THE LEMONHEADS

The Best Of the Lemonheads: The Atlantic Years (Atlantic)

LIKE A lot of Best Of and Greatest Hits compilations, the overall feel of this offering from the Lemonheads smacks of band/record company tensions and contractual obligations being fulfilled. Lob the emotional, em, “fragility” of frontman Evan Dando into the equation and, well, draw your own conclusions.

Prior to signing on Atlantic’s dotted line, the Lemonheads released three albums on minuscule Boston label Taang!, none of which is represented here, obviously. Cuts from their 1990 Atlantic debut, Lovey are also conspicuous by their absence, resulting in a Best Of . . . that represents less than half of the band’s back catalogue. By all accounts, this is a good thing; I haven’t heard Hate Your Friends (1987), Creator (1988) or Lick (1989) but I’m reliably informed that the Taang! equivalent of this album would be very, very short indeed.

It’s A Shame About Ray (1992), Come On Feel The Lemonheads (1993) and Car Button Cloth (1996) are the primary sources for this particular musical collage, then, along with numerous session tracks, the best being an acoustic version of ‘Into Your Arms’. A cover of Rainer Ptacek’s ‘Rudy With A Flashlight’, culled from a tribute album to the same fellow, and the unplugged ‘Ride With Me’, from the Favourite Spanish Dishes EP, should also appeal to Lemonheads devotees who are hungry for more.

Otherwise, it’s much as you’d expect: ‘It’s A Shame About Ray’, ‘Into Your Arms’ and the charming ‘If I Could Talk I’d Tell You’ are all here, along with the Lemonheads rousing rendition of Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Mrs. Robinson’, one of those rare cover versions that sounds even better than the real thing.

Ever the sucker for a jangly gee-tar, for my money, the best of the rest are those culled from Car Button Cloth, recorded at a time when Evan Dando and associates seem to have received a metaphorical kick up the arse and opted to uptempo: ‘It’s All True’, ‘Hospital’ and the hilariously upbeat ‘The Outdoor Type’, written by Tom Morgan, an Australian associate of Lemonheads bassist Nic Dalton.

Of course, there’s a lot of excess baggage on board this 19-track opus too. ‘Rudderless’ (It’s A Shame About Ray), featuring Juliana Hatfield on backing vocals, is dire, verging as it does on the New Romantic, while the Come On Feel The Lemonheads sessions are fillers swept from the studio floor that got chucked in the Might Come In Handy For A Best Of . . . bin.

Overall, this is an inoffensive and occasionally inspired trip down memory lane featuring several cracking singles and more than its fair share of dirge. Essential listening for Lemonheads fans, and anyone who has ever been in a Boston-based three-piece and who, for whatever reason, might otherwise have difficulty remembering his life’s work.

Barry Glendenning