Al Anderson “Party Favors”

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#339 in the Series) is Al Anderson, Party Favors

Al Anderson.  Do you know the name? You might. Al was the long time guitarist for NRBQ.  Besides his work with “The Q” he’s also written a country hit or two, most notably for Carlene Carter.

This was actually released about the same time that he was doing well with the Carlene hits. It also was directly before NRBQ was to release one of their few major-label albums, that being Wild Weekend.  That album was on Virgin Records.

This album was a side project during that time. Al actually played most of the instruments on the disc. Some reviews have said it had a feel of a demo. I had to laugh at that. They were making it sound as if that was a bad thing! This is roots, roadhouse rock and roll. Not all of it, but much of it. Give me a stripped down demo sounding release anytime. You can have the over produced stuff. I’ll take this. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a band’s demo and loved it. Then two years later you hear a label influenced completed release and it’s lost all of its soul.

Al also wrote nearly the entire album. He did get some help John Hiatt on the fun “I Got Your Number.”  John Sebastian added his autoharp to “Nobody Else Will Do.”  NRBQ’s Tommy Ardolino plays drums on a few cuts.

Not all numbers are up tempo. One ballad on which Al’s voice never sounded better is “I Could Do This All Night.”  If you want fun songs, spin “You Don’t Mean a Thing”, or the remake of the NRBQ standard “Crazy Like a Fox.”

This album wasn’t on the market long. You can find it now and that’s a good thing. Bring it to a party!

I couldn’t find a single video from this album to place in the usual playlist.  So I did something a little different this time. In the late 80’s, the Connie Chung show did a fantastic feature on NRBQ,  I have it below. Take some time and watch it! There’s also some bonus stuff below that as well.  You can listen to it all on the “Cool Album of the Day” MySpace page!!

Track Listing

1. Don’t Want Your 3:39
2. I Could Do This All Night  5:42
3. I Got Your Number  2:37
4. If You Get Your Wish 3:32
5. I Still Love You 3:08
6. Crazy Like A Fox 3:13
7. Nobody Else Will Do 4:43
8. You Don’t Mean A Thing 3:55
9. Love Her And Leave Her 3:04

Personnel

• Al Anderson Guitar, Multi Instruments, Producer, Vocals
• Tom Ardolino Drums, Percussion
• Alfa Anderson Barfield  Producer, Vocals
• Joe Greico Keyboards
• Bill Holliman Horn
• Chuck Martin Drums
• Rudy Rubini Harmony, Vocals (Background)
• John Sebastian Autoharp

Links

• See our write up of NRBQ’s Grooves in Orbit
• See our write up of Skeeeter Davis and NRBQ’s She Sings, They Play
• Listen to the complete Party Favors album on our MySpace Page.
• See more from 1988

Back to Cool Album of the Day Home Page

NRBQ from the old Sunday Night Show. Here’s they perform Al’s “Crazy Like a Fox” and “I Want You To Feel Good Too.”