Okay ... giving CPR to my own thread, my second AOW is the greatest hits compilation from my previously nominated underestimated artist/group - NRBQ. Yes - I have more of their albums:
NRBQ: Peek-a-Boo: The Best of NRBQ (1969-1989). The five tracks in the music sampler are some of their early works
You can listen most of the tracks from the second disk and some more of the first at the folowing MSN Link (the third album down) Note that the play list given on the web application is actually mixed up/wrong/repeats itself. Actual play order as you listen is as follows:
Me and The Boys / You Can't Hide/ Never Take The Place of You / Feel You Around Me / Cap'n Lou / Things To You / That's Alright / Rain at the Drive-in / Ridin' In My Car / Still In School / Crazy Like a Fox (live) / Here Comes Terry (live) / Every Boy, Every Girl / Whistle While You Work / Wild Weekend / If I Don't Have You / Little Floater / (repeats - MATB, YCH, NTTPY, FYAM, CL, TTY) /12 Bar Blues / (repeats RATD) / A Girl Like That / How Can I Make You Love (repeats HCT, EBEG, WWYW, WW, IIDHY, LF)
Unfortunately - Looks like this may no longer be in print, but it's well worth seeking out. I have several other of their albums (NRBQ, Message for the Mess Age, Boppin' the Blues with Carl Perkins) - but this compilation is as good as it gets.
Okay - what to say about NRBQ. One - as you can see, they've been around a LONG time. A few minor line-up changes, and one big one - when guitarist extrordinaire "Big" Al Anderson left. As noted in another thread - they play hard and tour hard (I'd guess at least 100 gigs a year STILL), have a rabid grassroots fan base, are probably the best "bar band" going, have all sorts of critical acclaim and peer musician respect - but have never reached the critical mass to turn that into top-40/major label sales. They are - above all - great and versatile musicians.
A little bit blues/R&B (hence their name - New Rhythm and Blues Quartet), little bit rock-a-billy/gras-roots rock, little bit power pop and pure pop, and a whole lot of fun (had a professional wrestler as a manager for a while!).
NRBQ has MASTERED the art of the 3 minute pop song - each one of the tracks on this greatest hits album is a short, hooky gem. For the "power" tracks, check out "me and the boys" and "wild weekend". And they're also capable of producing simple, knock-you-off your feet love songs. No fancy lyrics - just straight-ahead sweet declarations of love (listen to "feel you around me", "never take the place of you", or "if I don't have you"). Great driving in a car on a summer day music, too -
What else - they've got a great sense of humor (some songs are positively juvenile - like "Girl Scout Cookies" or "I Want My Mommy" or "Howard Johnson's (got his HoJo working)" - Great to see a band that doesn't take itself too seriously, despite its abundance of talent.
If you've heard OF them, but not TO them - give them a try. They're just one of those groups - like the B-52's - that can drive away a funk and make you glad to be alive.
NRBQ: Peek-a-Boo: The Best of NRBQ (1969-1989). The five tracks in the music sampler are some of their early works
You can listen most of the tracks from the second disk and some more of the first at the folowing MSN Link (the third album down) Note that the play list given on the web application is actually mixed up/wrong/repeats itself. Actual play order as you listen is as follows:
Me and The Boys / You Can't Hide/ Never Take The Place of You / Feel You Around Me / Cap'n Lou / Things To You / That's Alright / Rain at the Drive-in / Ridin' In My Car / Still In School / Crazy Like a Fox (live) / Here Comes Terry (live) / Every Boy, Every Girl / Whistle While You Work / Wild Weekend / If I Don't Have You / Little Floater / (repeats - MATB, YCH, NTTPY, FYAM, CL, TTY) /12 Bar Blues / (repeats RATD) / A Girl Like That / How Can I Make You Love (repeats HCT, EBEG, WWYW, WW, IIDHY, LF)
Unfortunately - Looks like this may no longer be in print, but it's well worth seeking out. I have several other of their albums (NRBQ, Message for the Mess Age, Boppin' the Blues with Carl Perkins) - but this compilation is as good as it gets.
Okay - what to say about NRBQ. One - as you can see, they've been around a LONG time. A few minor line-up changes, and one big one - when guitarist extrordinaire "Big" Al Anderson left. As noted in another thread - they play hard and tour hard (I'd guess at least 100 gigs a year STILL), have a rabid grassroots fan base, are probably the best "bar band" going, have all sorts of critical acclaim and peer musician respect - but have never reached the critical mass to turn that into top-40/major label sales. They are - above all - great and versatile musicians.
A little bit blues/R&B (hence their name - New Rhythm and Blues Quartet), little bit rock-a-billy/gras-roots rock, little bit power pop and pure pop, and a whole lot of fun (had a professional wrestler as a manager for a while!).
NRBQ has MASTERED the art of the 3 minute pop song - each one of the tracks on this greatest hits album is a short, hooky gem. For the "power" tracks, check out "me and the boys" and "wild weekend". And they're also capable of producing simple, knock-you-off your feet love songs. No fancy lyrics - just straight-ahead sweet declarations of love (listen to "feel you around me", "never take the place of you", or "if I don't have you"). Great driving in a car on a summer day music, too -
What else - they've got a great sense of humor (some songs are positively juvenile - like "Girl Scout Cookies" or "I Want My Mommy" or "Howard Johnson's (got his HoJo working)" - Great to see a band that doesn't take itself too seriously, despite its abundance of talent.
If you've heard OF them, but not TO them - give them a try. They're just one of those groups - like the B-52's - that can drive away a funk and make you glad to be alive.