Liv Tyler, Kate Moss Guest On Lemonheads' Covers LP For Metal Label
The Lemonheads' two biggest hits were versions of other people's songs, so news about the band's forthcoming covers collection is not too surprising. What is surprising is that Evan Dando & Co. have signed with Brooklyn's The End Records, an indie metal label, after only one album on Vagrant. The new comp's called VARSHONS and was produced by Butthole Surfer Gibby Haynes. Also surprising: it includes Liv Tyler singing backup on a Leonard Cohen song.
From the band's site:
It makes sense that the new album from The Lemonheads sounds like a mix tape slipped to you by a music-obsessed friend anxious to turn you on to something new. In fact, the idea for the band's new covers record was inspired by Gibby Haynes, ringmaster of the Butthole Surfers, who for years has made mixes for his longtime friend Evan Dando. "Making a good mix is an art, and Gibby has it down," says Dando. "I thought it would be fun to share these songs with other people like he shared them with me. So I picked the 'greatest hits' from his mixes and covered them, along with a few other songs I always wanted to play."
Here's the tracklist:
01 "I Just Can't Take It Anymore" (Gram Parsons)
02 "Fragile" (Wire)
03 "Layin' Up With Linda" (G.G. Allin)
04 "Waiting Around To Die" (Townes Van Zandt)
05 "Green Fuz" (Randy Alvey & Green Fuz)
06 "Yesterlove" (Sam Gopal)
07 "Dirty Robot" v/ Kate Moss (Arling & Cameron)
08 "Dandelion Seeds" (July)
09 "Mexico" (Fuckemos)
10 "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye" f/ Liv Tyler (Leonard Cohen)
11 "Beautiful" (Linda Perry)
Yep, Kate Moss is on it too.
VARSHONS is out 6/23 on The End, and that's the album cover at the top of this post.
Posted at 11:26 AM by Scott in Album Art
Tags: Evan Dando | Gibby Haynes | Kate Moss | Leonard Cohen | Liv Tyler | The Butthole Surfers | The Lemonheads
The band's highest-charting singles were "Into Your Arms" and "It's a Shame About Ray". Both originals. "Mrs. Robinson" was third, and "Luka" didn't chart.
Also, I thought Primal Scream proved that Kate Moss shouldn't be allowed near a microphone.
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Whaa? I love the Primal Scream/Kate Moss cover of "Some Velvet Morning." It is probably my favorite version of that song!
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I like it too, but that doesn't mean Kate Moss can sing.
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"Into your arm" is a cover. Looking forward to this album.
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It's not a cover by my definiton. It was just written by someone else. It was written by a member of the Hummingbirds, but it was the Lemonheads who recorded it. (Bonus info: bassist Nic Dalton played in both bands. Thanks, Wikipedia!)
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Robyn St. Clair wrote it and recorded it for her other band Love Positions in 1990. It is indeed a cover. Lemonheads have a few other songs (Outdoor Type, No Backbone, Down About It) written and originally recorded by another Australian indie rocker, Tom Morgan from the band Smudge.
Besides that they have a few other covers. Suzanne Vega's "Luka" on LICK, Gram Parson's "Brass Buttons" on LUCKY, and an EP of covers by NKOTB, Misfits and Michael Nesmith called Favorite Spanish Dishes. There's also some random b-side covers like one of Metallica's "Fade to Black." Dando's got some other solo covers as well.
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arms
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Fragile is a great choice here – proto-outdoor miner and seems pretty much in Dando's sweet spot
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No doubt Dando loves covers...always has- he covered Charles Manson and Kiss on 1988's 'Creator'...but I think if that is all you think about when considering the guy is selling him short. First of all, there is his musical sensibility which makes his covers arguably improvements over the originals. Additionally, his co-written or originals are amazing too. 'It's a Shame About Ray' -besides "Frank Mills"- is practically a prefect pop record with the credit going to Dando...Also,"Brass Buttons" is on 'Lovey' not 'Lucky'. There is no 'Heads record called 'Lucky'.
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