Video Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby, I Still Miss Someone

the last two cover albums i really had high hopes for were bryan ferry’s dylanesque and patti smith’s twelve. i found both utterly disappointing and unnecessary.

wreckless eric and amy rigby released a brand new album of cover songs on june 1st, called two-way family favourites. i was so excited in the days before its release, i actually let the 16 year old version of myself come out and wait for it with me.

we were not disappointed. it’s a great great album and i have not stopped listening to it since i downloaded it from amazon almighty. you may ask yourself if you have not heard the album, why this album of cover songs delights when others fail? a ton of reasons really, but i’ll enumerate a few for you.

• first and most obvious, eric and amy are full of joy and wonder; they just explode with it and it’s contagious
• the choice of material is better than anyone could hope for; some obscure and amazing little pop gems that often go unnoticed
• they respect the material and treat it with love and kindness
• they seem to enjoy singing and playing together and complement each other so well that their brilliant harmonies sound effortless
• most importantly, they accomplish the almost impossible feat of actually elevating the songs they cover. for most of the album, their version is not only newer, it’s sweeter, kinder, more loving, and better than the original.

i surely suggest anyone reading this should buy the record and have the pleasure of critiquing it yourself. or you could just do what i do, sing along. i was pleasantly surprised by the material they chose. on abba’s fernando, one of my favorite songs, they actually deliver the definitive version.  plummet airline’s silver shirt is my first my favorite song on the record. i can’t stop listening to it. i try. i just can’t. a very close second is new world’s living next door to alice. in the hands of eric and amy, this is a few minutes of beautiful noise, bells, background vocals, whispers, and heaven.

this is not a review. i’m not a music critic. just a huge fan very happy today. last night i had the extreme pleasure of seeing Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby at Bowery Electric. they were, of course, the loveliest and most charming musicians i’ve seen perform. some very nice person has already posted some video from the show on youtube. i’m not able to embed the video from the show last night. the youtube link has a number of songs from the show, including eric and amy performing tom petty’s walls. quite a treat as you will see; eric’s bass playing on that particular song was far too enjoyable to describe. i was planning on hanging around to say hello, but i was feeling kind of shy and invisible or something…. no doubt i will be hounding them for autographs and things next time.

i hope they had as much fun as they made for us. i think so. xdd

http://www.wrecklesseric.com

find out when eric and amy will be performing near you, get two-way family favourites and other nice things, listen to wreckless eric’s radio show aka the WERS which sounds like ‘worst’ when you say it best thing on the internet….. all by clicking on the link above. you can thank me some other time.