Review of It's A Shame About Ray
by Bob Mehr
From Magnet Magazine June 2003
A charmed collision of styles, this 12-track, 33-minute, hook-laden masterwork doesn't have a wasted breath or note on it. Though miles removed from the nascent thrash of earlier Lemonheads efforts, Dando remains in thrall to dynamic pop/punk acolytes like the Replacements and Hüsker Dü while managing to shake bits of bubblegum, fizzed-up country, rollicking roots and twisting wordplay into a spiked cocktail for the post-grunge masses. Juliana Hatfield's bubbly bass and chirpy harmonies create a compelling counterpoint to Dando's big vocal burr and crunching chords throughout. Closing with "Frank Mills" (a gender-bending take on Hair's rhymeless hippie love), Ray establised an endearingly kooky template Dando would never again manage to capture quite so perfectly. Doobie Brother alert: Beret-wearing, mustachioed '70s session hand Jeff "Skunk" Baxter guests on guitar.