Skip to content
DVDfever.co.uk – The Lemonheads: Varshons CD reviewElly Roberts reviews
Cooking Vinyl Records
- Released: June 2009
- Rating: 8/10
- Vote and comment on this album:View Comments
Covers albums are all the rage here comes another.
Bostonian rockers The Lemonheads, is a band with ever- changing line-ups.To date, there have been 18 members other than Dando over 23 years. Theyre now a trio Dando, Vess Ruhtenberg and Devon Ashley.
The Lemonheads havent exactly been prolific as a studio band with only eight albums before this one. So is Varshons a sign of inspiration or desperation? Possibly the former.Well, for starters the song choices arent what you call, universal.
Over the years, Dando has been given tracks on a mix-tape basis by friend and producer Gibby Haynes. Hes regularly been supplying the Lemonhead captain with compilations just for fun. Now its turned serious.The original writers come from a broad church, some of which Dando had wanted to do anyway Leonard Cohen (not Hallelujah again, thankfully) but one of his other classics and beautifully translated by the way in hushed tones though not too far removed from the original – Hey, Thats No Way To Say Goodbye, accompanied by actress Liv Tyler, and folk icon Townes Van Zandts jaunty acoustic blast Waiting Around To Die.
We also get country-rocker Gram Parsonss deliciously melodic I Just Cant Take It Anymore, a song the band has played live back in 2007. This is one of the CDs big highlights and Parsons would definitely approve of this.
Like all good mix-tapes, variety is key to success, so Dirty Robot by Dutch electronica duo Arling and Cameron is given respectful treatment showing Dandos fearless imagination by giving a masterful rock guitar solo that hangs over the dirty dance groove.A personal favourite is Dandelion Seeds by July. Dando grapples brilliantly with this edgy but sublime psych-rocker using masses of fuzzed wah wah to great effect, showing that hes more at home with this genre than the others, as good as they are.
Green Fuz by Randy Alvey & Green Fuz is another psych-rock gem, echoing The Doors apocalyptic gloom of the late 60s.More psych pops-up, but its of the folk type this time around the divine hippified Yesterlove written in 69 and recorded by British psychedelic rockers Sam Gopal.
The most peculiar choice of all (it is a remix mentality remember) is Linda Perrys brilliant pop ballad Beautiful, a number one hit for Christina Aguilera, which to be fair The Lemonheads, or rather Dando, has made all his own with shades of Led Zeps Thank You ghosting in places.
The verdict Top album.
Weblinks:thelemonheads.net /myspace.com/thelemonheads /evandando.co.uk /cookingvinyl.com
The full list of tracks included are :
1. I Just Cant Take It Anymore
2. Fragile
3. Layin Up With Linda
4. Waiting Around To Die
5. Green Fuz
6. Yesterlove
7. Dirty Robot
8. Dandelion Seeds
9. Mexico
10. Hey, Thats No Way To Say Goodbye
11. Beautiful View the discussion thread.blog comments powered by Disqus= 0) {query += ‘url’ + i + ‘=’ + encodeURIComponent(links[i].href) + ‘&’;}}document.write(”);})();//]]]]>]]>
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.