T. Duggins - Undone

Tony Duggins’ first solo effort finds him collaborating with none other than——his own band, The Tossers. If that strikes you as a little strange, here’s another zinger for you: The album’s germ wasn’t a child of his own brain. Credit for that goes to Zak Einstein of Thick Records, The Tossers previous label before their recent switch to Victory. Beginning to suspect that Undone might be another Tossers album in disguise? Think again. Even though he’s backed by his own band, and even though the album title and the idea behind it aren’t his, Undone ultimately is. Its bare bones approach to Irish tunes, a Dylan cover, and a few originals flows or flounders largely on the strength of Duggins’ voice, which perhaps explains why he seems so eager for his audience’s approval in the liner notes. It’s a damn good thing he didn’t do the album a capella. Out of all the tracks, those done truly solo fare the worst. Duggins has never seemed entirely at ease with the sound of his naked voice, and here he consistently misses the mark. He overreaches in “I Wish I Was Back in Liverpool,” comes out flat in “(The City of) Chicago,” and plain destroys “Children’s Potential,” where he loses meter, rhyme, and just about everything else while pontificating about the current state of inner city education. He makes up for these misfires with “Goodnight Irene,” “Shoals of Herring,” and “Late;” the last, a stripped-down carryover from the Tossers’ Valley of the Shadow of Death, is especially charming, gaining in intimacy what it loses in instrumentation. But even with these upsides, there is a rushed quality to most of the album, like it was slapped together over a few sessions, and it is that hurried aspect that does the album in. While I can’t criticize Duggins for wanting to toss off a few tunes on Thick’s dime, I can’t help but feel frustrated at what Undone could be, but isn’t. If The Tossers last two albums are any indication, Duggins is better than this. Maybe next time he’ll prove it. [www.thickrecords.com]