Review: The Dandy Warhols’ ‘Pin Ups’

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Mar 242026
 

You sort of know where you are with Portland’s Dandy Warhols. Their grungy fug of elemental electronica and gritty guitars rarely disappoints, nor does it stray far from their narrowly defined template. Applying a sheen of intelligent and informed dumb to everything they touch, cover versions have always proven sure ground for the quartet, making Pin Ups, their second set devoted thereto, something to relish. Given, too, the influences in their original songs are never that hard to spot, they nail more personality into the songs of others than you might reasonably expect, making this so much more than swoozy re-runs.

It is easy to imagine the discussions leading to this set of 17 songs were as much fun as the making of it. Some songs and some bands were just screaming out for inclusion–witness the Cramps and the Runaways–but I can’t say Dylan and the Beatles were expected to be featured, let alone the particular songs chosen. Of course, this isn’t the first airing for all of these songs, some collated and curated from previous forays into tribute discs and similar. Overall, there is also a stronger UK goth presence than might have been expected, with a song from the Cure and two by the Cult. Any obtusely perceived debt to UK punk is likewise mined through assaults on the songbooks of both the Clash and the Damned. Intrigued? I am.
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Review: The John Martyn Project Volume 2

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Feb 062026
 

John Martyn Project Vol 2The John Martyn Project’s first album was one of our Albums of the Year in 2025. The six expert musicians who comprise the occasional collective captured the energy and innovation of their long-standing live show and put it on disc, providing an exquisite rendition of songs that sound great with a rapt audience in front of them.

For The John Martyn Project Volume 2, the band has expanded their vista and ambition, taking the listener on a journey through a wider range of Martyn’s capabilities, but, much more challengingly, they attempt to capture the moods of a man well-known for his extremes of emotion. It is an amazing journey.
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Review: The Damned’s ‘Not Like Everybody Else’

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Jan 282026
 

Not Like Everybody ElseThat the Damned should still be around, still plugging the same level of 2-D technicolor bombast, should be no surprise. Cartoon characters don’t age, so why should the Archies of Punk? But these are grown men, all approaching 70 from one direction or another, and nobody lives forever. Which is sort of the point and the purpose of Not Like Everybody Else.

This is a true tribute album, a celebration both of the band’s influences and of their bandmate Brian James, who died last March. James was the catalyst who pulled this motley crew of reprobates together, back in the dim and distant 1970s, writing the vast bulk of songs on their first two albums, cementing their name and reputation as trailblazers in the emergent punk scene. With chaotic and rabid live performances their calling card, this first iteration of the band burned at both ends, lasting barely a couple of years.

In the fifty years since, there have been innumerable variations and versions of the band, stumbling from lineup to lineup, label to label, yet always guaranteed to kick up a skirmish live, with a slow and steady trickle of singles to keep them in the public eye. With, as always, Dave Vanian at the helm, on vocals and Dracula impersonations, there have been upward of 20 members, yet it is that earliest line up that is inked in most indelibly: Vanian, James, Rat Scabies on drums, and Captain Sensible on bass and then guitar. So much so that, in 2024, that lineup convened for a sellout tour. With James already ill, that was as much as anything a means to give him a financial leg up, but it was nonetheless triumphant.

Now, with his death, the band celebrate his life with this set of covers, the sort of songs that inspired them back in the day, and probably still do. Possibly a surprising selection, but then, they were never really hardwired for punk, with always a love of psychedelic garage rock coursing through their veins, and a good touch of goth for good measure. The omnipresent Vanian leads from the front, with Captain Sensible on guitar. Having patched up their differences on the re-union tour, Rat Scabies has stayed on behind the  drum kit. Paul Gray, on and off bassist since 1980, makes up the quartet, abetted by Monty Oxymoron, a permanent fixture since 1986, if curiously always absent from publicity shots, on keyboards.
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Review: ‘Keep Me In Your Heart: The Songs of Warren Zevon’

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Jan 262026
 

Were he still alive, Warren Zevon would be on a roll, scarcely able to believe the belated acclaim coming his way. Of course, plaudits came his way in life, but Zevon was the epitome of a cult artist, beloved more by critics and other musicians than necessarily a buying public. It’s fair to say his songs tended more to niche listeners, with a taste for the left field. That sure describes a lot of us here at Cover Me, and we have endeavored to keep his flame alight, in our own small way.

“Mr. Zevon had a pulp-fiction imagination,” said the New York Times, and they weren’t wrong. If his most celebrated song was about werewolves, that was not unique, as other songs were to celebrate, if that is the right word, child serial killers and headless mercenaries. With a penchant for the dark side, Zevon was unafraid to tackle the most unusual of inspirations, while at the same time being able to pen some of the tenderest and gentlest of love songs. Truly a paradox.

Now here is Keep Me In Your Heart, a double album containing a wide selection of his songs, covered by a large cast of peers and acolytes. Curated by Long Island record label Paradiddle Records, this set is populated more by jobbing musicians on that local circuit, rather than the bigger names that gathered for a tribute concert in L.A. last fall, or indeed, the ones on his earlier tribute album, 2004’s Enjoy Every Sandwich. As such there is allowed a greater scrutiny of the song and the performance, over any recognition of already established voices and styles. Having said, there are a few higher profiles present also, a memento of how well appreciated was Zevon as a writer, by his colleagues and contemporaries.
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Reviews: Song Sung Blue Soundtrack

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Jan 192026
 

Song Sung BlueA few years ago, when I was staying at the von Trapp family’s hotel in Northern Vermont, I attended a presentation about their family history. In the talk, they discussed the differences between The Sound of Music and their actual story.

They said the plotline about Captain von Trapp refusing to let the children play outside was particularly laughable. As a military man, they noted, he encouraged all sorts of outdoor activity.

I thought of this recently when reading about the film Song Sung Blue. The movie tells the story of husband and wife duo Mike and Claire Sardina, whose Neil Diamond tribute band, Lightning and Thunder, rose to local fame in the Milwaukee area.

Mike Sardina’s son from another marriage, Mike Jr., has criticized and denounced the film for its factual inaccuracies saying: “Everybody thinks it’s such a wonderful film, it’s so touching. It’s all lies.”

Claire, aka Thunder, has taken a different view, saying in one interview that “They captured it wonderfully. The chronological order wasn’t exactly on target completely. But, you know, the story is ‘based on a true story’ as they say and it’s more Hollywood in parts.” She has even performed live with the film’s stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson.

Anytime a “true story” is transferred to film, certain elements of the story are bound to be lost, perhaps even more so in musicals. Real life is often far messier. One truth that I thought the film captured perfectly was the joy of seeing a great band play at a less than pristine venue. There’s that moment when the music takes you out of that time and place, if only for a brief second, before life comes crashing back in.
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Review: The Sam Chase’s ‘Covered’

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Dec 092025
 

I am not sure how much traction (The) Sam Chase elicits in his home state of California, but over here in Blighty, courtesy a magnificent little festival called Maverick, he is always guaranteed a welcome. He, and his band, The Untraditional, cut quite the rug with his hoarse holler, belting out songs of a country hue, a punk attitude and a sometimes chamber-folk setting. This all makes for a beguiling combination, a rich mix of sandpaper and silk. Over the years he has worked solo, as a trio and now with his a 7 piece band behind him. That’s a lot, but, with cello, violin and trumpet, augmenting the more familiar guitar, keys, bass and drums, flickering remembrances of Van Morrison’s Caledonia Soul Orchestra wouldn’t be that far off point. And, yes, all seem present for Covered:, endeavoring to both compete with and comfort his foghorn fusillade.

To be fair, Chase’s voice gets dialed down a tad across most the selections here, culled from a bevy of the usual suspects: a Dylan, a Prine, a couple of Waits, balanced with CCR, Nirvana and one from the pirate cabaret of The Crux. The overall effect is strangely chameleonic, as he affects to occupy the persona of each individual singer, in character if not always sound. The difference comes largely from the arrangements, which tend toward the dusty roadhouse of amplified acoustica with drums. This renders a fluency to the flow of Covered:, a congruency that makes for a set that is all his own, however familiar the songs may or may not be.
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