Most of that LP I can take or leave nowadays, preferably leave, but "Frank Mills," being an understated, sweet-without-being-sickly, perfect little pop song, has stuck with me. In college, when I'd probably all but forgotten about Hair, I stumbled across the Lemonheads version, and it all came rushing back to me. (Evan Dando has a talent for picking great songs to cover.) Still, in spite of my love for all things Lemonheads, the original soundtrack recording is still and by far the best version I've heard. Shelley Plimpton's voice is the perfect one for this song, and she kills it.
"Frank Mills" by James Rado, Gerome Ragni, and Galt MacDermot, 1967
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Hair was a great obsession of mine, somewhere in the middle of my high school years. I saw it produced live twice, but opportunities to do so were rare, so typically I appeased myself by listening to the Broadway soundtrack over and over. And over. (Never the movie soundtrack, which was deeply inferior.)
Most of that LP I can take or leave nowadays, preferably leave, but "Frank Mills," being an understated, sweet-without-being-sickly, perfect little pop song, has stuck with me. In college, when I'd probably all but forgotten about Hair, I stumbled across the Lemonheads version, and it all came rushing back to me. (Evan Dando has a talent for picking great songs to cover.) Still, in spite of my love for all things Lemonheads, the original soundtrack recording is still and by far the best version I've heard. Shelley Plimpton's voice is the perfect one for this song, and she kills it.
Most of that LP I can take or leave nowadays, preferably leave, but "Frank Mills," being an understated, sweet-without-being-sickly, perfect little pop song, has stuck with me. In college, when I'd probably all but forgotten about Hair, I stumbled across the Lemonheads version, and it all came rushing back to me. (Evan Dando has a talent for picking great songs to cover.) Still, in spite of my love for all things Lemonheads, the original soundtrack recording is still and by far the best version I've heard. Shelley Plimpton's voice is the perfect one for this song, and she kills it.
