Review of It's A Shame About Ray by Gregory Joseph
From 2 Walls
For one brief shining moment The Lemonheads were all what was good with music. Indy roots. Catchy lyrics. A lead singer with matinee idol looks who couldn't be bothered to comb his hair. Evan Dando was Jimmy Fallon, when Jimmy Fallon was still doing his routine at the Sigma Nu house at Michigan. The Lemonheads were not as dirty as grunge but you could see countless nights crashing on someone's floor in their music and faces. The hard times between conception and recognition resulted in not having a solid lineup outside of Evan Dando. Even Juliana Hatfield, also from the Boston music scene, is listed as a band member on this classic 'It's a Shame About Ray.'
'Drug Buddy' is a nice song to listen to and conquer up memories of your college days when all you did was sit around and get stoned. For some reason, songs like 'Rudderless,' and 'Hannah and Gabi' stand out in your mind. The latter features Dando's signature simplicity when it comes to writing lyrics. When Dando sings: 'Pour the milk and I'll say when," it is simple only on the ears. Same for when he goes down that same road many of us have traveled saying: "I can't hold you near - you are not here. Though it wasn't hard or far, I walked you to your car." Simple, yet in conjures up a million different memories for a million different people. That particular line always reminds me of when I walked Suzanne to her car back in 1993. We ended up in the visitors' dugout at a baseball field in Maywood, New Jersey.
Dando spends a lot of the album
baring his Generation X angst through lovely melodies and simple lyrics. However,
he is not all that blue that he can't have fun. He has fun with 'Alison's
Starting to Happen' which takes the number two spot in my personal favorite
songs with the name Alison in them. (If you have to ask which is number one
then you shouldn't be on this music site.) 'Alison's Starting…' is up-tempo
and you can visualize this barely three minute song being crowd surfing material.
If you're not airborne by the time Dando says: "Alison's getting her
tit pierced. Alison's growing a Mohawk," you weren't smoking the right
drugs in college. The fun doesn't end with their upbeat cover of 'Mrs. Robinson'
that Paul Simon hated but this Simon fan is just grateful that The Lemonheads
didn't replace Joe DiMaggio with another ball player. I cringe at the thought
of 'Where have you gone Andre Dawson?'