They may be the greatest bar band in the world, but NRBQ have always had some difficulty translating their amazing live shows to record. For sure, they’ve made their share of solid albums; after all, they’ve been around for 35 years now. A band with that kind of longevity is bound to have gotten it right somewhere along the way.
Which brings us to Dummy, the Q’s latest. Like a lot of their past recordings, it has some sublime moments and some singularly silly ones. The band’s ability to perform almost any style they choose is liberally displayed. Who else could turn Mario Lanza’s pop-operatic standard “Be My Love” into a country tune? Then there’s the perfect pop of “Call Of The Wild”, the Bo Diddley inspired wackiness of “One Big Parking Lot” and the goofy groove of “Hey Punkin’ Head”.
Some of the songs here seem incomplete ideas, though, especially the ballad “I Need Love”, the spacey “Imaginary Radio” and the just plain dumb “Do The Primal Thing”. To their credit, the Q venture into fresh territory with a couple of political messages — a surprise for a band that’s known for pure rock ‘n’ roll fun, but maybe understandable considering the circumstances the world is in. Especially noteworthy is the rocker “Misguided Missles”, too short at 1:45 and amazingly prescient considering it was recorded in 1991 (when Al Anderson was still in the band).
But there’s not much really new on Dummy. Like most of their records, it’s likely to delight long time NRBQ fans while leaving the uninitiated scratching their heads as to what all the commotion is about.
