50 Years, 50 Albums (1990): Hindu Love Gods

50 Years, 50 Albums

I will turn 50 in November of this year, so my project for 2023 will be to listen to and review one album from each year of my life, 1973 to 2022.  The only qualification is that it has to be an album I’ve not reviewed previously. 

1990

Top Grossing Albums of 1990:

1. Step By Step – New Kids on the Block
2. No Fences – Garth Brooks
3. Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em – MC Hammer
4. Mariah Carey – Mariah Carey
5. I’m Your Baby Tonight – Whitney Houston

Grammy Award for Album of the Year of 1990:

• Back on the Block – Quincy Jones & Various Artists
• …But Seriously – Phill Collins
• Mariah Carey – Mariah Carey
• Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em – MC Hammer
• Wilson Phillips – Wilson Phillips

Other Albums I’ve Reviewed from 1990:

• Glíng-Gló  – Björk Guðmundsdóttir & Tríó Guðmundar Ingólfssonar
• Heaven or Las Vegas – Cocteau Twins
• Violator – Depeche Mode
• 13 Songs – Fugazi
• AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted – Ice Cube
• Mama Said Knock You Out – L.L. Cool J
• I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got – Sinead O’Connor
• Graffiti Bridge – Prince
• Fear of a Black Planet – Public Enemy
• All Shook Down – The Replacements
• The Rhythm of the Saints – Paul Simon
• Goo – Sonic Youth
• Flood – They Might Be Giants

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Album: Hindu Love Gods
Artist: Hindu Love Gods
Release Date: October 5, 1990
Label: Giant/Reprise/Warner Bros. Records
Favorite Tracks:

• Walkin’ Blues
• Raspberry Beret
• Junko Pardner
• Mannish Boy
• Battleship Chains
• Vigilante Man

Thoughts:

Dug back to my college years to excavate an album that was on heavy rotation for me back in the day, but not one I’ve listened to in a long time.  Hindu Love Gods was a side project of R.E.M. members Bill Berry, Peter Buck and Mike Mills with Michael Stipe replaced on vocals by veteran rocker Warren Zevon.  Their only album resulted from a drunken, late-night jam session in the studio that was never intended for release but I’m glad they did. The majority of the album features interpretations of classic Blues tracks by the likes Robert Johnson, Willie Dixon, and Muddy Waters.  It also includes some more contemporary tracks including a famous cover of Prince’s “Raspberry Beret” and (my personal favorite) The Georgia Satellites’s “Battleship Chains.” Hindu Love Gods have definitely earned their spot as one the great one-album bands of all time.

Rating: ****