Let's face it, The Lemonheads' 2006 comeback album was a disappointment. Sure, occasional tracks like 'Pittsburgh' and 'No Backbone' (written with longtime songwriting partner Tom Morgan) reminded people why Evan Dando was once a force to be reckoned with; it's just that, on the whole, the album seemed as aimless and lazy as its eponymous title, especially when compared to Dando's 2003 'solo' album Baby I'm Bored - his most coherant and rewarding set in a decade. Varshons, produced by Butthole Surfer Gibby Haynes, makes no effort to tip the balance one way or another; a collection of covers, it clocks in at just over half an hour (just like its predecessor), but doesn't seem to be tarnished by any concern over what people might want from a new Lemonheads record. It's this casual - but by no means tossed-off - air that makes Varshons possibly the strongest (though, again, hardly consistent) album to bear the Lemonheads name since the mid-nineties.One frequent source of inspiration for Evan Dando has always been Gram Parsons, so it's therefore fitting that Varshons kicks off with another Parsons track; this time, it's a rough, but instantly loveable varshon of early Parsons demo 'I Just Can't Take It Anymore'. The album's first single, it sounds like a vintage cut of Dando's own, all rolling drums and sunny strums, while the winding melody thinly veils the bitterness of the lyrics. Following that is a hushed take on one of the few reflective moments from Wire's peerless Pink Flag album, 'Fragile'; in Dando's hands, the song gets opened up into a lush, though fleeting, country ballad. This ”“ along with the haunting 'Yesterlove', which features a spiralling acoustic guitar line, and some exotic Indian percussion ”“ are the album's darkest highlights, and also serve to remind the listener of just how great Dando is at the dark stuff. A notable exception is the deadpan take on G.G. Allin's 'Layin' Up With Linda'; another upbeat jangler, it again masks the darkly comic lyrics ("I got pissed and killed her/Now I'm on the run”), but makes for a bright interlude into a surprisingly sombre record.Disappointingly, the album takes a desperate tailspin in its second half, with too many unmemorable meandering tracks from which it never quite recovers. The nadir is the ersatz electro experimentation of 'Dirty Robot', which features the vocal 'talents' of...er...Kate Moss. For anyone who has heard her 'contributions' to tracks by Babyshambles and Primal Scream, there's little more this review needs to add on the matter, other than that the track is potentially the worst thing ever to bear the Lemonheads name. The album's other big-name collaboration fares much better; a faithful version of Leonard Cohen's 'Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye', with emotively breathy guest vocals from Liv Tyler, is a late saving grace, and leads brilliantly into the album's closing track, a varshon of Christina Aguilera’s 'Beautiful'. Dando does nothing fancy with it; he simply layers up the acoustic guitars and lets the song - which, let's face it, has always been great - speak for itself. By the time the track fades to its hazy conclusion - ornamented by a curious Thin Lizzy-style double guitar chime - the mid-album slump is almost forgotten (I say almost - this is a record which features Kate Moss on vocals). Varshons is certainly a worthwhile detour; it’s not perfect, but Dando's voice sounds in fine form throughout, and the majority of these tracks are infused with a heart and soul that seems to suggest that, if nothing else, he really enjoyed making these songs his own. 71%The Lemonheads on MySpace