E1 Music

The Bad Plus is not the first to use the phrase “Never Stop” – rock and pop acts from Jackson Browne to Hilary Duff have already used it. But there’s nothing tired about the trio’s music, especially on Never Stop, the band’s first album of all original material. On “Bill Hickman at Home,” the boys jump from a bluesy, gutbucket march into a waltz-time feel, with a long, vocal solo from double bassist Reid Anderson. “People Like You” is a blue and sentimental ballad, which comes out of the jazz tradition but doesn’t intend to turn back. And, after four minutes, the chaotic “The Radio Tower Has a Beating Heart” switches gears into a frolicsome, major key odd-meter groove. Ten years on, TBP are still full of surprises.
Doobie Brothers