It’s a Shame About Ray

Enjoyable enough album without being anything that will live long in the memory

I don't know what style of rock I'd call this. It's nothing groundbreaking, but it's easy to listen to, definitely easy to come back to. It's also just good music. I might check out more from this band in the future

See those little black boxes? They are called telephones. I’m gonna let you in on a little secret about these telephones. They’re not gonna dial themselves! Okay? Without you, they’re just worthless hunk of plastic.

Like a loaded M16 without a trained Marine to pull the trigger. And in the case of the telephone, it’s up to each and every one of you, my highly trained Strattonites, my killers. My killers who will not take no for an answer! My fucking warriors who’ll not hang up the phone, until their client either buys or fucking dies! Let me tell you something. . I’ve been a rich man, and I’ve been poor man. And I choose rich every fucking time. Cause, At least as a rich man, when I have to face my problems, I show up in the back of a limo wearing a $2000 suit …and $40,000 gold fuckin’ watch! Now, if anyone here thinks I’m superficial or materialistic. Go get a job at fucking McDonald’s, because that’s where you fucking belong! But, before you depart this room full of winners, I want you to take a good look at the person next to you, go on. Because sometime in the not-so-distant future, you’re pullin’ up to a red light in your beat-up old fucking Pinto, and that person’s gonna pull up right alongside you in a brand new Porsche, with their beautiful wife by his side, whose got big voluptuous tits. And who will you be next to? Some disgusting wilder beast with three days of razor-stubble in a sleeveless moo-moo, crammed in next to you with a carload full of groceries from the fucking Price Club! That’s who you’re gonna be sitting next to. So, you listen to me and you listen well. Are you behind, on your credit card bills? Good. Pick up the phone and start dialing. Is your landlord ready to evict you? Good. Pick up the phone and start dialing. Does your girlfriend think you’re a fucking loser? Good. Pick up the phone and start dialing! I want you to deal with your problems, by becoming rich! All you have to do today …is pick up that phone, and speak the words that I have taught you. And I’ll make you richer than the most powerful CEO of the United States of fucking America. I want you to go out there, and I want you to RAM Steve Madden stock down your clients’ throats. Till they fucking choke on it till they choke on it and buy 100,000 shares! That’s what I want you to do. You’ll be ferocious! You’ll be relentless! You’ll be telephone fucking terrorists! Now, let’s knock this Motherfucker out of the park!

I've tried a number of times with this album. It's never truly clicked. I can hear that the songs are there, but something holds them back. Can't put my finger on it.

I listened on Spotify, which has the demos after the album. I love the demos. The songs shine. They should have kept the songs smaller and cosier, like the demos.

Decent but generic 90s white guy soft rock

Far from the sour suggestion of their name, this record is full of sweet tunes that won’t leave a bad aftertaste.

But really - in the landscape of early 90s Alt Rock, The Lemonheads occupy a melodic and lightly overdriven space somewhere between the raw angst of every grunge band and the poetic earnestness of bands like Counting Crows. Listening to this album actually kept reminding me of the softer parts of the first Foo Fighters record, if that tells you anything.
You might know the cover of “Mrs. Robinson” from this record. I didn't feel like I needed to skip anything, but I also didn't save any new 'liked songs'. It’s a fun album to throw on for a change of pace.

I’m glad this album is included in the list because I feel like the Lemonheads are underrated. At least nowadays they’ve been kind of forgotten and lost among their peers of 90s indie/alt rock. But the Lemonheads are really good and worth remembering!

Jangly guitars are go!

Sounds very of its era now. Not very original to be honest. Just sounds like any number of bands from that time.

It’s decent. Not really doing much for me.

2.5 rounded down to a 2

'I'm still aware of little, but I'm gonna try'; 'It slipped my mind that I could use my brain.' The Lemonheads makes short and catchy tracks that unite the lyricism of Elvis Costello w/ the slacker poses of Pavement. Yet, their catchiness never catches fire, and as one song starts to bleed into another, Evan Dando's voice dawdles and exasperates more and more. It's a shame - I dig their ethos of simplicity and curtness - but they simply don't explore enuf for me to bother: their enervation spells out an indifference even the grandest slackers don't assume. Their cover of S&G is, in fact, the best 3 mins on the record, which says a lot about their inability to invent a serious or memorable sound. The nineties had a whole lot to offer better than this.

This kinda woulda sorta shoulda rocked. Dave Grohl clearly loved it and incorporated the best parts into the Foo Fighters.

This keeps to the predictable patterns of 90s alternative. I like Juliana Hatfield’s other work fine, but there’s really nothing exciting or exceptional here.
And, for the love of whatever you consider holy, why give us multiple versions of the same songs? I know it’s the ‘deluxe edition’, but do I really need multiple shots at a song like My Drug Buddy? Was there a deeper level to the story about waking up and calling your dealer to get the same drugs you got yesterday that I missed the first time? I didn’t think so. I would humbly offer that, no, we didn’t need multiple versions of that song on this album and probably not the other eight either.
It’s a shame about ego.

Seriously?

No one NEEDED to hear this in 1992 when it came out let alone pretend like its got something that makes it a legacy album that should be passed over as a must listen.

1 star is being generous, lets go with 0.38.

For some reason, I never got around to listening to this one, despite my borderline obsession with 90s alt rock and grunge. I only knew the Mrs. Robinson cover. The whole album is great though - short and snappy, and very catchybin places. Especially liked the title track, Confetti, My Drugs Friend and Alison's Starting to Happen.

Very boring run-of-the-mill indie rock. Very hard to justify this being on the list but something like The Beatles' Let It Be not being on the list.

2.0/5.0: Disappointing

this is fine. it sounds like 80% of rock from this time period. nothing special but an easy listen

Really pleasantly surprised by this! Thought it was great, paced really well and a solid bunch of tracks. Has a fair bit of variety and can hear those punk rock roots. Would definitely go buy this if I heard the Mrs Robinson cover on college radio.

This album sounds like every 90s alt-rock one hit wonder on rock radio. It isn't bad or grating, but kinda boring. The songs are very short, with only the Mrs. Robinson cover being over 3 minutes. This is good, because there's not much of note here. It's solid, but fails to stand out for anything.

I do not like the song It's a Shame about Ray. It's lazy sounding in the worst way possible. And those little harmonizing vocals in the last chorus are not great to my ears. The song Rudderless, there's a discordant thing happening in the verses and I don't think it's working. I literally can't listen to this song. I kinda hate it. Ok, I'm maxed on this. I can't force myself through this. It's really not for me. I knew the cover Mrs. Robinson and that's pretty great but that's about the only thing working for me. Maybe the first two songs weren't bad either. 2 stars and that's a generous 2 stars.

This was enjoyable but there wasn’t really anything here to put it beyond that. Favorites were Confetti, Rudderless, and Frank Mills.

Infectious, energetic, irreverent, and stoned. The band sounds great and the songs are strong, to which you add the dulcet tones of Evan Dando.