The Lemonheads Part 1

I've always liked the Lemonheads, I know a lot of people dislike them, and to those folks, all I can say is this is MY fucking blog and I'll put up whatever I feel like.... seriously, the Lemonheads were a REALLY cool 1990's "alt rock" band (hate that term).....there have been a slew of members (one of THOSE bands), but the Lemonheads were always sthe playground of singer Evan Dando.

The first issue was 1987's "Hate Your Friends",  which is a wonderful and fairly unknown piece of pop-punk which was a wonderful indicator of what was to come in the following decade. This is a fine EP, with great shit like "So i Fucked Up", the title track, and other tracks like "Uhhh", this is a really excellent EP that you SHOULD hear, I know a LOT of people dislike the Lemonheads for whatever reason, but this is a REALLY good starting point.

In 1988, they released "Creator"....it's an INTERESTING (NOT great) album, featuring a Charles Manson cover, a version of Kiss' "Plaster Caster", even a version of Suzanne Luka's excrable "Luka".....it's an odd and listenable album. Is it a classic? Fuck no, would be my educated opinion.

"Lick" was the next album, quite a good one for my money, short power-pop/punk tunes, as had the band's trademark always been......the cover of "luka" is repeated here (WHY? I'll never know), but there are also some damn fine tracks ("Mallo Cup", "Come back DA", "I Am a  Rabbit").....I really like this disc, fans of the band may not agree, but hey......I liked me some Lemonheads back then, and I do to this date as well.

"Lovey" came out in 1990, honestly, not "great", but listenable, "Ballarat", "Brass Buttons", "Half the Time" and more typify the somewhat unique Lemonheads sound.

OK, Now......in 1992, the Lemonheads released thier "masterpiece", "It's a Shame About Ray".....an aside, but I worked with a douche named Ray at the time, and we always referenced him anytime he'd fuck something up (daily) and he had not a clue what we were talking about.....such fun to make fun of people who have no clue that you are doing so.....anyway, this is a GREAT album......the title track, "My Drug Buddy", "Ceiling Fan in My Spoon", and the fab cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs Robinson" (it rocks the fuck out, trust me), and in particular, the fantastic "Allison's Starting to Happen", make this one of the better albums of the early 90's.......this is the one you want, should you want only one.

The band's best known release "Come On Feel the Lemonheads" was released in 1993, and it's really pretty good as well, NOT as good as "Ray", but loaded with some great shit such as "The Great Big No", "Big Gay Heart", "Rick james Style", I think this was intended to be thier "masterpiece", and some might consider it such, but for my jack it came a year later than the fab "It's a Shame About Ray".......strictly a personal observation, though.

OK, about the end of this part of the tale.....1996 saw the release of "Car Button Cloth", it's OK, but these lads were past thier peak by now, IMO......there is decent stuff here, like "If I Could talk I'd tell You", and "It's all True", but, as with so many "second line" rock n roll bands, it was pretty much over, in particular since they were basically a one-man act.

I have a second part of this post coming, with EP's, singles and other stuff, I REALLY DID enjoy this bands albums, I know some don't care for them, but hey....."Allison's Starting to Happen"and the "Mrs Robinson" cover are great enough, there are a LOT of bands that couldn't come up with two tunes such as cool.......

Hey, see ya Saturday....I'll put the REST of my lemonheads stuff up then, if you like it, great, if not, well, you can certainly go check Brian's WAY cool disco post.......this is what we do here.......if there is something/someone you would like us to profile/investigate, well, we won't know unless you TELL US!

HATE YOUR FRIENDS-01 Glad I Don't Know/02 I Like To/03 Rabbit/04 Don't Wanna/05 3-9-4/06 Nothing True/07 Second Chance/08 Sneakyville/09 Amazing Grace/10 Belt/11 hate Your Friends/12 Don't Tell Yourself/13 Uhhh/14 Fed Up/15 Rat Velvet/16 So i Fucked Up/17 Ever/18 Sad Girl/19 Buried Alive/20 Gotta Stop

CREATOR-01 Burying Ground/02 Sunday/03 Clang bang Clang/04 Out/05 Your Home Is Where You're Happy/06 Falling/07 Die Right Now/08 Two Weeks In Another Town/09 Plaser Caster/10 Come to the Window/11 Take Her down/12 Postcard/13 Live Without/14 Luka/15 Interview/16 Mallo Cup

LICK-01 Mallo Cup/02 Glad I Don't Know/03 7 Powers/04 A Circle of One/05 Cazzo di Ferro/06
Anyway/07 Luka/08 Come back DA/09 I Am a  Rabbit/10 Sad Girl/11 Ever/12 Strange/13 Mad

LOVEY-01 Ballarat/02 Half the Time/03 Year of the Cat/04 Ride With Me/05 lil Seed/06 Stove/07 Come Downstairs/08 Left For Dead/09 Brass Buttons/10  (The) Door/11 Untitled

ITS A SHAME ABOUT RAY-01 Rockin Stroll/02 Confetti/03 Its A Shame About Ray/04 Rudderless/05 My Drug Buddy/06 The Turnpike Down/07 Bit Part/08 Allison's Starting to Happen/09 Hannah & Gabi/10 Kitchen/11 Ceiling Fan in My Spoon/12 Frank Mills/13 Mrs Robinson/14 Shaky Ground/15 It's a Shame About Ray (Demo)/16 Rockin Stroll (demo)/17 My Drug Buddy (Demo)/18 Hannah & Gabi (demo)/19 Kitchen (demo)/20 Bit Part (demo)/21 Rudderless (demo)/22 Ceiling Fan In My Spoon (demo)/23 Confetti (demo)

COME ON FEEL THE LEMONHEADS-01 The Grat Big No/02 into Your Arms/03 It's about Time/04 Down About It/05 Paid To Smile/06 Big Gay Heart/07 Style/08 Rest Assured/09 Dawn Can't Decide/10 I'll Do It Anyway/11 Rick James Style/12 Being Around/13 Favorite T/14 You Can take it With You

CAR BUTTON CLOTH-It's All True/02 If I Could Talk I'd Tell You/03 Break Me/04 Hospital/05 The
Outdoor Type/06 Losing Your Mind/07 Something's Missing/08 Knoxville Girl/09 6ix/10 C'mon Daddy/11 One More Time/12 Tenderfoot/13 Secular Rockulidge


Honest to God, I had forgotten what a great band these guys were....PURE period piece, but as we know from other eras, that can be a GREAT thing.......good albums here, and my next post will wrap them up with EP's/singles/other stuff.......PLEASE COMMENT, The Lemonheads are sort of forgotten, and they really did rock the house.