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.
–
Jason Ankeny, Rovi