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Okay, if nobody knows this -- I'm a huge Lemonheads fan. I mean really huge. Obsessive since way the fuck back. In my pre-SY days, The Lemonheads were probably my biggest musical obsession. There's a timeline which will be mapped out in the eventual NR ESSENTIALS webpressence. But I digress.
VARSHONS is the new Lemonheads album. The first in 3 years. I've been spending some time with it. Trying to wrap my head around it. Which is unique for a Lemonheads album. See generally they(he)'d put out a new album, I'd buy it, and love it on first listen. But this one is very... different.
Okay let me rewind a bit. The last album was called THE LEMONHEADS. It came out in 2006. The big deal there was that it was the first time that Evan Dando put out an album as The Lemonheads since the late 90's. Weirder still is that THE LEMONEADS' rhythm section was actually made up of Descendents. And it was a pseudo-pop-punk album. Which was a semi-return to 80's (pre-"The") Lemonheads era. And it was very fucking good.
Three years later is VARSHONS, which is a record that thrives on Evan's (mostly) Country (specifically Graham Parson reincarnate) sound. But it's so much more fucked up. Because it's all covers. And produced by Gibby Fucking Hayes.
This is the first Lemonheads/Evan Dando album (since I was about 14 and discovered them) that I've heard and did not love on first listen. This is the first time it's been any sort of "work" for me to understand one of their records. And slowly, with each listen, I feel like it's clicking to me. Maybe you think that's too much work for a "Poprock" record. But I tell you that the band has meant so much to me in my life (it's too long a story for here) that it's all worth it to me. I owe The Lemonheads this much.
Anyway, a few weird things to point out:
1. GG Allen's "Living With Linda" is turned into a Cash-esque murder ballad.
2. Kate Cocaine Moss is the lone vocalist on a techno track.
3. Evan covers "Beautiful" para Xtina incredibly.
4. Liv Tyler duets on a Leonard Cohen track and has a really nice,fragile voice.
There's no point to this thread really. So whatever.
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