January 28 - Raspberry Beret

In rarities week, I continue with strange groupings. This time we can take a lot of alcohol, one of the biggest American alternative rock bands of the 80s and 90s, one of the most iconoclastic American singer-songwriters, and the music of pop-rock-funk royalty. Put all of that in a blender, and out come Hindu Love Gods.

This is another acquaintance I can thank Sigbjørn Nedland and Pandoras Jukeboks for, as I believe he played this song on the show, and it stuck in the back of my mind for a long, long time. Legend has it (and I am not fact checking this) that members of R.E.M. met up with Warren Zevon for a night or two of drunken musical studio shenanigans - and the result was Hindu Love Gods, a record filled with blues and rock standards - and Prince's song Raspberry Beret. Warren Zevon sings using R.E.M. as his backing band - how cool is that? The answer is that it is as cool as the pairing of Neil Young and Pearl Jam should have been.

Supposedly, both Warren Zevon and R.E.M. disowned this album, yet it is out there, in all its glory - and my personal highlight is Raspberry Beret.