See NRBQ's once-banned 'Tiddlywinks' TV spot

Visit the Goldmine store — it is a music collector's one-stop shopping of vinyl, CDs, box sets, collectibles, collecting supplies, audio equipment, music history books and Goldmine-only exclusives. Click HERE!

NRBQ's expanded reissue of their 1980 classic album Tiddlywinks will be released on January 27 through Omnivore Recordings. Over a decade into their career, NRBQ entered Bearsville Studios in upstate New York and recorded their eighth album. The lineup featured Terry Adams (keyboards), Joey Spampinato (bass), Tom Ardolino (drums) and Al Anderson (guitar), plus The Whole Wheat Horns (Donn Adams and Keith Spring). The end result was Tiddlywinks, which contained the singles “Me And The Boys” and “Never Take The Place Of You.”  Now, over four decades later, Tiddlywinks returns. This time, four bonus tracks are added to the mix; “I Don’t Think Of...” and “Big Goodbyes” – recorded during the Tiddlywinks sessions and released on 1983’s Tapdancin’ Bats collection, plus the Radio and TV Spots originally issued on the flip side of the “Never Take The Place Of You” 7-inch single. Featuring updated artwork and liner notes from original engineer Tom Mark (who had worked with the band on At Yankee Stadium), the Tiddlywinks experience is now complete. From Mark’s liner notes: “Working with those guys was such a pleasure. We always had fun. Four amazing musician/writers really listening to each other, what else do you want? Thank you NRBQ.” 

Tiddlywinks expanded reissue will be available on LP, CD, and digital,

In the meantime, NRBQ acquired a copy of the original TV ad they made for the album back in 1980, which ended up being banned and returned by several stations. Goldmine premieres it below.

Starring pro-wrestler Lou Albano, the commercial was a parody of a popular ad about classical music. It was shot at the legendary Big Pink house in upstate NY (where Bob Dylan and The Band recorded The Basement Tapes, and The Band wrote their album Music from Big Pink).

Terry Adams tells Goldmine: "Donn Adams came up with this ad. It was based on a current popular one about classical music. We shot it at a friend's house, The Big Pink. A TV channel in Boston returned our money after airing it once, calling it “offensive." Next was Saturday Night Live in NY, who sent it back without even airing it. So, here it is. By the way, i had asked Lou Albano to get involved with music as our manager — more on that later…"