LEMONHEADS - It’s A Shame About Ray (Single LP Version) - LP - Black Vinyl [AUG 22]

LP - Classic Black Vinyl, DL Card Of Extras And Demos.

Described by music journalist and author Everett True as: “A 30-minute insight into what it’s like to live hard and fast and loose and happy with like-minded buddies, fuelled by a shared love for similar bands and drugs and booze and freedom.”

It’s a Shame About Ray had a considerable impact back in those heady, carefree days of ’92. The record perfectly captures Evan Dando’s ability to effortlessly encapsulate teenage longing and lust over the course of a two-minute pop song.

The reissue includes a download card with a slew of extra material, including the My Drug Buddy KCRW session track from 1992 featuring Juliana Hatfield, B-sides from singles It’s a Shame About Ray and Confetti, and a track from the Mrs. Robinson/Being Round EP.

Singles such as My Drug Buddy and the breezy, perfect pop of the title track might stand out (plus the later inclusion of Mrs. Robinson), but the album’s real strength lies in the tracks in between: the truly fantastic Confetti (written about Evan’s parents' divorce) and the eye-wateringly casual acoustic cover of Frank Mills (from the “hippie” musical Hair) - a version that resonates with every ounce of pathos and emotion felt for the lost 1960s generation. To hear Evan Dando sing lines like:

“I love him / but it embarrasses me / To walk down the street with him / He lives in Brooklyn somewhere / And he wears his white crash helmet”

…is to truly appreciate how wonderful and tantalising pop music can be.

Then there’s the rush of insurgency and brattishness on the wonderfully truncated Bit Part, the topsy-turvy Ceiling Fan in My Spoon… This was male teenage skinny-tie pop music on a level of brilliance with The Kinks, early Undertones, and Wipers.

Tracklist: 

1 Rockin' Stroll
2 Confetti
3 It's A Shame About Ray
4 Rudderless
5 My Drug Buddy
6 The Turnpike Down
7 Bit Part
8 Alison's Starting To Happen
9 Hannah & Gabi
10 Kitchen
11 Ceiling Fan In My Spoon
12 Frank Mills

Essential Extras – Download Only
1 Mrs Robinson
2 Shakey Ground
3 My Drug Buddy (KCRW Session, 1992)
4 Knowing Me, Knowing You (Acoustic)
5 Confetti (Acoustic)
6 Alison's Starting To Happen (Acoustic)
7 Divan

Demo Recordings – Download Only
8 It's A Shame About Ray (Demo)
9 Rockin' Stroll (Demo)
10 My Drug Buddy (Demo)
11 Hannah & Gabi (Demo)
12 Kitchen (Demo)
13 Bit Part (Demo)
14 Rudderless (Demo)
15 Ceiling Fan In My Spoon (Demo)
16 Confetti (Demo)