Audio-Visuals

NRBQ: ONE IN A MILLION
Directed by anonymous
(Creem/MVD)
I've never quite bought into the cult of NRBQ. Okay, I'll admit up front that I've never seen the veteran band (since 1968!) play live, which I'm told is the true NRBQ experience. I've owned many of their records over the years, including acknowledged classics like Scraps and At Yankee Stadium and never been really moved, except for the occasional Al Anderson song. (When he left the band, I quit paying attention.) So the idea of a NRBQ DVD doesn't exactly make my heart go pitter-pat.

But there is one exception in the albums I've owned and discarded over the years that I did like quite a bit. In the late 80s the group signed to Virgin Records and released a nifty little pop record called Wild Weekend that seemed to me at the time like the Beach Boys crossed with the Replacements. NRBQ: One in a Million showcases a set from this era. With only a pair of Weekend tunes (the soaring ditty "Little Floater" and the twangy title track), the short set (barely 37 minutes) mainly comes the band's deep in-concert catalog. I have to admit some disappointment that fine tunes like Anderson's "Boy's Life" and bassist Joey Spampinato's "The One and Only" and "If I Don't Have You" aren't represented, but it's probably better for longtime fans to have a more history-oriented set. Classic covers like "I've Got a Rocket in My Pocket," "12 Bar Blues" and "Shake, Rattle & Roll" share space with fan-favorite originals like Anderson's raucous "Crazy Like a Fox" and keyboardist Terry Adams' irritating novelty items "Girl Scout Cookies" and "Here Comes Terry." In fact, for me, Adams is a constant source of annoyance. He spends far more time mugging for the audience (and camera) than he does actually playing, and when he does deign to approach the keys, it's usually to hit a few random notes in what I assume in his mind is an approximation of jazz. When he does actually play (aggressive clavinet on "Crazy Like a Fox," a tasty organ solo on "Shake, Rattle & Roll") he's quite good, but his presence seems necessary only to have someone call off the songs. The muscle comes from drummer Tom Ardolino, whose jazzabilly rhythms make every song jump like it has ants in its pants, and Anderson, whose rip-roaring leads and rock-solid rhythm work make it clear who the real musical heavyweight in this band is (or was). When an Anderson solo moves from tasteful melodicism to wild pounding at the fretboard of his pink paisley ax, it makes you wonder if this is why Leo Fender invented the Telecaster. NRBQ diehards will no doubt cream their jeans over the prospect of this DVD, but for me it's worth only a single run-through, and even then it's only so I can watch Big Al do his kick-ass thing. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to try to track down a used CD of Wild Weekend. Michael Toland [buy it]