Friday, September 22, 2006

I Wanna Be Sedated

The Ramones


This post is for Richard, a great, old friend of mine who was recently posted to Timor for six months. Look after yourself mate!! We have been jamming together for the last year or two and had just started to play this great Ramones track together. So I thought it would be an appropriate track to post.

Also, every year the very friendly and helpful Tim from Tym Guitars organises Ramone-a-thon to, in his words, "say thanks to the greatest band who will EVER walk this earth". This year it will take place over the weekend of November 10th and 11th here (as always) in my hometown of Brisbane, Australia. All profits from Ramone-a-thon go to charity and more information can be found here. Tim's band Roshambo also play every year.

Tim hand builds and sells (in very small quantities) some very groovy Mosrite-influenced guitars and basses, and also has some cool second hand guitars for sale (including a 1973 Gretsch Roc Jet from my own collection), so if you're looking for something different, check out Tym Guitars.

And just in case you need more reason's to check out Tym's guitars, he has done work and sold instruments to bands such as J Mascis, The Hellacopters, Trail of Dead, as well as local legends Brad Shepherd (of Fun Things, Hoodoo Gurus and The Monarchs amongst many others), Magic Dirt, Grinspoon, Screamfeeder and The Spazzys.

I have posted some videos of cover versions of I Wanna Be Sedated, all courtesy of You Tube.

The Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated video via You Tube

The Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated (live) video via You Tube

Tequila Baby & Marky Ramone - I Wanna Be Sedated (Ramones cover) video via You Tube

Magaivers - I Wanna Be Sedated (Ramones cover) video via You Tube

The Joeys - I Wanna Be Sedated (Ramones cover) video via You Tube

The Strokes with Velvet Revolver - I Wanna Be Sedated - outro (Ramones cover) video via You Tube

Sugarcult - I Wanna Be Sedated (Ramones cover) video via You Tube

The Wind-Up Merchants - I Wanna Be Sedated (Ramones cover) video via You Tube

Inconclusos - I Wanna Be Sedated (Ramones cover) video via You Tube

AMR - I Wanna Be Sedated (Ramones cover) video via You Tube

1234 - I Wanna Be Sedated (Ramones cover) video via You Tube

Grand Fools Derby - I Wanna Be Sedated (Ramones cover) video via You Tube

Moral Corruption - I Wanna Be Sedated (Ramones cover) video via You Tube

Friday, September 01, 2006

Smudge V's The Lemonheads
(A cover version fourplay)

Some Smudge and a Lemonhead


Evan Dando is a thieving bastard! =;^)

Not happy with using his band The Lemonheads to raid the back catalog of artists including Kiss, Gram Parsons, Suzanne Vega, The Stone Ponies, Patsy Cline and Charles Manson – plus many more - even before the breakthrough album “It’s A Shame About Ray” was recorded. And not only did Evan have this album co-written with the great assistance of Tom Morgan .... he even went on to steal many of Tom's classic pop tracks! With the end result that many people think that these are Dando/Lemonhead tracks!! The indignity!!!

And let's not forget The Lemonheads radio friendly version of Simon and Garfunkel's Mrs Robinson which brought the band to the world stage and helped to totally twist poor Evan’s mind.


Smudge are an Australian "slacker pop" trio who were made known to the world stage in the early 1990’s primarily due to the recognition of singer-songwriter Tom Morgan's co-authorship of tracks on The Lemonheads breakthrough 1992 album “It's A Shame About Ray”.

Smudge have been an on-again, off-again concern since the early 1990’s (in many ways they have a not too different history to that of The Lemonheads – although they have had many fewer line-up changes), with a number of periods of hibernation since their formation.

Built around the constant of Tom Morgan (who also played in Sneeze with Half A Cow label owner and one-time Lemonhead Nic Dalton) and Alison Galloway (also of “Alison’s Starting To Happen” fame). Smudge formed in 1991 and quickly became known for the melodic, mini-pop masterpieces of Tom Morgan and their low-fi approach to recording, releasing three albums (plus a collection of B sides and unreleased covers), a mini-album, a handful of singles, and appearing on several compilation albums.

The band split/took a hiatus in 1999, reformed for a quick tour in 2002 and then again got back together to play gigs in support of the recent re-release of their Manilow, album (with a bonus CD of demo and live tracks).


I have loved The Lemonheads, and especially the pop sensibilities of Evan Dando, since first being introduced to them – via their Creator and Lick albums - by my good buddy Dirk back in the late 1980’s. During this period, lead vocal and songwriting duties were shared by fellow forming-member Ben Deily and Evan Dando, although even then I preferred Dando’s songs.

Since that time I’ve caught The Lemonheads several times in Australia and the U.K., and have seen Evan Dando play a few solo shows. Even during his infamous drug-f*cked days he managed to put on a good show, at least in my experiences. The Lemonheads were also part of our wedding, with My Drug Buddy being our “bridal waltz” song.

Now after 10 years, and a multitude of band member changes, Evan Dando has recreated The Lemonheads with yet another new lineup and has just recorded a new album. Co-starring Descendents drummer Bill Stevenson and bassist Karl Alvarez and with extra special guests including Dinosaur Jr singer/guitarist J Mascis and The Band organist Garth Hudson.

Consistent collaborator Tom Morgan (Smudge) has also added two tracks to this new album, including the first single and the track provided here.

The Guardian has an interesting interview with Evan here.

The Lemonheads new self-titled album will be released on September 26th. Woo Hoo!! Four tracks from the album are being streamed here.