Return to Eddie Spaghetti

Eddie Spaghetti
Old No. 2, 2005
Mid-Fi

Eddie Spaghetti is the leader of The Supersuckers, a rock band with a whole lot of country music in its blood. This solo release is almost completely country, however. Spaghetti's scratchy vocals won't give either George Jones or Merle Haggard a run for their money, but because he sings these 11 songs with complete sincerity, all is forgiven.

There aren't any country standards included here, but you might say everything is done in a country way. The disc opens with Bob Dylan's "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You," which chugs right along, and is followed shortly thereafter by Nick Lowe's spunky "Without
Love." There's also every aging pop musician's lament, "Don't Wanna Grow Up," as well as one called "Sick as a Dog," featuring an informal children's choir.

In addition to Spaghetti's vocal approach, familiar country instrumentation also helps to give this work its distinct twanginess. For instance, "Everywhere I Go" is saturated in steel guitar and "Don't Wanna Know" is spiced with slide guitar.

On the downside, the cover features a half-naked woman on the can, which is in inexcusably bad taste. Nevertheless, it at least sounds a lot better than it looks.

- Dan MacIntosh