Honest Dollar [live]

Honest Dollar was announced as the first album in a series of releases that would bring quality live material from NRBQ's tape archives to their loyal fans, but while a number of live albums from the Q have arrived since, this seems to have been the sole release in this specific series...and that's probably just as well. Conventional wisdom has it that on a good night NRBQ are one of America's great live bands, and while I would certainly agree with that assessment, Honest Dollar doesn't capture the band anywhere close to the top of their game. A healthy dose of goofiness has always been a key factor in the NRBQ formula, but two back-to-back versions of "The Dummy Song," the theme from "Batman," and a beer-drunk slog through "Deep in the Heart of Texas" add up to more non-effective comedy relief than even these guys can bear (though the casual surrealism of "I Love Air Conditioning" gets a thumbs-up). On a good night, NRBQ are the working definition of "loosely tight," but that's not the case with many of these takes, which often sound sloppy and poorly focused, not a common thing for the Q on-stage. But most problematic is Honest Dollar's sound quality -- most of these cuts sound like poorly balanced soundboard tapes, hollow and without punch, and coupled with the less-than-stellar sound and sound selection, Honest Dollar is just tough to listen to. If you want a permanent document of the NRBQ live experience, look elsewhere (God Bless Us All is probably your best bet).