Old No. 2

Now that the Supersuckers have become a productive cottage industry thanks to the good people at Mid-Fi Records (namely the band itself), 'Suckers frontman Eddie Spaghetti has given us his second solo album in as many years with 2005's Old No. 2. Like his previous solo disc Sauce, Old No. 2 is dominated by covers, though Eddie wrote a whopping four new songs for this set (double his output for Sauce), and since this album boasts a significantly lower goofiness quotient than his previous go-round, he offers us some solid and literate country-rock tunes, including the ode to touring "Here We Go" and a rueful look back at a busted romance, "Some People Say." Old No. 2 is in the tradition of the Supersuckers' periodic visits to the land of twang, with even the AC/DC and Coasters covers boasting a semi-acoustic sawdust-on-the-floor vibe, and his band (anchored by guitarist Jordan Shapiro) kicks up a satisfying amount of dust, even with the amps turned down. While Eddie unwittingly reveals how narrow his vocal range can be on a couple of tunes, he makes with the attitude when he needs to and sounds like he means it when he wants to, and his versions of Bob Dylan's "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You" and Willie Nelson's "Everywhere I Go" show the guy is a better interpretive singer than one might expect. Oh, and if you were looking for a straight-up joke, check out the Aerosmith revision on track 11. Old No. 2 is hardly revelatory, but it sounds like Eddie and his pals enjoyed their four days in the studio, and the good vibe is infectious -- lots of guys have tried a whole lot harder without coming up with a record half as enjoyable as this. ~ Mark Deming