So why is The Riverboat Gamblers’ Something To Crow About on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
I recall reading an interview with George Thorogood (he of “& the Destroyers” fame) some years back, in which he talks about how styles of music relate to food. Sometimes you’re in the mood for filet mignon, and other times you’re in the mood for a delicious hamburger and fries that’s served up just right.
I’m here to report that The Riverboat Gamblers serve up one tasty burger with Something To Crow About.
This is garage punk out of the heart of Texas with a blistering pace and an act first, ask questions never attitude. And it hits the spot oh so right.
Consider the song titles alone of the best two songs on Something To Crow About: “Ooh Yeah” and “Hey! Hey! Hey!” The Riverboat Gamblers are not trying to convey the nuances of first love or speak about the perils of Brexit or some such. They are here for one purpose, and that is to rock. And if the garage happens to be empty, they would be perfectly satisfied, I feel sure, to rock out alone.
Consider too that Something To Crow About contains 13 songs and its running time is south of 29 minutes. There’s zero fluff on these songs: they get in, they go hard, and then they get out.
And while most of the rest of the album consists of thrash-tastic tracks like “Dead From the Neck Up” and “Cut-Cut-Cut-Cut” (which has a nice Hives vibe in some respects), “Lottie Mae” proves that The Riverboat Gamblers have at least one other gear. Which is to say it’s a nice bluesy number that has more than a little kinship to 1950s rock & roll by way of Ritchie Valens.
Personal stuff that has something to do with The Riverboat Gamblers’ Something To Crow About
The song title “Hey! Hey! Hey!” is funny to me because it directly relates to something my wife and I fell into saying to our sweet but spazzy dog, Jack, every now and then.
For example, Jack will get excited and start licking my leg while I’m distracted doing something, and my go to thing to say will be, “Hey! Hey! Hey!” which has a rough human-to-dog translation of I love you my guy but cool it with the licking of my leg, okay please?
And Jack gets it, eventually.
Some stats & info about The Riverboat Gamblers’ Something To Crow About
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, Punk Music, Garage Punk, Punk Revival
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4 out of 5 stars
- When was Something To Crow About released? 2003
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #445 out of 1,000
The Riverboat Gamblers’ Something To Crow About on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from The Riverboat Gamblers’ Something To Crow About that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
Listen to me scream and shout, ‘cause all my teeth are falling out.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.