Hindu Love Gods - Hindu Love Gods - 1990

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Hindu Love Gods - Hindu Love Gods - 1990

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Biography & Discography: - Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide - Hindu Love Gods formed in Athens, GA in 1984, a virtual cult-hero supergroup originally comprising guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and drummer Bill Berry (all three of then-underground icons R.E.M.), pianist Warren Zevon (the famously sardonic singer/composer best known for the classic "Werewolves of London"), and vocalist Bryan Cook (a veteran of local favorites Time Toy and Oh-OK). Their first single, "Narrator," arrived on the IRS label in mid-1985, getting lost in the hubbub surrounding the concurrent release of R.E.M.'s third LP Fables of the Reconstruction. A year later, Buck, Mills, and Berry rejoined Zevon to collaborate on his Sentimental Hygiene solo effort; minus Cook, the foursome recorded a full-length Hindu Love Gods LP over the course of a single drunken after-hours studio session (Bill Berry: "It took us about as long to do as it takes to listen to"), with Zevon assuming vocal duties for a series of loose-knit electric blues covers capped off by a reading of Prince's "Raspberry Beret." The session remained an underground legend until it was finally issued on the Giant label in 1990; no other Hindu Love Gods recordings were forthcoming.

- Wikipedia - Hindu Love Gods was a short-lived American blues project basically consisting of three quarters of R.E.M. (without singer Michael Stipe) and Warren Zevon. Singer Bryan Cook was also involved[citation needed].
Formed in Athens, Georgia in 1984, the original line-up included Peter Buck (guitar), Mike Mills (bass), Bill Berry (drums – then still with R.E.M.), plus Warren Zevon on vocals and piano. This line-up released one single, "Narrator", without much success.
Buck, Mills and Berry joined Zevon on his album Sentimental Hygiene (1987). During an all-night (and supposedly drunken) session using remaining studio time after the completion of Zevon's album[citation needed], the four recorded ten cover songs, mostly blues standards. Although originally not intended for publication, these recordings were finally released by Giant Records on the album Hindu Love Gods (1990). The song that received the most attention was a rock version of Prince's 1985 hit "Raspberry Beret", which reached #23 on the Modern Rock charts. During a concert at The Shadow in Kansas City in December 1990, Zevon commented that the album was "selling by the shitload," whereupon one of his backing band informed him that it was "selling like shit."

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Hindu Love Gods - Hindu Love Gods - 1990

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Discography

* "Gonna Have a Good Time Tonight"/"Narrator"
* Hindu Love Gods (1990), Giant/Reprise/Warner Bros.
* "Raspberry Beret"

Product Description: Hindu Love Gods sees their long out of print CD reissued by Rhino for their Encore Series. Featuring the late Warren Zevon and 3/4's of R.E.M. this disc is sure to excite any alternative music fan. Their spirited cover of Prince's Raspberry Beret garnered radio airplay, and a cover of Mannish Boy show just how versitle this group really is.

Review: All elegance and ennui, Warren Zevon seems a sort of rock & roll F. Scott Fitzgerald – holed up in Hollywood, he reports with sour wit on the foibles of hollow glitterati and the strange graces of fallen angels. Decidedly less worldly and jaded, the members of R.E.M. are folkie visionaries, alternately Southern Gothic mystics and dreamers of a new and greener landscape. On Hindu Love Gods, Zevon and R.E.M. surprisingly but happily collide – and the result is a rollicking party, loose, bluesy and irresistible.
R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe isn't along on these sessions, so neither is his cryptic, complicated sensibility. Consequently, the three other members of R.E.M. – guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry – forgo their cunning, jingle-jangle style and come on like giddy, brawling rockers. Whether attacking the Bo Diddley-ish beat of the New Orleans classic "Junko Pardner" or the cocky stomp of Muddy Waters's "Mannish Boy," Mills and Berry have seldom sounded tougher. Buck flourishes his encyclopedic command of guitar riffs and strategies; he charges through a heavy take on Prince's "Raspberry Beret," then turns acoustically faithful on Johnny Horton's "I'm a One Woman Man."
The real revelation, though, is Zevon's singing. In tunes ranging from a Georgia Satellites cover ("Battleship Chains") to Woody Guthrie's haunting "Vigilante Man," Zevon presents a gallery of voices. Particularly convincing as a blues belter, he shines on Robert Johnson's "Walkin' Blues" and "Travelin' Riverside Blues," capturing the dark poetry of the songs without any irony or distance. Hindu Love Gods, then, is hardly disposable outtakes from a session of big stars relaxing. It's real roots rocking – done by smart, delighted fans.

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Hindu Love Gods - Hindu Love Gods - 1990

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