Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby - Two-Way Family Favourites

  by Maarten Schiethart

published: 3 / 10 / 2010

Label: Southern Domestic Recordings
Format: CD

intro

Fabulous lo-fi album of often completely reworked covers from infamous one-time Stiff Records signing Wreckless Eric and New York-based folk musician Amy Rigby

When he sang "I'll go the whole wide world", Wreckless Eric was a young fisherman who had never landed on a foreign shore. 33 years later he lives in France, does a bit of on-line radio, and tours and records with Amy Rigby. Amy was married to Will Rigby who debuted on Yo La Tengo's Egon label. Will was the drummer for the most under-rated pop band ever, the dBs. Amy played with Sue Garner from Fish & Roses, and this little scene was the driving force behind New York City's country and folk music movement. The duo does wonderfully unpretentious little projects on their blogs. 'Two-Way Family Favourites' is the duo's 'Fakebook' as it were, but, however unlike that Yo La Tengo cover album, you'll know most of it titles, yet you may not immediately recogise them. 'You Tore Me Down' is the binding element between these two cover albums. The duo trashes a well-loved Byrds song, turns Abba into lovely exquisite folk music and distorts Smokey´s 'Alice' smash hit, one of my all time vehemently hated hits, to turn it into an excellent track. Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby provide another great surprise as well and do ´Endless Wire´ off the Who´s 2006 album. And the odd thing is that Wreckless Eric's voice hasn't seem to weakened. Amy's voice remains the strength of the duo's music though. 'Scotland Then and Now´ gets a pretty hilarious treatment before Wreckless Eric returns to the early days of Stiff Records with a cover of the Plummet Airlines's 'Silver Shirt". More than lo-fi pub-folk, this covers album might cheer up the odd pub quiz and drive customers up the curtains. It has got me thirsty this.

Track Listing:-