I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: The LEMONHEADS-The Lemonheads (2006).

I was a big fan of The Lemonheads back when they were riding the wave of indie pop fame back in the 1990s. Evan Dando was a poster boy of hunkiness, and he was paired with alt-pop-queen Juliana Hatfield. (Immortalized in the Barenaked Ladies song “Jane” in the line “no Juliana next to my Evan.”) I even lived near them in beautiful Allston, MA (although I never saw them). Sarah and I even used “Into My Arms” as the entrance song at our wedding reception.

Having a favorite band disband when they are doing pretty well is always a mixed blessing; obviously you don’t want them to break up, but you also don’t want to see them descend into badness.

But even weirder is what appears to be the inevitable reunion. So many 90s bands are reuniting for better or worse: Dinosaur Jr, Meat Puppets (although they never really went away), The PIxies (with no album…yet) and even the grandfathers: The Police. I’m not big into the “reunion” thing, as it mostly seems to be just a cash in, and I have yet to get the Dinosaur Jr. record–even though I loved them back then, and I hear it’s very good (and I still may get it)–but I had to go for the Lemonheads.

And I’m really glad I did. I regret not getting the solo Evan Dando records that came out (and are now out of print) because it’s clear that he hasn’t lost a thing. The songs on this record (even though they are not all written by Dando) sound like classic Lemonheads. The main difference is that the guitars are a bit louder, having something of a grunge feel that the Lemonheads never had even during the height of grunge (even though they were punkier on their early releases). The melodies and vocals feel like the Lemonheads, but something about it says “it’s been a while and we’ve learned some new tricks”

Right from the start though, it’s like welcoming back an old friend. Dando’s voice sounds great. The supremely catchy verse/chorus structure falls right into place, and the lyrics go from funny to vulgar and back. There’s not a bad song on the collection. They’re mostly short (about 3 minutes) and range from fun rollickers like “Black Gown” and “Poughkeepsie” to darkly countryish “Baby’s Home.” There’s even a few solos by head Dinosaur Jr man J Masics (which of course makes me want to get the new Dino Jr record).

If you were worried about the quality of this reunion, don’t be. It makes for a great continuation of the Lemonheads catalog, and sounds like they only took a little time off, rather than TEN YEARS(!)

[READ: March 2008] Stepmother.

I didn’t know what to expect about this book when I when I bought it or even when I started it. It is a McSweeney’s catalog book, and given the title and the artistic cover I assumed it would be a children’s story of some sort. However, after reading the blurb on the back, I realized that it would be far more wicked and more delightful.

This is something of a mythic story. It takes many elements of fairy tales and either turns them on their heads or strips them naked and exposes them. There are three main characters in the story: Stepmother, The Reaper and The Old Soldier. Each of these is a mythic creation; however, Coover plays with our ideas of them. The Reaper is really an old man who has been to every execution in town (which is how he acquired his name). The Old Soldier is a former soldier for the king who was unceremoniously dumped by the king and now tells stories about his conquests (on and off the battle field). And the Stepmother is a kindly woman who takes in stray daughters. However, it seems that every daughter she takes in is destined to run afoul of the kingdom and eventually be executed. While she does her best to save them, using magic and trickery (and some special trinkets from the Old Soldier) the girls cannot really escape fate.

The focus of this tale concerns stepmother’s current daughter who, after being rescued from prison, is ultimately captured by the Kingdom’s three princes. Their idea is to kill off their dumb, youngest brother (whom they despise) and blame her for it. There is a fascinatingly dirty story about how this transpires (especially dirty given the fairy-tale like atmosphere), and the daughter is set to be executed.

Stepmother’s final act is an attempt to rescue her from her fate.

The story was quite short (only 90 pages) but it packed a lot into it. I admit to getting a bit lost from time to time. The story seemed to go into diversionary areas, or at least used langauge that confused the details of the story (such is the nature of fairy tale forests, I suppose). But overall I was very intrigued by the proceedings. I don’t think it could have gone on much longer, but I did enjoy it until the end.

Perhaps the best part of the book, however, were the illustrations. Beautiful wood-cut-style art depicting all manner of aspects of the story. The printings were all the more striking for the three colors. I was unfamiliar with the artist, Michael Kupperman, but I’d love to see some of his other work. The cover, also, is quite beautiful.

This was one of McSweeney’s earlier releases, when they seemed to pay a lot more attention to packaging than they do now. This is not a criticism of McSweeney’s as they do a lot of wonderful, albeit plain-looking novels lately, but those earlier books really looked great.