Ray of Light

The Lemonheads

by M.J. Fine

M.J. Fine does it again

The Lemonheads It's a Shame About Ray (Atlantic/WEA)

The Lemonheads The Lemonheads (Vagrant)

When you look like Evan Dando, you can get away with a lot. Croon nonsense like "Ceiling Fan in My Spoon." Score free crack. Show up late to play a short, cranky and out-of-tune set. Let people think you bagged Juliana Hatfield. (She says he didn't.) Play coy about bagging and dumping an underage Bijou Phillips. (She says he did.) Get a couple of ringers and call 'em Lemonheads when it's time for the reunion cash-in.

Ten years after the last Lemonheads album and three after a decent solo record, Dando released The Lemonheads in the fall, with the Descendents' rhythm section filling in for the band's dozen or so former members. It's an amiable alt-rock effort; the should-be slacker hit "Rule of Three" would be catchy if Dando could be troubled to carry a tune. "Steve's Boy" is a tart slice of guitar squall and daddy issues, while "Baby's Home" recalls a more innocent time, when a cuckold would sooner kill his wife and her lover than join them for a cream pie.

Most of the flannel-flying fucks in the Class of '92 would sooner fry than claim innocence, but Dando could shrug it off. It's a Shame About Ray, The Lemonheads' breakthrough, teems with simple Gen-X indulgences like big, sloppy guitar solos and broken-home cynicism; it boasts the poppiest songs about auditioning to be a doormat ("Bit Part") and Dad's ambivalence toward Mom ("Confetti"). Hatfield's the perfect foil, playing boppy bass, cooing at all the right moments and channeling Rosie Perez on the intro to "Bit Part." But for the dude who single-handedly inspired the word "alternahunk," Dando seems to like the loner look. The gentle title track's a character sketch of a nobody who doesn't bother learning people's names; "Rudderless" makes you feel for a burnout who can't feel and isn't sure he wants to. One guy finds a temporary connection in "My Drug Buddy," but the chick isn't nearly as important as the shit she brings.

There's always something keeping Dando from falling too hard. "Alison's Starting to Happen" and "Kitchen" get lovestruck, but Alison's boy would rather keep his distance than climb into her arms and, well, Dando didn't write "Kitchen." (His pal Nic Dalton did.) As with certain buddies, fooling around is fun as long as things are light, but you can shrug off only so much. With Ray, The Lemonheads still had plenty of goodwill to coast on. After yet another cranky show like last month's at the North Star, even friends might be haters.

m_fine@citypaper.net)

Come on, befriend The Lemonheads at www.myspace.com/thelemonheads.