Scraps

Scraps is without question one of the best rock albums of the 1970s. The opening song, "Howard Johnson's Got His Ho-jo Working," is a jumping blues, showing off Terry Adams at his fun-loving best. "Magnet" is an artfully catchy ballad crooned by world-class bassist Joey Spampinato. "Tragic Magic" is a deceptively simple instrumental that sounds more impressive with each listen. All the tunes on this album deserve repeat listening. "Who Put the Garlic in the Glue" might wear thin, eventually--it's the silliest song on Scraps. This collection shows NRBQ in their early prime, with Terry, Joey, Big Al Anderson and Tom Staley blending a wide variety of musical influences into an irresistible stew. "It's Not so Hard," another gem penned by Joey, could have neatly fit into place on the Beatles' "Rubber Soul." The best thing about "Scraps" is the infectious fun the four guys in NRBQ communicated as they played their talented heads off. It's hard to believe the band has had so little recognition over the years in terms of record sales. Kudos to Rounder for re-issuing the album and to Amazon for stocking it. Let's hope more of NRBQ's fantastically varied albums make it into CD availability.

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.

Nobody before or after has or will ever sound like the "Q". They combined every genre of American music into their own melting pot. Then they added a pinch of zany, a dollop of dare, and a whole bunch of unadulterated joy. At times, they were 100% pure, unfettered rock 'n' roll. Which brings us to Scraps. For me, this is one of NRBQ's 2 or 3 best recordings, if not their finest hour. There isn't one dead cut on the original vinyl release. (I say this because the CD adds 3 non-essential tracks.) From the soft, romantic, and tuneful moments of Only You and Boys in the City to the power pop of It's Not So Hard to the novelty (as in unusual but compelling) of Tragic Magic and Scraps to the wacky Who Put The Garlic In The Glue to the straight-ahead rock and roll of Howard's Johnson's and Ain't It All Right the boys are always right on target musically and emotionally. And if the latter tune doesn't bring a huge smile to your face and tap in your toe then you may be ready to play an extra in the next zombie movie. NRBQ are all expert musicians with ideas galore. After almost 40 years of listening to this album it still sounds fresh. And even with the advantage of a CD remote control I never skip a cut on this release when I listen to it...and with the CD I don't have to get up and flip the record to side two! If you love jazz, blues, rock 'n' roll, country, pop, standards (there's one on this record), novelty/humor, and intelligence in your music then Scraps belongs in your collection.

I'm glad to see the good folks at Rounder have rereleased this little dynamo, with some extra scraps for those of us who have waited so long. Fun and even goofy at times, this is what used to be called good-time rock'n'roll -- "Howard Johnson," "Who Put the Garlic in the Glue?" -- but there's also music aimed for your head as well as your heels ("Only You" and "Boys in the City") and some swing left over for a freewheeling version of "Ac-cent-u-ate the Positive." Everyone's having a blast here, and the disc is remastered so well you can almost hear the pop-a-top sounds around Terry's clavinet. There's a fond appreciation of the session in the liner notes (we should all be thankful to whoever got Doug and Link Wray to the studio in a cold upstate New York winter to put down backing vocals). If you dig the Q, this is a motherlode of back-to-back hits. If you wonder what makes these guys the biggest cult band in the land, this is a great place to start. Either way, NRBQ is gonna get you. Resistance is futile.

This album has a mixture of genre's and is a very enjoyable listen.

I'll say it again great band, great album, nothing more needs to be said

I WAS LOOKING FOR THIS

These guys ROCK. and I have not been dissatisfied with any of their cds. LOVE THEM. everyone should have in their library.