NRBQ’s 1983 classic and sole release on the Bearsville label returns! The album has been remastered, includes new liner notes and boasts seven bonus tracks making this edition the definitive version of Grooves In Orbit.

Founded in 1966 in Louisville, Kentucky, NRBQ has given their dedicated fan base decades of great recordings and exceptional live shows in countless festivals, clubs, colleges, and concert halls.

No style of music is safe around NRBQ—their first Columbia album, for example, ranged from Eddie Cochran to Sun Ra and their own diverse compositions have been covered by artists including Bonnie Raitt, Dave Edmunds, She And Him, Steve Earle, Los Lobos, and Widespread Panic. There are very few bands that have lasted for half a century, and the list of those that are still at the top of their creative game is even smaller.

The album features seven bonus tracks including previously unheard songs, the Captain Lou Albano Grooves In Orbit promo spot, and alternate versions of “Hit The Hay” and “12 Bar Blues” plus an instrumental version of live favorite “Smackaroo.”

Additionally, it includes contributions from Whole Wheat Horns, a version of Johnny Cash’s “Get Rhythm” (always a live favorite) and a chain saw (handled by NRBQ crew member Phil Collison)!

Remastered by Michael Graves of Osiris Studio in Los Angeles, with liner notes by Q scribe John DeAngelis, this new edition is certain to set your Grooves In Orbit!

1. Smackaroo
2. Rain At The Drive-In
3. How Can I Make You Love Me
4. When Things Was Cheap
5. Daddy-“O”
6. 12 Bar Blues
7. A Girl Like That
8. My Girlfriend’s Pretty
9. I Like That Girl
10. Get Rhythm
11. Hit The Hay
12. Some Kind Of Blues [Bonus Track]
13. Jesus Loves Me [Bonus Track]
14. Tonight You Belong To Me [Bonus Track]
15. Hit The Hay (Alternate Version) [Bonus Track]
16. 12 Bar Blues (Alternate Version) [Bonus Track]
17. Smackaroo (Instrumental) [Bonus Track]
18. Captain Lou Albano Grooves in Orbit Promo [Bonus Track]

Tracks 15, 16, 18 previously unissued

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is yet another lost musical nugget from the 80’s. I mean, just one listen to this album tells you the boys in the band never had any intentions whatsoever to stay in touch with 80’s musical trends. Instead opting to create sounds that defied who they should have been to create a sound that embodied who they became.

An album of this musical quality, folk/rock mixed with 50’s style R&B, such as 12 Bar Blues, and a touch of Burt Bacharach on My Girlfriend’s Pretty, plus touching sly lyrics on A Girl Like That, never had a chance in the 80’s when facing the big guns of that era.

For my money, Grooves In Orbit was/is amongst the most accessible studio recordings from the long and storied career of NRBQ. I think we can all readily agree here and now that the cut Rain At The Drive-In is, of course, one of the bands many shoulda-coulda-been hits. But there is also the what could be termed definitive version of Johnny Cash’s Get Rhythm, and both the smoothness of I Like That Girl and the RNR of Daddy-“O” that propel this recording into the giddy heights that he still remains at by all its devoted fans today.

And, thankfully, listening back to it here on this expanded CD Even the production sounds just as timeless as only one could have ever hoped it did. Simply put, this is good ol’ fashioned rock ’n’ roll from a bar band album with something extra included throughout: self-confidence.

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