Released April 2016 on the German blues label Ruf Records, Happy Bastards was Andy Frasco's fourth full-length and the record that cemented the band's "party blues with a soul-band engine" identity in studio form. Twelve tracks recorded at Lavish Studios and Brando's Paradise in California, the album is built on horns, piano, and Frasco's wisecracking front-man delivery — what reviewers at the time called "industrial-strength glass-half-full optimism."
It's a stylistic grab bag by design: funk, soul, R&B, blues, even reggae make appearances, all run through the U.N.'s tight ensemble playing. Reviewers compared the band's ability to organize their party chaos to Zappa's mixed-style discipline — not for the music itself, but for how cleanly they execute across genres.
Cool stuff:
- Released on Ruf Records, the German blues label founded by Thomas Ruf — known for Walter Trout, Luther Allison, and the Blues Caravan tours
- Recorded at Lavish Studios and Brando's Paradise in California, both well-trafficked rooms in the LA blues/roots scene
- The U.N. is a rotating cast of horn players and rhythm section that backs Frasco's piano-and-vocal lead — closer to a soul revue than a fixed band
- Frasco hosts "The World Saving Podcast," which has run alongside the band for years and helped build the touring base that supports records like this
- 12 tracks blending funk, soul, R&B, blues, and reggae — the band's standard live-set formula captured in a studio setting
Spin it for: a Friday-night party-blues record with horn punches, piano boogie, and Frasco's irrepressible delivery up front.
Standouts: "Smokin' Drinkin' & Gettin' By" · "Mature As Fuck" · "I Like It When You're Drunk" · "(I Want To) Roll With You"
Sources: AllMusic · Blues Rock Review · Get Ready to ROCK! · Wikipedia · Bluebird Reviews