Hindu Love Gods

Hindu Love Gods formed in Athens, GA in 1984, a virtual cult-hero supergroup originally comprising guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and drummer Bill Berry (all three of then-underground icons R.E.M.), pianist Warren Zevon (the famously sardonic singer/composer best known for the classic "Werewolves of London"), and vocalist Bryan Cook (a veteran of local favorites Time Toy and Oh-OK). Their first single, "Narrator," arrived on the IRS label in mid-1985, getting lost in the hubbub surrounding the concurrent release of R.E.M.'s third LP Fables of the Reconstruction. A year later, Buck, Mills, and Berry rejoined Zevon to collaborate on his Sentimental Hygiene solo effort; minus Cook, the foursome recorded a full-length Hindu Love Gods LP over the course of a single drunken after-hours studio session (Bill Berry: "It took us about as long to do as it takes to listen to"), with Zevon assuming vocal duties for a series of loose-knit electric blues covers capped off by a reading of Prince's "Raspberry Beret." The session remained an underground legend until it was finally issued on the Giant label in 1990; no other Hindu Love Gods recordings were forthcoming.