Wild Weekend

After a dozen or so years on Rounder Records, NRBQ signed on with Virgin for the Andy Paley co-produced Wild Weekend (1989). The quartet retains its eclectic range of pop and rock mayhem, adapting several well-worn concert favorites for this studio platter. Nowhere is that more evident than the opening title track, which Terry Adams, Joey Spampinato, and Al Anderson have adapted from the Rockin' Rebels instrumental that was originally called simply "Wild Weekend." (The Q's remake was also prominently featured in The Simpsons' tenth-season episode, Sunday Cruddy Sunday.) Adams gives Crescent City props to zydeco pioneer Boozoo Chavis on "Boozoo, That's Who!" (recalling the band's "Captain Lou" Albano homage), with both Boozoo (accordion) and Charles Chavis (rub board) as well as longtime friend John Sebastian (autoharp) all putting their respective two cents in. Equaling Anderson's lead guitar are his incomparable skills as a composer. The automobile anthem "Little Floater" and the brisk-tempo "Boy's Life" are two of the best entries on the album. The same can be said of Spampinato's closer, the driving rockabilly-tinged "Like a Locomotive." It incorporates and complements the bassist's timeless melodic sense with the combo's simple yet effective no-nonsense performance.