Artist:     NRBQ In * Frequencies

Album:     In * Frequencies

Label:     Omnivore Records

Release Date:     10.2.20

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The maid’s been in the NRBQ vault tidying up, taking care not to toss out the good stuff. An assortment of interesting odds and ends was set aside for In * Frequencies, a career-spanning grab bag of outtakes and rarities that’s being touted as the first of its kind for “the world’s greatest bar band.” The place was probably a glorious mess.

Of its 16 tracks, a total of 12 have previously gone unissued, including the snappy, clapping, shout-along baseball novelty song “Orioles,” a slowly motoring, off-kilter alternate version of “Everybody’s Smoking” that’s oddly hypnotic, and a cheery, beachy take on “It’s a Wild Weekend” that rumbles and shimmies in a nostalgic, surfing garage-rock reverie. The latter was originally an instrumental hit entitled “Wild Weekend,” until NRBQ installed lyrics and a new bridge, as this shaking, upbeat soundcheck recording was captured by Bill Scheniman for the NRBQ concert album God Bless Us All.

That little nugget of trivia is found in the accompanying liner notes, where background files of each track detail bits and pieces of their stories in brief, but illuminating, passages that sit in a small pile of old ephemera and charming archival band images – some of them posed and some unguarded and candid, with one of The Whole Wheat Horns putting in work from 1973. It’s a wonderful scrapbook, perfect for perusing while breezing through the clean, modern pop hooks of “Get Real” and getting lost in the finely spun, dreamy psychedelia of a silky “Sho’ Need Love,” from NRBQ spin-off the Dickens. They are two of the gems from In * Frequencies that shine the brightest.

A boisterous and brassy performance of “We’ll Make Love,” from a 1976 performance at Trinity College, is one of three concert recordings unearthed here, with the other true live highlight coming in the form of a wistful, slowly sweeping, small-combo jazz reading of “Love Came to Me” for WDET-FM in Detroit. Both had never seen the light of day until now, unlike “April Showers,” a stunning concoction of easy, relaxed pop elegance that made its way onto the soundtrack for the 2018 film “Change in the Air.” The buoyant “Sourpuss” has also surfaced before, set to tape with an unruly piano and cycling up hill and then back down gently, as In * Frequencies covers a lot of ground, even going all the way back to 1968 for the unraveling of a nest of twangy guitars in another soundcheck recording, this one of “Dogwood Winter.”

While not all of In * Frequencies could be considered absolutely essential, the cup of sunshine soul “Let Me Tell You ‘Bout My Girl” seemingly gifted from Otis Redding’s cupboard is that and then some. Also indispensable is “That’s All,” with its bluesy, jazzy swing and early rock ‘n roll fire. It’s an eclectic set, with the kind of clever, unpretentious playing and lighthearted humor expected from NRBQ. Commentary from various members in the packaging acts as a guide spotlighting the best parts. There are plenty of them all over the landscape of In * Frequencies.

—Peter Lindblad