Review of Baby I'm Bored by Paul Connolly
From The Times 22nd March 2003
IT IS time to welcome back rock's George Best. Good-looking boy with heaps of talent makes extremely promising start and then proceeds to bury ability beneath a snowstorm of addictive substances. "All my life I thought I needed all the things I didn't need at all" (the chorus from Baby I'm Bored's understated and gorgeous All My Life) sums it up for the former frontman of the hearthrobs of rock, the Lemonheads.
In the early Nineties the Boston-born Dando, with dreamboat looks more suited to an Aussie surfer than a post-grunge singer, had the pop world at his feet. After four lamentable proto-punk albums, his band finally came up with the first of their two masterpieces: It's A Shame About Ray. What had changed? Dando not only embraced country-rock but also realised there was mileage in tunes.
The group's next album, Come on Feel the Lemonheads, was a classic, too, and with songs such as Into Your Arms, established Dando as a superstar in the making.
Dando was soon dragged into drug abuse, and though recent interviews hint that he has no regrets, All My Life would suggest otherwise.
Baby I'm Bored is by no means perfect, as it lacks an immediate appeal. But after six or seven listens it becomes apparent that the now-clean Dando can still construct self-deprecating, country-tinged beauty of the highest order.
The opener Repeat, pilfers its opening from Aztec Camera's debut single Just Like Gold, but is otherwise forgettable. On the second track, My Idea, however, Dando is right on form as he pleads with his former girlfriend to tell their friends that it was he, not she, who ended their relationship.
By the time the existential soft shoe shuffle of Hard Drive kicks in, Dando is in full flow and the album barely dips from that point on. Love, loss, desire, self-loathing -everything's here. Evan, it's good to have you back.