[engl] "The Sauce spans seven decades of songwriting and showcases Spaghetti's impeccable song choices and uncanny ability to sing the drinking songs for drinkers who like to drink the drinks." In 2003, Motherfuckers Be Trippin' revived the Supersuckers nameplate. Issued through their own Mid Fi imprint, it riffed and smirked with renewed zing and estimable sleaze. That air of lovable gracelessness carries over to Suckers' main man Eddie Spaghetti's first solo effort, a messy and grinning bucket of covers called Sauce. In his liner notes, Spaghetti trashes the whole idea of solo records, especially those that consist solely of covers. But in typical fashion, that doesn't stop him from doing his own. Sauce features quick and easy, largely acoustic versions of outlaw country faves from Kris Kristofferson ("Best of all Possible Worlds") and Willie Nelson (the mirthful and giddy "Gotta Get Drunk"). There's also a run through "Cocaine Blues," but his isn't underpinned with terror like Johnny Cash's. Instead, Spaghetti cranks it out steely and fast, like it was the last song of the middle set in a Tuesday night dive bar gig. He gets a tad serious -- or at least heartfelt -- with Steve Earle's "I Don't Want to Lose You Yet," but it's back to a bleary-eyed cross of honky tonkin' and low culture slummin' for "Peace in the Valley" (originally by A3): "Well I got ecstasy/But I need some company." That sentiment continues for "Killer Weed," the better of Spaghetti's two originals here. As he does throughout Sauce, Eddie adopts a sort of deadpan Lee Hazlewood persona for the track -- he might as well perch a raglan horse head on the lip of a six-foot bong. Sauce isn't country, and it doesn't rock like his day job. But from end to end, it drips with the same dastardly good-time juice that defines the best Supersuckers stuff.

[engl] Originally released in 2005 as a limited picture disc, now on regular LP for the first time!! Supersuckers 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 (Extra) 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.