T-Bird Rhythm [Remaster] (CD - 1982)

Recorded at Third Coast Studios, Austin, Texas. Originally released on Chrysalis Records (FV 41395). Includes liner notes by Denny Bruce.

Digitally remastered by Robert Vosgien (2000 Capitol Mastering).

After using manager Denny Bruce as producer for their first three albums, the Fabulous Thunderbirds tapped Nick Lowe for their fourth outing, T-Bird Rhythm. It was more of the same stew of rock, blues, R&B, and lowdown swamp music for which the early Thunderbirds were known. That was a good thing for anyone just in love with the sound and who wanted more. Those for whom one Thunderbirds album is good but enough, however, might not have seen much point to investing in another similar recording. Whatever the case, T-Bird Rhythm is solid, though not innovative, with the usual roots sounds that alternate between Kim Wilson originals and well-chosen covers of obscure non-hit oldies. The 2000 CD reissue on Benchmark adds historical liner notes. ~ Richie Unterberger

The T-Birds fourth album was their first recorded with an outside producer, in this case the estimable Nick Lowe, then at the peak of his coolness. Lowe fleshed out the band's sound agreeably if not ostentatiously, and the album that resulted was probably the group's best to date. It's a tad heavier on covers than usual (including a terrific version of "Diddy Wah Diddy" which temporarily erases the memory of Captain Beefheart's) but at least one of leader Kim Wilson's originals, "Poor Boy" (which features a great duel between Wilson's whistling and guitarist Jimmie Vaughan's whammy-bar solos), sounds like an actual half-remembered old-time blues classic. minimize