| This Week's Highlights |
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analysis w/e 14.5.11 |
DVDs out 9.5.11 |
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@ DVDfever Youtube |
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May 11 2011 
DVDfever co uk
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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. They’re now a trio – Dando, Vess Ruhtenberg and Devon Ashley. The Lemonheads haven’t 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 aren’t what you call, universal. Over the years, Dando has been given tracks on a mix-tape basis by friend and producer Gibby Haynes. He’s regularly been supplying the Lemonhead captain with compilations just for fun. Now it’s 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, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye, accompanied by actress Liv Tyler, and folk icon Townes Van Zandt’s jaunty acoustic blast Waiting Around To Die. We also get country-rocker Gram Parsons’s deliciously melodic I Just Can’t Take It Anymore, a song the band has played live back in 2007. This is one of the CD’s 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 Dando’s 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 he’s 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 it’s 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 Perry’s 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 Zep’s 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 :
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B 37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier. PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
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Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.
