Band To Watch: John Lennon & Friends

With fan death threats against Lindsay Lohan, impersonators performing at TomKat's wedding, and the cover of Rolling Stone #1000, the Beatles are back in buzzness.

Mike Skinner's sad dad eulogy "Never Went To Church" borrows a lot from "Let It Be"...

The Streets - "Never Went To Church" (MP3 Link Expired)

...but let's focus on Mr. Lennon.

A) We have Leto-as-Chapman to look forward to.

B) During last week's TV seance Johnny spoke to Pay-Per-View from the netherworld! "Peace, the message is peace," he said. Duh! Which digital download service are you gonna partner with dude?

C) Tuesday night we took in Cold War Kids at Pianos (again) and ... they were better! We spoke with Nathan before the show and while CWK's aware of the blog buzz, Nate was poised and confident on stage. An altered setlist made a huge difference. Especially their take on this Plastic classic, driven by Matt's exaggerated bass thump:

John Lennon - "Well Well Well" (MP3 Link Expired)

D) Finally, we cannot wait for the Walkmen's song-for-song take on Harry Nilsson’s Lennon-produced mid-'70s release Pussy Cats. The tribute was the last album produced at Marcata Studios (a house three Walkmen built in '99) before it shut down last month.

Via AMG:

The relationship between Harry Nilsson and John Lennon is legendary. They were notorious booze ounds and carousers, getting kicked out of clubs for misbehavior and enerally terrorizing L.A. during Lennon's "lost weekend" of 1974. They wanted to make an album together — hell, anyone working at such a peak would — and the result was Pussy Cats, a Nilsson album produced by Lennon. Almost immediately, Nilsson got sick, resulting in a ruptured vocal cord. Not wanting Lennon to stop the sessions, Nilsson never told his friend, stubbornly working his way through the sessions until he lost his voice entirely. These are the sessions that make up Pussy Cats, an utterly bewildering record that's more baffling than entertaining.

Why cover Schmilsson's most notorious album? The Walkmen explain the selection to Pitchfork:

HAMILTON LEITHAUSER: "I think Paul maybe came up with that idea and it just sounded fun. Since our studio is closing, it just seemed like a last fun thing to do. We did it sort of quickly, but it turned out great. I mean, we're not going to make any money off of it. ... It really is a band favorite. It's our common ground. Everybody likes it a lot."

And according to the article "Mucho Mungo" was Walkman Walter Martin's wedding song. One imagines Nilsson & Lennon's mariachi swing informed the indie rockers' "Louisiana."

Harry Nilsson & John Lennon - "Mucho Mungo/Mt. Elga" (MP3 Link Expired)

When we get our hands on The Walkmen's cover, we'll be sure to share. Or, if you Oink it first, send our way. Don't worry, it's totally cool with Flea.

Posted at 2:02 PM in MP3
Tags: Cold War Kids | The Beatles | The Walkmen

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