The Lemonheads - Varshons

Round two of The Lemonheads comeback is here in the shape of the covers album Varshons, although only the biggest Dando fans will forgive the dreadful sophomore stoner humour of the title. That aside, this is an enjoyable follow-up to 2006's surprisingly excellent self-titled album.

The germ of Varshons was a mix tape put together for Dando by his friend Gibby Haynes of The Butthole Surfers. The wheeze took life when Dando decided to record the tape with Haynes behind the console and a few guest celebrities drafted in to help out.

Varshons plays like a mix tape, unpredictable and full of delightful little surprises, which only adds to the laidback charm of the whole project. So for all the countryish pop that you expect from Dando the album also deviates into somewhat less familiar electro-pop territory.

Dando and Haynes are savvy enough to start the album with a Gram Parsons cover, I Just Can't Take It Anymore, which gets proceedings off to a solid start. There is a sneaking suspicion that this is the sort of track Dando could toss off in his sleep, and his reading offers little to challenge the admittedly magnificent original.

Then we veer into less familiar territory with a largely acoustic reading of Wire's Fragile that strips the song of some of its post-punk energy but lets the lyrics shine through. Gilbert, Lewis, Newman and Gotobed would surely approve.

The next two songs offer a glimpse into Gibby Haynes's mindset. G.G. Allin was a hateful figure but his self-destructive lifestyle occasionally produced some great songs, and Dando invests Layin' Up With Linda with the kind of twisted dignity it deserves.

Townes Van Zandt was another of American music's great outsiders, who had more in common with Allin than perhaps we ever realised. Waiting Around To Die is his signature song and it is to Dando's credit that he pulls out the stops here, delivering a fine vocal against a backdrop of fiddle and pounding bass drum.

From here on in the album moves into true eclectic mix tape territory. The 60s garage rock obscurities The Green Fuz, Yesterlove and Dandelion Seeds are perfectly suited to Dando's stoned vocal delivery and Haynes's less is more production style, and provide the perfect antidote to the countryish leanings of the opening tracks.

Unfortunately, every mix tape has its moments when the originator's musical passions fall out of step with what the intended recipient actually wants to listen to. True to form, here we are treated to a vocoderized Dando and a bored-sounding Kate Moss sleepwalking through a cover of Arling & Cameron's Dirty Robot.

Things kick back into life with a terrific cover of New Mexico by the cooler-than-cool FuckEmos, and a stately reading of Leonard Cohen's Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye that features breathy backing vocals from Liv Tyler (Cohen would surely approve).

And finally, to round off this highly enjoyable album, Dando and Haynes have a stab at the Linda Perry/Christina Aguilera MTV staple Beautiful. A song to strike fear into the heart of the committed indie fan, admittedly, but Dando manages to find a germ of humanity in the lyrics that the hysterical Aguilera overlooked.

Dando has promised a new Lemonheads album next year. Varshons is an admirable stopgap that proves that there is life in the old dog yet.

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