**** NRBQ

RIDING IN MY CAR

(Rounder)

NRBQ's combination of two key American elements -- comedy and swing -- has earned them status as our most whompifying party band. That's debatable, of course. What's not is how deep the union of smirks and grooves is on this new reissue of 1977's utterly fantastic All Hopped Up. Whether they're beating Joe Turner at his own game ("Honey Hush"), drifting into Esquivel-esque incidental music ("Doctor's Wind"), or naturally conflating the Beatles and the Byrds ("That's Alright"), they momentarily manage to best their sources. No small feat.

Two previously unreleased tracks from the era -- "Start It Over" and "Chicken Hearted" -- make Riding in My Car a must. There's a rhythmic thrust on Terry's ode to coitus interruptus that makes it one of their most overwhelming rockers ever; and the take on Roy Orbison's scaredy-cat anthem features a Big Al freakout that reminds you what a great loss the guitarist's parting was. Zealots likely know the shambling romp through the Bonanza theme stemmed from the notion that each member of the quartet represented a Cartwright brother (guess who was "Hoss"), but even the hardcore might not have known that a high-school marching-band spin of the title cut existed. Silly and sublime.

-- Jim Macnie