Fabulous Thunderbirds – T-Bird Rhythm …album review

This album is like a bag of chips; you can’t stop at one song. Hence, the reason I dropped the one song and just went on to the complete album. These guys deserve some attention for more than their two hits. 

When I heard these guys in the 1980s, I loved what I was hearing. Tuff Enough hit, but the one that got me was Wrap It Up. Now I’ve gone back and started to listen to some of their other music, and it’s just what I expected. It’s tough, tight, and with a blues edge. What surprised me (it shouldn’t really) was who the producer was on this album. Nick Lowe strikes again in the middle of this tough R&B band. He really shows his versatility with this album.

Instead of trying to reshape the Thunderbirds, Lowe just pointed the microphones in the right direction and let them go. The production is warm and lean, nothing fancy, just that gritty barroom sound. He kept that edge to the music that the Thunderbirds would give.

I was disappointed when I didn’t hear any more songs by them on the radio. I should have known that there would not be much more in the 1980s. Guitar-driven rock/blues just wasn’t in as much. This band didn’t just hit out of nowhere. They formed in 1974 with original members Jimmie Vaughan, Kim Wilson (singer), Keith Ferguson, and Mike Buck. Austin vocalist Lou Ann Barton also performed occasionally with the group during its early years.

I’ve heard the phrase it’s The Groove That Won’t Quit before…Well, I will apply that to this album. Tracks like My Babe and Diddy Wah Diddy sound like they came out of a 1956 jukebox, but there’s nothing nostalgic about it.   They gave life to R&B music in their own style and as contemporary as you could be in an era that wasn’t screaming for it. Every single note on this album feels road-tested.

One of my favorites off the album is How Do You Spell Love. It’s built like a tank and comes straight at you.  Another favorite is Can’t Tear It Up Enuff, Jimmie Vaughan’s Telecaster stings and swings, and Kim Wilson tears through the vocal. This is the album that put them on the map. A few years later, they would be headlining tours and having hits. 

This album was released in 1982 and rock critics were paying attention. The grouchy Robert Christgau wrote: “both sides open with fetchingly offhand ravers, Kim Wilson works his shoo-fly drawl for gumbo lilt, and the mysterious J. Miller contributes the irresistible ‘You’re Humbuggin’ Me’, which had me tearing through my Jimmy Reed records in a fruitless search for the original.”

Can’t Tear It Up Enuff

I’m in the mood to tear it up
I’m in my prime for tearing it up
I dig tearing up that stuff
I just can’t tear it up enuff

Don’t want no full time love
Baby let me be
I need a whole lotta part time love
To satisfy me
Don’t want no hand-me-downs
Got the biz rags on my back
I don’t need no used car
I got a brand new Cadillac

I’m dying to tear it up
I ain’t lying, I’m gonna tear it up
I dig tearing up that stuff
I just can’t tear it up enuff

I’ve got the finest weather
Living in this town
I’m sitting on top of the world
Nobody gonna get me down
I’ve got a diamond ring with
A gold bracelet to match
Baby, I got everything
With no strings attached
When it comes to having a party
I can’t be beat
Baby, just stay out of my kitchen
If you can’t stand the heat
You got to move, let’s go
I ain’t gonna wait for you
Got lots of places to go
And a whole lotta things to do

I’m in the mood to tear it up
I’m in my prime for tearing it up
I dig tearing up that stuff
I just can’t tear it up enuff

…

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

61 thoughts on “Fabulous Thunderbirds – T-Bird Rhythm …album review”

  2. Pingback: Fabulous Thunderbirds – T-Bird Rhythm …album review – MobsterTiger

  3. Love these guys Max. First heard them in 79 or 80 at a buddy’s place. Saw them when they toured with Dave Edmunds ( who produced thier next album) in 1990. Unfortunately Jimmie was not with them. But Graham Parker and Dion were also on the ticket. You were bang on with your 1956 Jukebox feel. Now was that an educated guess – because that’s were “Diddy Wah Diddy” came from!

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  4. Great group and album. I found a bunch of their CDs, including this one, used somewhere and snapped them up. I especially like “The Monkey”, which I first heard on a compilation of their earlier work. Quality music from any configuration of the band. Love Kim Wilson’s solo work too.

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      6. I’d have to put on my thinking cap, but I might come up with a few. “Apeman” and “King Kong” by The Kinks of course. “The Monkey Time” by Major Lance, which isn’t really about monkeys, but it’s in the title. Would have to think on it some more.

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      17. Lots of people do this song. And it never loses its appeal, its humor. I venture to say the Dirty Dozen version sounds a little different from the Thunderbirds, if only for the instrumentation.

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  5. I still remember the first time I heard this album. I didn’t realize it was new. It had a classic sound. And while I realize that it’s not a competition, as well as sacrilege in some circles, I always liked Jimmy’s work more than little brother, who I found to be a lot of flash and bombast. When the brothers put out an album together, it was the best of both worlds.

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    1. SRV always said that Jimmie was the better one…but yea you are right…it’s not a competition….Jimmie did more in the pocket playing….so they were completely different. I want to hear the album they did with each other.

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    1. CB….I couldn’t do just one song while picking a song out on this album…same with Sam Roberts…this album is one of the most tightest albums out there period. My big surprise was the producer!

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      1. These guys are album people. It was always cool to see them get air play on commercial radio and make some dough. They have a high batting average with how good their output is. They just keep making music for whoever is listening. That’s me.

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      2. I was frankly shocked on how good it was…but remember I only knew the two hits. I loved those hits so much that I thought…oh hell I’ll hear them again with their next album…didn’t happen because we were in the middle of the synth band era…but DAMN…they do make great albums. Jimmie’s Tele…just rips in short bursts but he lives in the pocket.

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  12. Listened to the whole album. Good stuff! I wondered if Kim would show his stuff on the harmonica on the album. He played some but not showing how great he is on it. I like their outfits in the video you included.

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      1. I think I told you before my cousin and I saw them at a swim spot in Austin back in late 70’s or early 80s. They tried to hit on us but my cousin was having none of it. Still pissed about it!

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      2. LOL… you could have been a subject of a song! I have a cousin that was hit on by Mick Jagger in the 90s…she was having none of it as well…her father, half joking, was like damn…you messed up.

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