- release info -------------------------------------------------------------- -
artist: The Lemonheads
album: The Lemonheads
label: Vagrant
genre: Rock
rip date: Sep-18-2006
street date: Sep-26-2006
size: 58,8 MB
type: Album
quality: VBR kbps / 44.1kHz / Joint-Stereo
- release notes ------------------------------------------------------------- -
"It really sounds like THE LEMONHEADS. Maybe a little
better.ö Evan Dando is getting a bit conspiratorial about
the latest incarnation of the legendary pop/punk outfit
he formed a full two decades ago, now about to unleash
their eighth album on an unsuspecting and defenseless
world. And how does this new release-the first for THE
LEMONHEADS on Vagrant Records-compare to, say, DandoÆs
much-acclaimed solo work of the past few years? ôLouder,
faster, more like BUZZCOCKS pop-punk-and way less
introspective."
Talk about getting back to your roots. For the Vagrant
offering, Dando convened two of his early influences-the
unholy duo of drummer Bill Stevenson (DESCENDENTS, BLACK
FLAG) and bassist Karl Alvarez (DESCENDENTS)-in a remote
Rocky Mountain hideaway. And it was there, off and on
over eighteen months, that they kicked out the first
LEMONHEADS album in ten years. Said
guitarist/singer/songwriter Dando of Stevenson and
Alvarez, "I wanna make another loud record, and those are
the guys to do it with."
After putting those guys together, then it was just like
flicking a switch. "We started out in JAM, BUZZCOCKS
territory", explains Dando, pointing to the green RAF
parkas and skinny black ties hanging on the studio wall.
ôWeÆve got some psyched-out country on there as wellö, he
observes, adjusting the improbably wide lapels on his
vintage Nudie suit. ôBut all of it is squarely in THE
LEMONHEADS tradition.ö
Dando and Stevenson co-produced the album, and Stevenson
wrote or co-wrote three of its eleven songs; long-time
Australian collaborator Tom Morgan added another two. And
very much inna LEMONHEADS stylee, thereÆs cameos galore:
from wunderkind bassist Josh Lattanzi (ôPoughkeepsieö,
ôRule of Threeö, ôIn Passingö), certifiable rock giant
Garth Hudson (THE BAND, who plays keyboards on ôBlack
Gownö and ôDecemberö), and some real foot-on-monitor
guitar work by DINOSAUR JRÆs J. Mascis (ôNo Backboneö,
ôSteveÆs Boyö).
Evan Griffith Dando formed THE LEMONHEADS with two high
school buddies in late winter æ86, in their senior year
at BostonÆs tiny Commonwealth School. A few months later,
they spawned what is now one of the most sought-after
punk relics of the 80s, the indie EP Laughing All the Way
to the Cleaners. Boston-based Taang! Records immediately
picked up on the LEMONHEADS, with three college radio
pleasers to follow: the LPs Hate Your Friends (1987),
Creator (1988), and Lick (1989). In 1990 Atlantic Records
took notice of the massively expanding LEMONHEADS fanbase
in Europe (where they toured in 1989) and America by
signing the band and releasing their well-received (in
Cambridge, Massachusetts) fourth LP, Lovey.
Even by this time, the LEMONHEADS lineup had been
volatile: more than a dozen different configurations over
a period of just five years, all sorts of bit parts and
reshuffles, with Dando as the only constant. At one point
it got so confusing that an ex-drummer, just a week after
getting kicked of the group, answered the LEMONHEADSÆ ad
to replace himself. By a conservative estimate, the band
has had more than ten bass players and at least a dozen
drummers over the years.
But out of this primordial chaos came a veritable Golden
Age for THE LEMONHEADS. A 1991 tour brought Evan to
Australia, where by chance he met songwriter Tom Morgan
and future LEMONHEADS bassist Nic Dalton. Their
collaboration made all the difference for the next
Atlantic release, ItÆs a Shame About Ray (1992), a
concentrated blast of pure pop perfection that clocks in
at just under 30 minutes. Thanks to songs such as
ôConfettiö, ôMy Drug Buddyö, ôRudderlessö, and ôCeiling
Fan in My Spoonö, Dando hit a whole new audience "they're
getting younger", he confessed to Kathie Lee Gifford at
the time).
Mainstream media hype of THE LEMONHEADS shifted into high
gear, with lots of wild speculation as to the exact
nature of the relationship between Dando and long-time
friend Juliana Hatfield (who played bass and sang on
Ray). It also didnÆt hurt when a 1993 People magazine
spread devoted a full page to Evan as one of the fifty
most beautiful people in the world. That news came to
Evan in New Zealand, on his 26th birthday. When a
magazine rep called to tell him he was among the ôfifty
dishiest peopleö, Dando recalled, ôI thought she said
æbusiestÆ. And I thought, ækin right!Æ With all the
travelling, I was busy!ö
Atlantic released a smash followup, Come on Feel the
Lemonheads, in October 1993. The album brought Dando a
genuine charting single (ôInto your Armsö) as well as
instant classics such as "Great Big No", "Down About It",
"Being Around", and "You Can Take it with You." In winter
1993/1994 Evan Dando was in your living room, thanks to
live appearances on the Letterman and Leno late night
network TV shows. Inevitably, in Warrington,
Pennsylvania, a 20-something named Jeff Fox published the
first issue of his backlash zine Die Evan Dando, Die.
Two years of brutal touring for THE LEMONHEADS followed,
which Evan punctuated with some high-profile personal
meltdowns on various continents that caught the
imagination of a press ever eager for negative copy.
Still THE LEMONHEADS (now with Boston friends John Strohm
on guitar and Murph on drums) managed to crank out a
defiant 1996 release Car Button Cloth, with some of their
best melodic pop/punk to date: ôItÆs All Trueö, "If I
Could Talk I'd Tell You", and "Tenderfoot". After a year
promoting the record, Dando announced at the 1997 Reading
Festival that he was disbanding THE LEMONHEADS. Atlantic
released a Best of The Lemonheads album in 1998, and a
lot of geezers surmised that that was that.
ôI just decided to duck out for a whileö, explains Dando
of his self-imposed exile from the scene. "I didn't have
it in me. It took until I met my wife in 1998 until I got
back into making music. That would be Elizabeth Moses,
Newcastle-born English supermodel and musician. Once
married in 2000, Dando started to come alive again like
Frampton, first with a 2001 live album Live at the
Brattle Theater/Griffith Sunset, and then in 2003 with a
well-received solo LP, Baby I'm Bored.
In 2004 Evan Dando found himself fronting the MC5, the
most incendiary rock band of 1960s America, as lead
vocalist in a 41-show tour. And it was hard to miss Dando
during 2005 and early 2006, as he toured widely in North
America and Europe with various bass players (Juliana
Hatfield and Josh Lattanzi) and drummers (Bill Stevenson,
Chris Brokaw from COME, George Berz of DINOSAUR JR), and
occasionally as a one man electrical wrecking crew.
Memorably, in September 2005, Dando, Stevenson, and
Lattanzi played two instantly sold-out shows in London as
part of the Don't Look Back series, where they rocked
through It's a Shame About Ray from start to finish.
But back to the album called the The Lemonheads, the
groupÆs 2006 release on Vagrant. You can think of it as a
Best of the Lemonheads Volume II, featuring songs from
the bandÆs greatest era that didnÆt quite yet exist,
played a little louder and little faster. ôYou should
listen to the DESCENDENTSÆ [1982] Milo Goes to College to
get an idea of what the next LEMONHEADS record sounds
likeö, says Evan of his newly reformed band. "I wanted to
make a rock record, a melodic rock record." And more to
the point, "Also, I'm sick of selling solo T-shirts."
- track list ---------------------------------------------------------------- -
01. black gown (02:05)
02. become the enemy (03:55)
03. pittsburgh (02:55)
04. let's just laugh (04:44)
05. poughkeepsie (02:11)
06. rule of three (02:19)
07. no backbone (03:08)
08. baby's home (03:32)
09. in passing (02:50)
10. steve's boy (02:45)
11. december (04:23)
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