The Lemonheads - It’s A Shame About Ray (30th Anniversary Edition)

Lemonheads’ seminal album is back on
vinyl, featuring Evan Dando classics such as ‘My Drug Buddy’, ‘Rudderless’ and ‘It’s A Shame About Ray’, lovingly reissued by Fire
Records. Described by music journalist and author Everett True as “A 30-minute insight into what it’s like to live hard and fast and loose
and happy with like-minded buddies, fuelled by a shared love for similar bands and drugs and booze and freedom.”. ‘It's A Shame
About Ray’ had a considerable impact back in those heady, carefree days of '92, the record perfectly captures Dando’s ability to
effortlessly encapsulate teenage longing and lust over the course of a two-minute pop song. The reissue includes a download card with
a slew of extra material, including the ‘My Drug Buddy’ KCRW session track from 1992 featuring Juliana Hatfield, B-sides from singles
‘It’s A Shame About Ray’ and ‘Confetti’, a track from the ‘Mrs. Robinson/Being Round’ EP. Singles such as 'My Drug Buddy' and the
breezy perfect pop of the title track might stand out (plus the add-on of 'Mrs. Robinson' which later copies included), but the album's
real strength lies in the tracks in-between; the truly fantastic 'Confetti' (written about Evan's parents' divorce), and the eye-wateringly
casual acoustic cover of 'Frank Mills' (from the "hippie" musical Hair), a version that seems to resonate with every ounce of pathos and
emotion felt for the lost 1960s generation. To hear Evan Dando sing lines like 'I love him/but it embarrasses me/To walk down the
street with him/He lives in Brooklyn somewhere/And he wears his white crash helmet' is to truly appreciate how wonderful and
tantalising pop music can be. Then, there's the rush of insurgency and brattishness on the wonderfully truncated 'Bit Part'; the topsy-
6
turvy 'Ceiling Fan In My Spoon'... this was male teenage skinny-tie pop music on a level of brilliance with The Kinks, early Undertones,
Wipers.