In June, 1992, the Lemonheads released their fifth record. “In the 30 years since its release, I have come to think of ‘It’s a Shame About Ray’ as a perfect album,” amandapetrusich writes.
In June, 1992, the Lemonheads released “It’s a Shame About Ray,” the band’s fifth record, and its first to garner international renown. The album featured the singer and guitarist Evan Dando, the bassist Juliana Hatfield, and the drummer David Ryan. Five months earlier, Nirvana’s “Nevermind” had landed at No. 1 on the200, and so-called “alternative rock,” as it was then known, was reaching a commercial zenith.
This month, “It’s a Shame About Ray” is being reissued with bonus material, including B-sides, demos, and radio sessions, and in April the Lemonheads will be performing these songs at a handful of tour dates. In the thirty years since its release, I have come to think of “It’s a Shame About Ray” as a perfect album. Certainly, there are records more sophisticated, more dangerous, or more expert, yet there are few so exquisitely self-contained.
“It’s a Shame About Ray” eventually went gold, yet for a while it seemed as though Dando himself might not survive the decade. In 1995, the band was scheduled to play at the Glastonbury Festival, in England; Dando arrived two hours late and was booed off the stage.
“It’s a Shame About Ray” was recorded at Cherokee Studios, in Los Angeles, and produced, at Atlantic’s suggestion, by the Robb Brothers. In the nineteen-sixties, the Robbs had briefly served as the backing band on “Where the Action Is,” a variety show hosted by Dick Clark, but by the early seventies Bruce, Dee, and Joe had become more focussed on production.