BIRTH OF THEIR COOL

I just posted these a few months ago, but I'm reposting them because I ran into that sleeve above for NRBQ's early (if  not first) 45, "C'mon Everybody" b/w "Rocket Number Nine". In that sleeve is the answer to a question that has haunted me for decades. What was NRBQ's critical ground zero? When was it that they won the hearts of music critics? Because, really, great as they are as a band, do they really merit their rep? I gotta say, if you were a music writer it would be hard to ignore a band that released an Eddie Cochran cover on the A side of a single, and a cover of Sun Ra on the B side. On a major label, in 1969. How are you going to beat that? Shit, they got my attention by including it on their first album when I bought it decades later. I didn't even know who Sun Ra was.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
NRBQ - Rocket Number Nine mp3 (via *MediaFire) at The Devil's Music

*MediaFire: Click the green "Download" button on the top right. A pop-up will open, trying to fool you into downloading something else. Close it, it's not the download and may be harmful (your anti-pop up radar may automatically minimize it.). The downlload dialog box should be waiting behind it.

Sun Ra - Rocket Number Nine (streaming) at YouTube Six minute version
Sun Ra - Rocket Number Nine (streaming) at YouTube two and a half minutes