Lovey - Lemonheads

MINE

The opening track is really quite awful, but the rest of the album's better.  However, it sounds to me like just another one of those indie-pop bands, with that tendency to shift into whiny-sounding lead vocals.  Look, I know you're trying to sell records to disaffected teenage youth, but do you have to sound like any one of my nephews when he's asked to shift his ass off the couch and help around the house?

That said, there's no denying Evan Dando was a babe.  And still is, if Holly is to be believed.

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN

YOURZ

It's been a long time since I heard Lovey.  It's another one of those albums that was never far away from the player for a long time but in more recent years, has spent more time languishing in the back of the collection, perhaps in a some sort of sympathy for Dando's flagging career or maybe because I simply moved on.  Who knows...

I got mouthy and declared it a Forgotten Gem before I heard it again but listening back to it now, I'm going to recant that statement.  There are some cool songs on this, but it just isn't a Gem.  It's more a great snapshot and reminder of a time in my life when I was reasonably young, long-haired and mostly carefree. (Mine says: As opposed to now when you're reasonably old, hair-free and with long cares?) 

However, I will still name Half The Time as one of my favourite songs.  I don't know what it is about it, but I find it beautiful and irresistable.  And his cover of Gram Parson's Brass Buttons is both reverent and gorgeous, particularly when I saw it performed live around the same time.  If they ever make a bio of Parson's life, Evan would play the part very well, I think.

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN

For more information: http://www.thelemonheads.net/

The GiveGoods - I Want To Kill A Rich Man

YOURZ

This is one of those gems a dedicated music fan likes to find occasionally.  In fact, as far as I'm concerned, this is my first Forgotten Gem of June.

A mainly Australian indie super-group, of sorts, this features Tom Morgan, formerly of Smudge, Lemonhead man Evan Dando, Paul Dempsey of Something For Kate and Andy Calvert of Whopping Big Naughty as well as guest vocals from Juanita Stein from Waikiki.  It was recorded over two weeks, released with very little fanfare, and then the band went their separate ways.

Musically it's a bit of mixed bag comprising rock, alt-country and a little bit of punk as well.  Tying it all together is Morgan's sharp pop sensibilities, something that formerly had him pegged as 'young man most likely to succeed' before he took a lefts turn and decided fame and stardom, having witnessed what happened to Dando, wasn't for him.

In fact, musically, the Lemonheads connection is undeniable.  I've also thought of Tom Morgan, both as a singer and songwriter, to come from the same stock as Evan.  And songs like Sophisticated Porn or Local Knowledge only serve to highlight this (just in case you're wondering, this is a good thing in my books).  The prize in the middle of this album is the title track, however, with its falsetto backings and dirty chorus, is just superb.

Good luck finding I Want To Kill A Rich Man, though.  Like anything Tom has done in the past, there's very little support network behind it.  And what a shame it is too.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

Sometimes I wonder what bands actually think about when they put albums out.  So, when I started listening to this CD I knew absolutely nothing about the band and could barely remember listening to it before.  In fact, up until half way through the album my thoughts went something like this...

"Hmmm... pretty standard rock.  Radio-friendly MOR.  Why did YourZ buy it?  Oh, there's some almost-country.  Nice, but not mind-blowing.  Oh god, this engineer loves the cymbal sound as much as Jack White does.  And again in the next song.  AND AGAIN... it's like the water torture, but aural.  Tink, tink, tink, tink I'm going mad..."

But fortunately the title track kicked in just before I was about to suffer a brain embolism, and it's seriously good.  In fact, the rest of the album was terrific!  And re-listening to the first five songs I thought only the first one was in any danger of seeming boring, while the others were good, except for that damn cymbal sound.  So why open with it?  In fact, why was There's Still Some Life in the Old Girl Yet even included on the album?  Beats me.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP (but skip track one for goodness sake)

For more information go to: http://www.myspace.com/thegivegoods