Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Album Review: Eddie Spaghetti - Old No.2


Eddie Spaghetti
Old No. 2
Mid-Fi Recordings

7 of 10

RIYL: Willie Nelson, The Supersucker's Country Albums, Booze.

Rock ‘n roll cache: Musicians want it, but few actually have it. Eddie Spaghetti has it in spades. A road warrior with the legendary Supersuckers, Spaghetti sits down with his acoustic and his songbook for the Old No. 2, his second batch of covers and originals.

Recorded in five days, Spaghetti sings about what he knows best: the road, the bar and love. Yes folks, even a country punk can feel the love, and the Old No. 2 finds Spaghetti in a confessional mood that creates a fun and personal album that while not perfect, hits all the right notes.

Bursting out of the gates with Bob Dylan’s “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You”, Spaghetti sets the pace with a rolling beat and some nice fretwork by guest musician and part-time Sucker Jordan Shapiro. “All Along”, a Spaghetti original, gets things moving down the country highway, sounding like a snapshot of the Sucker’s countriefied live sets.

“Some People Say” applies the musical brakes on for a more personal account of the man behind the black cowboy hat and the witty stage banter. This open vein segues into a cover of Nick Lowe’s “Without Love.” A married man with child, Spaghetti seems to explore the struggle of life as a travelling musician versus being home with the family and the results are some of his most assured singing and playing to date.

Anyone can play a cover, but few make a song sound like they wrote it. AC/DC’s “Carry Me Home” has all the making of a Spaghetti classic: the storyteller narrative, late nights at the boozer, the driving groove, and the foot stompin’s chorus. This is a high-water mark of the album with Shapiro and drumming assassin Mike Murderburger’s contributions pushing the song to become a live show classic.

Fans of the Supersuckers and Eddie Spaghetti understand sarcasm, and Eddie has cornered the market on it. “Hey Sexy” keeps things light and fun and is guaranteed to get the hips swaying on the ladies. Potatoes and meat will never be the same.

The theme of a band living it’s life on the road returns in “Here We Go”. Beyond the galloping percussion and bass line one can hear the quiet hum of the band’s van gliding through the night to the next show. Much like the Black Crowes captured the road on their own song, "Wiser Time", "Here We Go" could stand as the ethos of a travelling band.

Hit the brakes folks: not everything works on the Old No.2: “I Don’t Wanna Know” and Tom Waits’ “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up” suffer from some musical and lyrical redundancy, and while we know how much Spaghetti love’s his son Quattro, his song “Sick as A Dog” loses it’s charm after the first few spins.

Don't let that last paragraph scare you. The Old No.2 is a welcome album in any record collection. Crack open a cold one and let the record spin. While the world waits for the next long player from the Supersuckers, the Old No. 2 will keep your musical palettes wet and your dancing feet grooving.

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