Is it ok to say I never really liked The Lemonheads? Guess it doesn’t really matter, since it’s out there now. It’s not their fault. In 1992 and 1993, when they broke through in the UK with the title track from their fifth album, and a seemingly throwaway thrashabout cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘Mrs Robinson’, and rode – briefly – the crest of a wave that peaked with the follow-up, ‘Come on Feel The Lemonheads’. It was pre-Britpop – just – and these were fertile years for ‘indie’ music, with Suede breaking through and James’ ‘Seven’ making its mark via ‘Born of Frustration’. Then again, I seem to recall that while The Lemonheads were all over the music press, a lot of the coverage was as much about Evan Danso and Juliana Hatfield as the band or its actual music.
But 1992-93 was also the time when the face of the charts, and music itself, was changing immensely: Nirvana and Pearl Jam had blown the doors off the hinges in ‘91, and in their wake all sorts of noisier and more visceral offerings were breaking the mainstream, with the likes of Rage Against the Machine, Dinosaur Jr, and Therapy? all becoming bona fide chart acts. In context, then, and to my teen ears, The Lemonheads simply sounded a bit bland.
Much as I’m not a fan of nostalgia, and anniversary issues absolutely crush my soul more often than not, they do give an opportunity to reappraise acts with the distance of hindsight and some time to reflect.
‘It’s A Shame About Ray’ is actually alright. A bit Sebadoh, a bit early Dinosaur Jr, they’ve got some sweet melodies that drift over a combination of guitars that jangle and crunch. Listening in 2022, it sounds very much of its time, and it’s clear why the singles were the singles. It’s a solid enough album with its highs and lows, uptempos and downtempos… but worthy of so much adulation, then or now?
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Much of the contemporary appreciation will be nostalgia-driven, and no question. People in their forties dwelling on the albums of their youth, the era when music was ‘good’ and after which time stood still and all that cal. But it’s also easy and breezy and carefree, so it’s kinda hard to argue with its appeal, especially if you’re yearning for those simpler, easier times, back when a vinyl LP was £7 and a pint of Worthington’s was a quid and you could still get served in a pub at 15 while getting a half bus fare home. The cover of ‘Mrs Robinson’ is one of those that really only deserved to be a B-side after a Peel Session recording. That is to say, it's fine, but nothing special, and not the best mark of a band when their best—known song is a middling cover.
There’s a whole disc of bonus tracks – acoustic versions and demos, primarily, with a couple of session cuts plus their cover of Smudge’s ‘Divan’ and a rendition of ABBA’s ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’ – for the hardcore fans, and I guess that’s the main target audience here.
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