Hmm, Lemony

It was a shame about Lemonheads.
They couldn't quite decide who they wanted to be.
Pulled between two worlds they were.
On one side, punk, grunge and going widdley-widdley-widdley-wee; on the other, sensitivity, indie stardom and the lure of poster-boy fame.

I experienced this first hand.
On the Lick tour, Lemonheads played at Kentish Town's Town & Country Club, and there was an obvious schism, two distinct audiences: punks enthused by early material and attitude, and female indie fans, ganged together at the front of the stage, staring up into the eyes of their beloved Evan.
It put the moshers right off.

Evan was quite happy playing to his new admirers, but for us others, it was all a bit embarrassing.
I lost interest in the band after that; and gave a knowing tut when 'Mrs. Robinson' started to get day time airplay on mainstream radio.

So Lick for me is really the last album they made that's worth listening to.
The punk attitude is still apparent, even if the shoegazing element has been turned up.
The songs are a little longer, and some of them even have a mosaic quality - the zeitgeist couldn't be ignored forever.

Interesting how they decided to end the album with two songs from the early part of their career: 'Sad Girl' from '87, and 'Ever' from '86'.
Mere nostalgia?
More likely their swan song.

Soon after, the band went through massive changes, and with Dando now fully in control, he commercialised the sound, signed with Warners, and adopted the definite article; always a sign that things have gone tits-up.
Like growing a beard.

Lemonheads - Lick (1988)

Mallo Cup
Glad I Don't Know
7 Powers
A Circle of One
Cazzo di Ferro
Anyway
Luka
Come Back D.A.
I Am a Rabbit
Sad Girl
Ever

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Misanthropy

'S funny, but when this came out, back in '88, boy, did it sound retro.
Now it sounds current!
Strange how things go.

To release a punk album - for that is certainly what this is - as a new band, when grunge had already begun, Aceed was in the house, and indie sounds seemed the most plausible alternative, was quite a brave move; it's surprising the Lemonheads got noticed at all.

Within the near relentless delivery, there is the odd suggestion of a bit of shoegazing - it was the late-eighties, after all - but Dando and co were yet to find their affinity with Dinosaur Jr et al, and were more interested in the past than they were finding inspiration in their contemporaries.
[Good for them!]
And in the true nature of punk rock, there isn't a song on here longer than three minutes, ten; and the shortest just passes fifty seconds.
And like most old punks: I like short songs!

As for 'Amazing Grace' (yes, it is that one), well, it's a comical filler I guess; if you can have a filler on an album twenty-four minutes long.
Or perhaps the Lemonheads were carrying forward the baton of a great tradition; continuing something begun by Judy Collins, Joan Baez and, er, Nana Mouskouri (although I've got a feeling it may be a little older than that...).

Aah, don't they look sweet.

Lemonheads - Hate Your Friends (1988)

I Don't Wanna
394
Nothing True
Second Chance
Sneakyville
Amazing Grace
Belt
Hate Your Friends
Don't Tell Yourself It's OK
Uhhh
Fed Up
Rat Velvet
Fucked Up

Decent vinyl rip @320kbs
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