• Rating:
«Steve! Can you get rid of that clove stud from your ass while you sing?».
«You know what you'll be singing, Spampy, in about a month at the Alzheimer's center? Hey, but who crapped in my underwear?».
I feel like I can hear their loving exchanges on the little stage.
The New Rhythm'n'Blues Quintet, to begin with, is a quartet. For this reason, in addition to the Sun Ra cover at their debut ("Rocket #9"), they give the impression of being a group of apricots. Outside of Florida, they formed in Miami, their fame is quite modest. However, this disrupted bar band, because that's what it is, badass, born in 1967 and accustomed to jazz, blues, country, and folk festivals, boasts among its encouraging fans Elvis Costello, Paul McCartney, and Keith Richards. And naturally Ira Kaplan (YLT). And, well, also Bonnie Raitt.
An eclectic group, cautiously innovative, with a single claim: to have fun making music. R&B, rockabilly, Mersey beat, jazz exploratory, etc., but all full-blooded, deliberately shabby and fruitfully irreverent with traditions. The NRBQ go back and forth between the quietly fake frowning, largely casual danceable, and the chubby, mocking divertissement. That is, among categories all their own. Talent (especially as musicians) they had, but they didn't care, moving from contract to contract, repeatedly fired. Either they never wanted to grow up or their greatness, from the start, was already an honest and boisterous measure. "At the Yankee Stadium" (an album from 1978, generally credited as their best) they never played there. The title was a hoax. They have always preferred, instead, dives and little fourth-rate venues. Just as much as frozen beer (for wet t-shirt contests). Or meatloaf and mints (for funeral brunches).
“All Hopped Up” was released in 1977 by Red Rooster. The lineup included Terry Adams (piano, vocals), Steve Ferguson (guitar, vocals), both from Louisville, Kentucky, Joey Spampinato (bass, vocals) originally from the Bronx, and Tom Ardolino, a fan, the latest addition to cement the stable lineup until the mid-'90s. The work is characterized by caressing pop melodies, hybrid ballads, and R&B spasms. Among the tracks, the quintessential and spaced-out idyll of "Ridin' In My Car" (a vaguely dreamlike story of a breakup), an elusive one-minute free-jazz version of the Bonanza theme, Adams's ramshackle piano in the amiable "Things To You" («You’re a true dream come true/ You’re like a clear blue sky/ Let's try to be one plus one»), and the heated cover of Big Joe Turner's "Honey Hush".
«Terry, your singing is like water!».«Precious?».
«No. Humble and colorless».
«Well, fuck you!».
Loading comments slowly
