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The Lemonheads

The Lemonheads - The Lemonheads Audio CD

A fair review of the The Lemonheads "The Lemonheads" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all The Lemonheads reviews here, or go back to the The Lemonheads tabs.

Band: The Lemonheads
Title: The Lemonheads
Rating:

Release Date: 2006-09-26
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Black Gown 2: Become The Enemy 3: Pittsburgh 4: Let's Just Laugh 5: Poughkeepsie 6: Rule Of Three 7: No Backbone 8: Baby's Home 9: In Passing 10: Steve's Boy 11: December

Awesome - blast from the past rockin into the future
I miss music that's this good. This record makes me feel like I used to feel when I put on a new Doughboys, or Big Drill Car record back in the day. Adding the Descendents legendary rhythm section (Stevenson/Alvarez) was a wise move. They just might be the tightest and most skilled Drummer and Bassist to ever grace the pop-punk scene.

This record gets better and better as you listen too. So don't listen once and judge it, though you might be hooked after one listen too.

It's great to hear the Lemonheads again, and it's even better to hear them like THIS (fueled by Stevenson/Alvarez), oh and did I mention J Mascis' super ultra cool guitar work on this??

This whole record really just brings back those SST and Cruz records days. Kudos. More, more, please Mr. Dando.

The Lemonheads

. True ear candy
Evan Dando is back!
One of the most underated singer/songwriters of his generation.

Long lost Lemonheads
Well, that's what it is! I'm pretty into it. Sounds like the Descendents w/ Evan Dando on lead vocals.
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Hopefully many more to come....
(And let's not diminish the contributions of the "non-Dando's" on this record). I don't know if it's just a case of not listening to "the Lemonheads" in a while, but damn if this isn't the best record I heard in a long time.
This better not be the only album from this line-up. That would be a crime. (I would think the self-titling of this album means a new beginning).

The Lemonheads' Triumphant Return

Dando's trajectory has never been a consistent one. Evan Dando releases his first Lemonheads album in ten years today, and it is a return to form that draws upon the rocking `heads of the Lovey era as much as its more poppy, melodic later efforts. . . I've heard him compared to Gram Parsons for his privileged background, seemingly unlimited talent and how those two things became a deadly concoction. . . killing Parsons in his twenties and slowing an already less-than-prolific Dando for much of the past ten years. Although he hasn't been idle (the 2 cd set Live at The Brattle Theater, and a solo cd Baby I'm Bored, as well as a ton of touring), Dando disappeared from many people's radar long ago. I believe Dando's path closer resembles Roky Erickson, a genius songwriter sidetracked by chemical dalliances and psychological imbalance, who should command accolades for his talent but will always dwell on the periphery due to self-neglect and bad timing.

Like Erickson, Dando, lyrically and musically, makes genius albeit uneven pop records. They're great the whole way through, but every once in a while. . . out of the corner of your eye. . . you catch a glimpse of pure pop bliss. . . these quick glimpses at nirvana always make a `heads record worth the trip. The new LP is no exception. The album, backed by drummer Bill Stevenson and bassist Karl Alvarez of the Descendents and All, starts with the "props for Satan," Lovey-era romp called Black Gown. I can imagine a giddy Dando scribbling down lyrics like "drop a dine now for Satan," as he constructs his own kitschy, dark intro in the tradition of the "Woe to you O Earth" lead-off to Iron Maiden's Number of the Beast. And then the record shifts into gear. The aforementioned glimpses start quickly on the second song, "Become the Enemy," a tune steeped in melody and enormous hooks that is instantly addictive.

The album rarely slows, in fact, its over before you know what the hell happened. Dando has been quoted in the press describing this record as purposely less introspective. . . and while that is true. . . it is a tad self-depreciating. It is true, at times, the LP revisits the more aggressive, Lovey-era Lemonheads, but it's through a world-weary, more experienced lens. Instead of Lovey's yearning. . . the listener gets a tongue in cheek study on mortality in the catchy Poughkeepsie. . . and learning how goddamned challenging the routine of life and sex can become in No Backbone, even the futility of being frustrated over the U. S. ' current foreign policy in Let's Just Laugh.

The album buzzes with pop punk (Rule of Three), and slows into a country murder ballad with Baby's Home, on which Dando's considerable vocal talents have never sounded better- his inflections really push lyrics like "When a horse breaks a leg, it's best to shoot it" for all their metaphorical worth.

Tucked in to the second-to-last slot on the disc, Steve's Boy strikes out in unchartered territory for Dando. In the song, an estranged son comes home to be with his dying father, refusing to leave him but not deluded enough to realize things between them haven't been good in a long time. This song resonates on many levels. . . it is a rocking number with a rather unsentimental study of a son resigned to live with what's wrong between them, but unwilling to let his dad go into the unknown without someone by his side: "I can't make you well/I can't make you love me/but I'm not leaving here without you. " Heavy stuff.

December is one of my favorite tracks on the record. . . Dando really demonstrates how the pop form has become his plaything. . . . half way through the song, letting the gears slip into over two minutes of deconstructing, chaotic noise before popping it back into gear with the catchy chorus augmented with some old school "Ooh, la, la's" tucked snugly beneath it. Just perfect.

How about guests? Garth Hudson from The Band is here. As is guitar legend J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr. ), who Dando unleashes on one of the highlights of the record, No Backbone, like a parent tossing a play-starved kid into a ball crawl. Gibby Haynes of The [. . . ] Surfers is on there too. . .

The most aggravating thing about this record is the length. After ten years, it just feels like the record should be longer. Dando once again demonstrates how great a Lemonheads record can be but it is a decade after the last one. If he keeps this up, we can expect the next Lemonheads record in 2016. . . and therein lies more frustration. Here's hoping for a quick follow-up.

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You can see a complete list of all The Lemonheads discography, or go back to the The Lemonheads tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.