ALBUM REVIEWS
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ALBUM REVIEWS |
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The Lemonheads
VARSHONS COOKING VINYL 15.6.09 @www.vanguard-online.co.uk
Only Evan Dando could conceive of an album of covers so obscure that most music journalists have never come across more than three of the tracks being covered. Indeed, the primary challenge with Varshons is to decide whether it’s even worth judging as a covers album at all – I for one am ashamed to say have only heard of a single track – album closer “Beautiful”, made famous by Christina Aguilera (but originally by Linda Perry). In this case, the cover is relatively faithful to the original, in that it keeps the same tempo and mood. Whether or not this is the case for its ten compadres remains to be seen…. In terms of style, while some tracks are experimental or more upbeat, the Lemonheads default to West-coast Americana for the most part; a combination of Byrds-esque instruments with the gruff vocals unique to Dando. Case points include the enjoyable album opener “I Just Can’t Take It Anymore” and the strong story-driven “Layin’ Up With Linda” (originally by Gram Parsons and G G Allin respectively). Tracks of interest include “Green Fuz” (Randy Alvey & Green Fuz), which, perhaps ironically, is accompanied by fuzzy guitars that give it an Automatic-era REM sound; “Dirty Robot”, with its catchy pop beat and accompanying vocals from Kate Moss (it’s hard to tell whether this is close to brilliance or utter rubbish) and “Mexico”, which builds to a roaring crescendo. There’s something about the way that the word Mexico is emphasised that makes it feel that bit more special… Other tracks are unremarkable or just plain forgettable, such as the dreary “Yesterlove” and the underperforming "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye" (featuring Liv Tyler). Perhaps it was destined to be a bit depressing though, given that it was originally penned by Leonard Cohen. On the whole, a fairly good album, but it feels as though the band are trying to be clever for the sake of it. I’m not asking for Weird Al Yankovic, but a few more mainstream covers would be welcome. It’s almost as though they’re embarrassed by their version of Mrs Robinson… www.thelemonheads.net |
