It's A Shame About Ray
by The Lemonheads

Alt.rock’s greatest singer-songwriter by a country mile!

Although commonly thought of as just a honey tongued heartthrob with good hair, Dando crafted the catchiest, stick-in-your-head codeine-addled pop of the alt.rock era. His charm (and perhaps his curse) was how he made it sound effortless. His vocals permeated with contrasts - plaintive yet sunny, heartfelt but nonchalant. And sidekick Julianna Hatfield’s cooing background vocals made the cutest guest appearances as she valiantly vied for “A Bit Part” in Dando’s life. Possessing immaculate taste, Dando was also alt.rock’s Sinatra - picking perfect covers that became his own on contact. (Check out Luka, Brass Buttons & Frank Mills.)

Although there were increasing hints with each successive album, it wasn’t until It’s a Shame About Ray that Dando finally threw out his old Husker-Du records, ditched his punk rock pretensions and unreservedly embraced his knack with melody and song craft. It’s good to be “Free To Be… You and Me.”

Perfect for: humming, heading to the beach, just about anything

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_26FOHoaC78

Aside: Like heartbreak? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqKaZCaAykM
Bside: My favorite moment in Lemonheads history though is when Dando FINALLY (honestly, it had been three LPs already) told Lemonheads co-founder Ben Deily that he can’t sing worth a damn. Ben did not take it well and released a 7” entitled “It’s a Bummer about Bourbie”. Moz was right! We hate it when our friends become successful.

From Eastwood 11/12/2014 08:21 | #126758 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Good power pop/alternative rock album. Best 10 songs average is 86,2/100 and the album can get good 85/100. Mostly good to very good songs contained, I like the sound and album is normal in variety. Best songs are "It's a shame..." and "Buddy" both 90/100, followed by "Rockin Stroll", "Confetti", "Rudderless" and "The turnpike down" all 85/100. My CD also includes the coversong "Mrs. Robinson" as song 13, I'm rating it 85/100 too.

From philbutrin 09/01/2014 16:31 | #120967 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

although i was never a big Lemonheads fan, i think that Evan Dando put together a really solid album here. i also think the contributions of his friend Juliana Hatfield help make this a standout disc. "My Drug Buddy" is my favorite track, and i listen to it often. when they album was released, they had to change the album artwork to rename the song either "My Buddy" or "Buddy" in order to get it carried by stores like Target, who apparently thought the word "Drug" made it not family friendly.

Starts well then kind of tails off and sounds very much the same the rest of the way. Not bad but not ground breaking. Enjoyable when your in the mood. The copy I have finish's with their cover of 'Mrs Robinson' which rounded it up nicely.

I like their jangly sound, they have a lot of guitar overdubs happening and it works. Nice baselines, and sweet guy-girl vocals on several tracks. Also they keep the tracks brief so the hooks and melodies come at you non-stop throughout the album. (Edited)