If I Don’t Have You”
\nwould have ruined things for me.<\/p>\n
\nWild Weekend<\/i> is a decent, if slightly flawed, effort from
\nNRBQ, and it unfortunately spelled the end of their association
\nwith major-name labels. Too bad; had they been properly marketed,
\nthey’d be a household name instead of the nation’s biggest
\nunderground band. I don’t know if this one is still in print, but
\nit’s a nice starting point for those who want to understand what
\nNRBQ is all about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7313],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-38799","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-nrbq","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38799"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}