Music Review: Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby - Two-Way Family Favourites

Wreckless Eric is probably best known for his 1977 break-out hit "Whole Wide World" which has recently seen a rekindling of popularity due to its brilliant use in the Will Ferrell/ Emma Thompson film, Stranger Than Fiction. A veteran of British punk and early (late) Stiff Records he has been rocking the whole wide world for three decades.

Amy Rigby has also had a long musical history performing everything from country to rock to punk in bands of her own creation. A prolific solo artist, her album Diary of a Mod Housewife became a hit in 1996 — although some of us still prefer 2005's Little Fugitive. Honestly, "Dancing With Joey Ramone" will always be one of the greatest punk rock, dead crush, geek girl anthems ever written. I'd stake my black-framed, birth control glasses on it.

Two-Way Family Favourites, the second album Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby have recorded as a duo, is an album of duets featuring musical offerings that span many genres. Together they've taken rock, pop, punk, and folk classics and re-created them. So as not to hurt the feelings of some of my favorite bands, let's just keep this between you and I — in some cases their versions are notably better than the originals. I hate to have to say that, being a fan of classic rock and punk, but it's true.

As the only musicians who appear on the album, they've layered the instrumentation and vocals, rendering an album rich in acoustic melodies and over-lapping vocal harmonies that still maintains a raw pub-rock sound.

There's an acoustic version of Tom Petty's "Walls" that I would recommend to... well — Tom Petty, for one. My second favorite cut on the album, the vocals and guitar, along with the backing harmonies, are amazing. Oddly enough this song was also re-made by Glen Campbell, and well done, as a country single in 2008. It's a song that seems to fit the duo's punk/folk style and Eric's vocal lead gives it a very British, pub-rock feel.

Article Author: A Geek Girl

I'm a Technorati writer and a music/book geek. I created Interviews From The Edge because I'm passionate about the creative process of all artists. I get crushes on dead people. I have a passion for fashion and a shoe / boot fetish. …

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