Terry Adams - keyboards, vocals, wind; Al Anderson - guitar, vocals; Tom Ardolino - drums; Joey Spaminato - bass, vocals; Keith Spring - tenor sax; Donn Adams - trombone
NRBQ has never been a hit making machine but the group has continually made some of the best albums of any roots-oriented American rock 'n' roll band. To call NRBQ a rock band is probably inaccurate, but they certainly have no problem playing it. As you will hear on this second of two shows recorded at New York's Bottom Line club in 1978, the band effectively performs a myriad of musical styles ranging from rockabilly, country swing, '60s pop, freeform jazz, and they do it all well. After all, we are talking about a band that plays covers by everyone from Sun Ra to Carl Perkins.
Featured here is a wealth of NRBQ classics including "Green Light" (covered the following year by Bonnie Raitt), "That's All," "Wacky Tobacky," "I Got A Rocket In My Pocket" and the Beatlesque "I Love Her, She Loves Me," which appeared on NRBQ At Yankee Stadium, the LP out during this tour.
NRBQ, which stands for the New Rhythm & Blues Quartet (a take-off on the Modern Jazz Quartet), have been thrilling its cult, but extremely loyal, fan base since 1969. Formed initially in Kentucky, only Terry Adams and Joey Spampinato remain from the original line-up, but the version of the band featured here stayed together for over 20 years, and became a mainstay at select profile clubs around the country from the mid-1970s through the early 1990s.
Although the band has been signed to at least six major labels, they were on Mercury at this time, and it was during these years that NRBQ saw their greatest commercial success. Although they never had a huge hit single on their own, NRBQ did hang with the biggest musical names, including Keith Richards and Bonnie Raitt, who covered some of the band's songs.
Many feel the band lost its magic when Al Anderson left in 1994, but they have remained an ongoing musical legacy, having released their last studio album in 2004.