John Eddie – Who The Hell Is John Eddie?
In the mid-’80s, the answer to this album’s self-effacing title might have been “the new Boss.” After all, the Virginia-born New Jersey transplant Eddie played his heartland rockers with barroom ballsy-ness weekly at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park. The real Boss even befriended Eddie and occasionally joined him onstage. In Bruce-like fashion, Eddie signed with Columbia Records in 1986, but after two albums and just one minor hit — “Jungle Boy” (not to be confused with “Jungleland”) — he soon was label-less.
Now on Lost Highway, the man in question has surrounded himself with the right people, from producer Jim Dickinson to John Mellencamp drummer Kenny Aronoff. And, no big surprise, a number of the album’s tracks (“Place You Go”, “If You’re Here When I Get Back”, “Let Me Down Hard”), sound Springsteenesque.
But that’s not Eddie’s only trick pony. On “Nobody’s Happy”, he rocks with near Replacements-like fervor. Elsewhere (“Jesus Is Coming”, “Shithole Bar”, “Forty”, “Play Some Skynyrd”), he attacks heartbreak with a wicked sense of humor.
So who the hell is John Eddie? He’s not the new Boss, nor the old Boss, but for some, he may be a worthy substitute until the next Springsteen album arrives.