So, what do you say about The Lemonheads? I believe eaier in my ode ti Mississippi Nights referenced once stepping over him in the entrance to Mississippi Nights at 1:00 in the afternoon on my way to buy tickets for that nights show. When I say him it is because Dando is the only Lemonheads member to be on every track of every album and it has never been more...or less then a vehicle for him. He burst onto the scene as the beautiful indie rock god out of Boston. They recorded 5 very good but fairly forgettable CDs early on from 1987-1990. Banging Juliana Hatfield (The Blake Babies) and was everyone’s next big thing after the CD “It’s a shame About Ray” (1992) before releasing the beautiful but soulless “Come On Feel The Lemonheads” and disappearing into the dumpster diving world of being the talented ex-indie rock god.
Saying that he had a little “drug problem” is like saying our President is “a little stubborn” or even better saying our President has “a little problem with the english language” or even better syaing our President....never mind, I digress. Evan was the king hell junkie and by his own admission did everything under the sun. In recent interviews he has blamed this on indie rock stardom and people wanting to make him into a 10 million record seller that he never wanted to be. Cry me a river, build a bridge and GET OVER IT!
All that having been said this is a great little (just over 30 minutes) CD. In is (one of my favorite words) “chunky”. Really nice guitar work and his plainspoken voice just sound soooooo good sometimes. He brought together the old Descendants rhythm section of Bill Stevenson and Karl Alverez and augments them with some other great musicians most noticably Garth Hudson on keyboards and incredibly guitar God (big G) J. Mascis. It syas Mascis only appears on one track (No Backbone) but thats a lie. His jangly Neil Young inspired heavy guitar can be heard throughout backing Dando’s own dandy licks.
“Black Gown” starts it off with nice guitars and vocals and then goes into the pretty and dark “Become The Enemy.” By that time you know the Cd will be worth it even if you do not like anything else. “Pittsburgh” and “Let’s Just Laugh” bring out the good old Lemonheads. Never let it be said that pretty drug addled men cannot write some great angst driven rock.
One of the things I love about it is it’s brevity. A little over 30 mintes and 11 songs. That is the way God meant for us to rock. Most of these artists get some success and they are driven to doing things like putting 11 minutes of “arty” feedback into an otherwise nice song (see “Wilco”) but this is just a straight ahead, VERY unpretentios rocker. Great driving around music. Nothing that will change your life but frankly...it’s just rock and roll and it shouldn’t change your life. 7 1/2 Sliders on the 10 Scale.
Lemonheads/Dando iTunes Composite
1. Alison’s Starting To Happen
2. Frying Pan (Dando on Victoria William Tribute)
3. Become The Enemy
4. 1000 Wedding (Dando on Gram Parsons Tribute)
5. Into Your Arms
6. It’s A Shame About Ray
7. It’s About Time
8. For Shame Of Doing Wrong (Dando on Richard Thompson Composite)
9. Buddy (My Drug Buddy)
10. Paid To Smile
11. Mrs. Robinson
12. Black Gown
13. Left For Dead
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