Southern Culture on the Skids Issue #31

Countrypolitan Favorites (Yep Roc)

By Anna Breshears
Published: March 1st, 2007 | 12:00am

Chapel Hill’s Southern Culture on the Skids formed in 1983 and rose to popularity in the garage/surf scene of the early- to mid-’90s. Their Dick Dale–inspired paean to Mexican wrestling, “Viva Del Santo,” and wonky instrumental “Camel Walk” maintain well-deserved places in the rocknroll canon.

However, the trouble with using a banana-puddin’-and-biscuits-backwoods shtick for 20-plus years is that it ages about as well as a pin-up girl tattoo. While there’s no denying that SCOTS are gifted musicians, Countrypolitan Favorites, their new collection of covers, sounds past its prime. The band unwisely puts two of the album’s least impressive tracks first, forcing listeners to slog through the lackluster twang of “Oh Lonesome Me” and the off-key droning vocals of “Muswell Hillbilly” before reaching Mary Huff’s respectfully sassy rendition of Wanda Jackson’s rockabilly stunner “Funnel of Love.” R&B classic “Te Ni Nee Ni Nu” gets added punch with a blues-guitar solo that just teeters on the edge of over the top, but whatever goodwill SCOTS may have gained from either is erased by the dirge-like pace and fuzzy, monotone vocals of T-Rex’s “Life’s a Gas” and affected country-hick vocals of “Let’s Invite Them Over.”

While the covers on Countrypolitan Favorites prove that the band has an excellent record collection, Southern Culture on the Skids don’t offer listeners any inspiring new sounds, nor does the album achieve the fun, drunken party vibe it seeks.