Search - Nrbq :: Scraps

Maybe the best Q recording

Howard S. Finkel | MAPLEWOOD, NJ USA | 10/17/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"NRBQ is THE best rock and roll band still playing today. Even back in the 60's when they started, they could have given the lads from Liverpool and those Rolling scruffs from London some serious competition (O.K. in songwriting , the Fabs got em, but as far as playing live, the Q win over both). This is possibly their best recording with the songwriting, playing and singing top notch on all levels. The Q never got the fame they deserve but maybe thats a good thing since you can still see them at a reasonable size club and they will 95% of the time tear the place down. When you consider their contemporaries are either playing Arena's with more of a circus act then a rock and roll show or are retired you start to question if fame and fortune is everythings its cracked up to be.Back to this recording, it's fabulous and long overdue for a re-release. The Q at this point had a dynamite singer named Frankie Gadler (where the heck are ye Frank?), original drummer Tom Staley (Tom Ardolino rules but he learned a thing or two from this fellow), and new upstart Al Anderson (when Steve Ferguson left, I thought they'd never come close in a replacement-boy was I wrong)joining Terry and Joey (or Jody at that point)for a rocking good combo. This album was more of a home made affair after the Columbia hype had died down but with Eddie Kramer stearing them on from the control room, they came up with one of the warmest most eclectic batch of tunes they have ever released.I disagree with critics that the Q have never made a consistantly great album (this and Yankee Stadium prove this wrong). I think everything they put out outclasses just about anything released but in my humble opinion, Scraps is the best. For those experienced, thank god its here, for newcomers, buy it enjoy it and run to the nearest Q show in your town, you wont regret it."

No Scrap Here

Huey P. Long | Austin, TX | 09/05/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I picked up "Scraps" at my local library. I'd read mentions of NRBQ in several publications over the years, and always thought I should check them out. On first listen, I was underwhelmed. Repeated listenings snowballed into what has become an addiction for me. Not since The Beatles' Revolver have I been so blown away by the inventiveness, musicianship, and songwriting on a record.

And the sheer good feeling of it all. Track 12, the Mercer-Arlen classic "Accentuate the Positive", sums up the entire record for me. NRBQ are obviously people who wring as much joy out of life as they can, laughing at it and themselves at the same time.

The album builds, "like the Supremes", as Zappa once said, from the punchy opener "Howard Johnson" to what to me is the best song, the Beatlesque "It's Not So Hard". The ballads are classic - "Only You" is a gem, complete with a toy piano solo.

There is no filler here. Imagine the best of The Band, the Grateful Dead, the Fab 4, Harry Nilsson, and Hoagy Carmichael rolled into one and you'll get an idea of what these guys were about when they made this record. Five emphatic stars."

FREE ENDORPHINS!!

K. Ayres | Kentuckiana | 10/23/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There is absolutely NO WAY to listen to NRBQ and not feel absolutely GREAT from head to toe! I dare you to try listening without at least tapping your toes. I can't listen without dancing, singing and smiling! Like I said, "free endorphins!" A small investment that pays you back forever!"