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April 26, 2006

Lemonheads Sign To Vagrant

Vagrant Records, after releasing some live Eels and signing the Futureheads (stream "Skip To The End" at MySpace), must have hired a consultant to wipe away all those emo connotations. The label announced today it's releaseing an album from a "re-united" Lemonheads this fall.

Say what you will about Evan Dando, but between '92 and '96, Lemonheads cranked out a bunch of songs I'm still proud to have on my iPod. Then again, two of their biggest hits were covers.

The Lemonheads - "Mrs. Robinson" (MP3 Link Expired)
The Lemonheads - "Into Your Arms" (MP3 Link Expired)

Evan Dando: still relevant, or only during I Love The '90s repeats?

Posted at 1:19 PM in
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27 Comments

Still relevant. Saw him do a couple acoustic shows in Chicago a few years back and was surprised to see him hold his own with nothing more than a guitar and a microphone.

Posted by: tankboy at 04/26/06 2:51 PM | Reply
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Still relevant! It's A Shame About Ray is a classic; the worst song on there is the Garfunkel and Simon cover (seemed very out of place on an otherwise cohesive album).

Better Dando cover: Different Drum - Written by ex-monkee Mike Nesmith!

Posted by: aaron.spacemuseum at 04/26/06 2:54 PM | Reply
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The band's pre-Ray catalog > than the band Ray and post-Ray. It's all good, obv, but the classic shit is on Lick, Lovey, Creator, etc.

Posted by: J at 04/26/06 3:08 PM | Reply
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Jon Brion produced/co-wrote a couple of great tracks on the last Dando solo disc, Baby I'm Bored. "Why Do You Do This To Yourself?" is probably the greatest alt.country ode to crack addiction evs.

Posted by: Ben at 04/26/06 3:11 PM | Reply
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Evan Dando can be a little annoying, but he's talented. I actually like his last two solo albums, especially that one that had that song that goes "Here Comes Gwyneth's Head in a box!"

Question: Who is the "re-united" Lemonheads? Just Dando? Or Juliana Hatfield too? Or earlier members? Any ideas?

Posted by: Mike at 04/26/06 3:36 PM | Reply
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I think you can still stream the Futureheads new video at Musicisnotdead.com

http://indierepublican.typepad.com/musicisnotdead/2006/04/new_futureheads.html

Posted by: Rob at 04/26/06 3:38 PM | Reply
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Jesus, Evan Dando? Its refreshing you're not putting up a front, i guess, proclaiming you're some sort of pillar of hip.

Posted by: Barry Bond at 04/26/06 3:39 PM | Reply
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Reunited lemonheads were hot at bowery last december. Spanned the whole catalogue, sounding tight as hell, and played three or four new songs which were rockin. Catchy, fun, very promising. Also, dando was in good spirits, looked healthy. I have very high hopes for this album.

Posted by: jon at 04/26/06 3:45 PM | Reply
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His contribution to that Craig Armstrong CD a few years ago was great.... I forget the title of the tune... but the first lyrics were Wake Up In New York.... it was seriously niiiice.

Posted by: jason at 04/26/06 4:43 PM | Reply
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Insound has an MP3 of Skip to the End
http://mp3.insound.com/download.cfm?mp3id=2798

Posted by: pinder at 04/26/06 5:04 PM | Reply
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Great songwriter, terrible stage demeanor. I saw him in '97 performing at a club at Bricktown in Oklahoma City. He stormed off the stage really pissed off for some reason or another in the middle of a song. He did come back to finish his set after cooling off.

Posted by: volume-addict at 04/26/06 5:31 PM | Reply
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who did the original "into your arms"?

Posted by: Frank at 04/26/06 5:57 PM | Reply
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irrelevant. i saw evan dando with the reunited MC5 in san francisco a couple years ago (he and mark arm were doing singing duties). the show was great but he was awful. he was a dick to the band and the crowd and clearly didn't know the lyrics. such a contrast with mark arm. it was sort of embarrassing really. but i can't deny that i loved the lemonheads in high school.

Posted by: bee at 04/26/06 8:03 PM | Reply
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Evan Dando used to be really hit and miss, but his exploits were bolded in the headlines of music in the lost years. With good reason, too -- when he's on, he's incredible. When he's off, you want your money back. Glad to see he's back on again.

Posted by: EJ at 04/26/06 8:09 PM | Reply
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Love Positions (Robyn St Clare's group) did the original version of Into Your Arms. I believe (ex-Lemonhead) Nic Dalton's Half A Cow Records released an album or comp by them in Australia.

Saw Dando on his Baby I'm Bored tour in a sweaty little club, with Juliana on bass and the Pieces out of Indianapolis opening. Great night! Definitely seek out the Live At The Brattle Theatre/Griffith Sunset set if you like the Gram Parsons-damaged side of Evan.

Posted by: Jason at 04/26/06 8:33 PM | Reply
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No Hatfield on the reunion. Now THAT would be something to blog about. I heart her.

Posted by: scott at 04/26/06 11:24 PM | Reply
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"Mrs. Robinson" seemed out of place on It's A Shame About Ray because it wasn't originally on the album. It showed up on later pressings.

Pre-'92 songs are great, don't miss out on them. Lovey and Lick are fine albums.

Posted by: Glenn at 04/27/06 10:38 AM | Reply
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I saw and enjoyed a Juliana/Lemonheads concert in. . . what must it have been? 1992? I particularly enjoyed Evan's solo "Knowing Me, Knowing You." But I'd be remiss if I didn't call him an evil junkie, implicated not only in the recent death of Nikki Sudden, but also, unbelievably, in that of Nikki's brother, Epic Soundtracks:

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2006/03/nikki_sudden_ha.html

Incidentally: A good songwriter, but he totally ran that "I'm a sensitive teddybear who just needs a hug" schtick into the ground.

Posted by: David at 04/27/06 2:11 PM | Reply
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In all fairness, there is conjecture and gossip surrounding both incidents. But I presume Evan doesn't read Stereogum, so no harm done. . . that is how the internet works, isn't it?

Posted by: David at 04/27/06 2:17 PM | Reply
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As far as covers go, I always loved the acoustic/mellow-fied version of Misfits' "Skulls" form that "Spanish Dishes" (or whatever it's called) EP.

And no Juliana Hatfield, but howzabout the fact that the new lineup is 1/2 Descendents? HUH? WELL?!?

Posted by: Ben at 04/27/06 2:50 PM | Reply
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This could be great news if it doesn't suck. Dando's solo work was pretty good, so who knows. Now if only Weezer would reunite my early 90s catalog could be recreated in the new millenium..oh wait, Weezer just sucks now. My bad.

Posted by: Steve at 04/27/06 3:19 PM | Reply
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I guess you can count me in with those who really like It's A Shame About Ray--hey, I'm a sucker for pop rock. And that pic of the band, with Juliana Hatfield in her t and jeans, holding a beer and a cig--good times.
Actually, if I remember correctly, on one drunken shopping spree in 1993 or '94, I bought that Lemonheads album, the album by the JH Three(with "My Sister") and the new Breeders album. Not bad.

Posted by: Michael at 04/27/06 7:33 PM | Reply
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p.s. I thought "Into Your Arms" was originally by the Hummingbirds, although I had Robyn St. Clare as the writer.

Posted by: Michael at 04/27/06 7:36 PM | Reply
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Evan wasn't in the same country as Epic when he died, and he just happened to be on the bill with Nikki. Nikki died much later that evening at the apartment of a notorious junkie. Evan was close friends with both Epic and Nikki, and he grieves with the rest of us. I can't believe some asshole would try to implicate Evan for Epic's death; what a crock of shit.

Posted by: John at 04/28/06 12:19 PM | Reply
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When he's on, I put Dando up there with Westerberg (really) as one of the best songwriters of the 80's-90's even though both Westy and Dando have fallen of their paces. But listen to early stuff from albums like Creator and Lick and you can tell there was a great pop singer dying to get out, "Mallo Cup" is a masterpiece.

Posted by: ken at 04/28/06 2:21 PM | Reply
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Great work!
My homepage | Please visit

Posted by: Dean at 05/08/06 1:44 AM | Reply
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