This review post is done in collaboration with the excellent Mike Hiltz over at Central Target. We both gave a listen to the new Lemonheads cover album Varshons, and are posting our first impressions. This is in preparation for our marathon listening and hype-busting extravaganza coming soon.
First things first, I like the Lemonheads. I really like the Lemonheads. I'm not as fanatical as Mr. Hiltz will likely tell you he is, but I expect that when I hear a Lemonheads record, I am going to enjoy it. That was certainly the case with Varshons. Despite the negative reviews I read from other outlets, I expected to enjoy this record quite a bit. I chalked it up to the other reviewers just not being fans of Evan Dando's style. While one can question whether a top-notch songwriter with a history of chart success with mostly covers should be playing into that by releasing an entire covers album, but that's beside the point. Good songs are good songs, and good songs played by Dando logically should make for a fun record.
Except that it doesn't. At all. This is a boring album. There is really not much more that needs to be said, and really, not much more that can be said. The song choices are fine, if fairly unexceptional. With the exception of "Dirty Robot" and "Dandelion Seeds", they are all played as acoustic country ballads. For some of them, this results in a minor change (the Parsons and Van Zandt tracks, for example); for others, it's a complete reinvention (Wire and G.G. Allin). The band plays competently, if unexceptionally. The production is restrained and tasteful. Liv Tyler and Kate Moss turn in perfectly acceptable vocal performances. Neither are going to be accused of being singers anytime soon, but I've heard much worse from starlets-slumming-as-singers (see, e.g., Ms. Johannson), though Moss is saddled with the most bizarre track on the album, the ill-advised synth-disco of "Dirty Robot" (which I will admit is more fun than it should be, maybe simply because it breaks the otherwise overwhelming monotony of the album). The problem is that nothing rises above the competent or the professional. Everything is so smooth that there is nothing to get excited about.
Dando is the worst offender on this point, contributing some incredibly sleepy and uninspired vocal performances. If Dando cannot bring himself to get excited about singing these songs, how can he expect listeners to do so? Dando is a fine singer, and could have brought these songs to life (listen to "Into Your Arms" again to see how well he can invigorate a song). He doesn't do that here, and he kills whatever interest his band creates by just not seeming to give a damn.
Covers are tricky beasts. Ultimately, the success of a cover is whether a listener would prefer to listen to the cover version over the original in any respect. This can be done by either re-imagining the song, making it different enough that it exists as a different creature altogether, or by just killing a straight interpretation of the song such that your version is simply better. I simply can't say that I will listen to any of Varshons songs over their original counterparts (maybe the G.G. Allin song, because I hate G.G., but that's a different story altogether), and for that reason, as much as it pains me, I cannot recommend this record.
I still do like the Lemonheads.
Rating: D+
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You're right, of course. My fandom prevents me from giving this lower than some form of B, though. I find myself wondering though, with say, 3 more albums or 10 years, will anyone look back on this with the same level of "oh I wish this were a better, non-covers, album? Or with the passage of time and a larger discography, will this seem merely trifling, and less of an egregious gaffe (e.g. Bowie's "Pin-Ups")? Just food for thought.
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