After meeting marginal mainstream success with his first album, Necktie Second, which spawned the goofy single "If You Don't Love Me (I'll Kill Myself)," Droge contributed a single to the "Beautiful Girls" soundtrack that ended up almost overshadowing the film (does anyone even remember it?), as prevalent as its usage was throughout the flick.

For his follow- up effort, the dour alt- rocker connected with superproducer Brendan O'Brien, and the tow of them churned out the slightly better Find A Door. And so, we've reached Chapter Three in Droge's recorded history, the remarkably nondescript Spacey and Shakin'.

If it's true that Tom Petty's music sounds best being played at loud volumes out the window of someone else's car at the 7-11, Pete Droge is probably the guy driving the car. Droge's vocal similarity to Petty has never been more eerie than on this record. And he seems content with playing up the image, tying his flannel shirt around his heart in hopes to recreate his fleeting moment of success.

On occasion, Spacey and Shakin' presents a decent song. The title track takes a slanted look at life ("A two- headed goat/ Am I losing my mind?") covered with a psychadelic whitewash. "Eyes on the Ceiling" has a triumphant feel to it despite the refrain "I could drag you down." But while these songs spark a few minutes of mild interest, they do little for the album as a whole.

Droge's strength is revealed only when he takes it down a notch. The album's closers, "Blindly" and "Walking by My Side" are considerably lighter than the rest of the album, both sonically and mentally. They're proof that Droge has the potential of writing an album's worth of great love songs. We'll see what the future holds.

-Lang Whitaker