NRBQ | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1999 | |||
Label | Rounder | |||
Producer | Terry Adams, Joey Spampinato | |||
NRBQ chronology | ||||
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NRBQ is an album by the American band NRBQ, released in 1999.[1][2] According to NRBQ, the album is untitled, with just the band's name on the cover.[3] It was NRBQ's final studio album for Rounder Records.[4]
The album coincided with NRBQ's 30th anniversary and a period of renewed interest in the band, during which they appeared in The Simpsons and the film 28 Days.[5][6] The band supported the album with a North American tour that included a 30th anniversary celebration with the Shaggs.[7][8]
The album was recorded between January and May of 1999.[9] It was the first regular studio album with Johnny Spampinato on lead guitar; he wrote some of the album's songs with his brother.[10][11] "Housekeeping" was inspired by decades of being awakened by hotel maids while on tour.[12] "Tired of Your Permanent" was influenced by rockabilly music.[3] "Birdman" was originally intended for Space Ghost Coast to Coast.[13]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [5] |
Orlando Sentinel | [14] |
(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide | [15] |
Winston-Salem Journal | [16] |
The Hartford Courant noted that "I Want My Mommy" "may well be the most annoying NRBQ song of all time."[17] The Orlando Sentinel determined that the "gorgeous 'Blame It on the World' ... sounds like a long-lost McCartney-Gilberto Gil collaboration."[14] The Courier News concluded that, "for the first time in many years, an NRBQ studio album fails to contain at least one truly memorable song."[18]
The Telegram & Gazette stated that the album is "rocking, jazzy, bluesy, ballady, cartoony stuff pulled together with a patented NRBQ sense of logic."[19] The New York Times wrote that NRBQ "still loves the same basic rock ingredients: the ingratiating melodies of 1960's pop, the twang and two-beat of rockabilly and the splashy, rowdy piano playing that links Jerry Lee Lewis to Sun Ra."[20] The Morning Call listed NRBQ among the worst albums of 1999.[21] The Winston-Salem Journal opined that "the aging band's air of childlike innocence, once charming, now seems creepy."[16]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Ain't No Horse" | Donn Adams, Terry Adams | 3:46 |
2. | "Sail On Sail On" | Joey Spampinato | 3:10 |
3. | "Pain" | T. Adams | 2:33 |
4. | "Housekeeping" | Joey Spampinato, Johnny Spampinato, T. Adams | 3:26 |
5. | "Breakaway to My Dreams" | Joey Spampinato, Johnny Spampinato | 2:52 |
6. | "Puddin' Truck" | T. Adams | 3:14 |
7. | "CM Pups" | T. Adams | 3:09 |
8. | "Take Me to Your Secret" | Joey Spampinato, Johnny Spampinato, T. Adams | 2:47 |
9. | "Blame It on the World" | Joey Spampinato, Johnny Spampinato | 3:02 |
10. | "Birdman" | David Greenberger, T. Adams | 1:03 |
11. | "I Want My Mommy" | T. Adams | 2:01 |
12. | "Careful What You Ask For" | Joey Spampinato | 3:23 |
13. | "Tired of Your Permanent" | T. Adams | 2:05 |
14. | "Love Came to Me" | Joey Spampinato | 3:05 |
15. | "Termites" | T. Adams | 3:22 |