By Stan Cierlitsky
This Friday, November 13, Lambchop will be releasing TRIP, a new covers album on Merge. This is exciting for a couple of reasons. First, Lambchop is great at picking covers (see their rendition of Prince's "When You Were Mine" and East River Pipe's "Hey, Where's Your Girl?"). Second, the selection reflects the wishes of every member of the band since each picked one of these covers.
Now, since I got to hear the album early, I can tell you each one of the songs are perfectly Lamchopped. For those of you who, like me, have really enjoyed some of Kurt Wagner's more experimental and electronic diversions in the last few years, you won't find much of that here. On this record, Lambchop have gone back to a more traditional alt-country sound, and it's a sound that most of the band's long-time fans will find familiar.
Full disclosure time: Of the six songs on TRIP, I must admit that I didn't know all of the originals. I might lose some music snob points by saying that, but it's worth saying that up-front, even if my wife Linda threatens to leave me like Melania's likely to do Trump soon. [Editor: I've know Stan for 33 years. If I had had any inkling that he didn't know the Stevie Wonder and Supremes songs covered here, I would have gladly made him a tape back in our mutual record store days. He still gets to be a music snob, at least when it comes to anything cool and British of the last few decades.]
TRIP starts with a cover of Wilco's "Reservations". Now, this is the one original I already knew. It's a decent song, but a big part of it here sees the song virtually de-constructed. Mind you, the original was over seven minutes, which was tolerable, but Lambchop's version is over 13 minutes. And in all honesty, it felt too long to this fan. Though the cool thing about this version is that it's really perfect until just after the three minute-mark. This version would lend itself to an awesome edit, in my opinion. Kurt, are you listening?
The second song on the album just might be my favorite. It's "Where Grass Won't Grow". I believe it was written by Earl Montgomery, but made famous by George Jones. Everything about this is just perfect: lyrics, music, and mood. The next couple of songs follow the same course and are just as good. "Shirley" is a cover of a song by Mirrors [Ed.: Mirrors were a famed Cleveland psychedelic band featuring Michael Weldon, later of Psychotronic magazine fame.], and "Golden Lady" is a cover of a song by Stevie Wonder from Innversions. Both are well done and follow the originals fairly well. Having now heard the originals, I can say that I like those too, and am glad that Lambchop pointed me towards them. The Supremes cover "Love is Here and Now You're Gone" is another fairly straightforward cover, and it's a given that Lambchop obviously sounds nothing like The Supremes. This one even has a bit of a Go-Kart Mozart vibe to me. [Ed.: The original is the webmaster's absolute favorite Supremes number.]
The last song on TRIP is also a contender for my favorite track on the album. It's called "Weather Blues" and it's a cover of an unreleased song by James McNew of Yo La Tengo. What makes this song special for me is the fact that the only time I ever got to see Lambchop live was when they were opening up for Yo La Tengo. That was an awesome night, and this is an awesome, slow alt-country ballad. I'd love to hear the original for comparison, but I guess that's not going to happen.
So overall, if you already are familiar with the originals, and with Lambchop, there won't be many surprises. Apart from the risks taken on "Reservations", the other numbers here reveal Wagner's continuing skill in interpreting and arranging good compositions. Really good covers of really good songs. What more could a fan ask for?
TRIP is out on Friday via Merge Records.
More details on Lambchop via the band's official Facebook page.
[Photo: Merge Records]