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THE LEMONHEADS

The Lemonheads

The Hotel Sessions (RSD24 EDITION)

    THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2024 EXCLUSIVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE INSTORE ON SATURDAY APRIL 20TH ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

    IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 8PM ON MONDAY APRIL 22ND.



    The Lemonheads

    Fear Of Living / Seven Out

      The Lemonheads’ long-awaited return, a slice of perfect pop, with a grittier Evan Dando at the helm.

      Playing all the instruments on the lead track, the new single was recorded and produced by Apollo Nove in São Paulo, Brazil.

      Evan is currently working on the first Lemonheads songs since 2006.

      This limited seven-inch is backed with another piece of carefully selected outsider pop, a cover of Eugene Kelly’s (Vaselines and Eugenius) bittersweet ‘Seven Out’, on which Evan is joined by Jeff Berg on bass and Erin Rae on backing vocals.

      The Lemonheads

      Come On Feel - 30th Anniversary Edition

        Expanded 30th anniversary re-issue of The Lemonheads’ classic 1993 album. The breakthrough record that took American alt rock global and catapulted Evan Dando into the hearts of a generation. With a wealth of unreleased demos, alternative versions and rarities - including covers of Victoria Williams, Buddy Holly and The Flying Burrito Brothers plus The Lemonhead’s take on the Cole Porter standard ‘Miss Otis Regrets’.

        In the 90’s Evan’s Lemonheads produced hit after a hit, a string of super cool singles: ‘Big Gay Heart’, ‘Into Your Arms’, ‘It’s About Time’, and ‘The Great Big NO’. Pure genius filling the radio waves and taking the stage... Some 30 years on; Evan is still knocking that song writing thing out of the park and ‘Come On Feel The Lemonheads’ sounds as fresh and perky as it ever did. Amid the hits on the original record are stencils and outlines for yet more magical music and now this deluxe edition adds a second disc of demos and acoustic versions, plus a host of one-offs from sessions and compilations that add further colour to the myth and how it was created.

        There’s the in-demand combo lovingly covering Victoria Williams’ ‘Frying Pan’ from her ‘Sweet Relief’ album, which is joined by an eclectic set of flipsides and out-takes, like their version of original garage punk nugget ‘Little Black Egg’ by The Nightcrawlers, Evan’s homage to Gram Parsons on the winsome ‘Streets Of Baltimore’ and Buddy Holly’s melancholy ‘Learning The Game’. Evan knows a good song when he hears it, as ‘Come On Feel The Lemonheads’ certainly proved.

        TRACK LISTING

        Disc One
        Side A
        A1 The Great Big No
        A2 Into Your Arms
        A3 It's About Time
        A4 Down About It
        A5 Paid To Smile
        A6 Big Gay Heart
        A7 Style
        A8 Rest Assured
        Side B
        B1 Dawn Can't Decide
        B2 I'll Do It Anyway
        B3 Rick James Style
        B4 Being Around
        B5 Favorite T
        B6 You Can Take It With You
        B7 The Jello Fund ( + Lenny - Hidden Track)
        Disc Two
        Side C – Alternative & Acoustic
        C1 Big Gay Heart (Demo)
        C2 Being Around (Alternative)
        C3 Into Your Arms (Acoustic)
        C4 Down About It (Acoustic)
        C5 Deep Bottom Cove
        C6 Acoustic Rick James Style
        C7 It's About Time (Acoustic)
        Side D – Covers & Curiosities
        D1 Miss Otis Regrets
        D2 Learning The Game
        D3 Little Black Egg
        D4 Streets Of Baltimore (Acoustic)
        D5 Frying Pan
        D6 He's On The Beach
        D7 Favorite T (Live In Session)

        The Lemonheads

        It’s A Shame About Ray - 30th Anniversary Edition

          Lemonheads’ seminal album ‘It’s A Shame About Ray’, lovingly reissued for it’s 30th Anniversary. The long overdue reissue includes a slew of extra material, including an unreleased ‘My Drug Buddy’ KCRW session track from 1992 featuring Juliana Hatfield, B-sides from singles ‘It’s A Shame About Ray’ and ‘Confetti’, a track from the ‘Mrs. Robinson/Being Round’ EP, alongside demos that are released for the first time on vinyl. 

          Described by music journalist and author Everett True as “A 30-minute insight into what it’s like to live hard and fast and loose and happy with like-minded buddies, fuelled by a shared love for similar bands and drugs and booze and freedom.”. ‘It's A Shame About Ray’ had a considerable impact back in those heady, carefree days of '92, the record perfectly captures Dando’s ability to effortlessly encapsulate teenage longing and lust over the course of a two-minute pop song.

          Singles such as 'My Drug Buddy' and the breezy perfect pop of the title track might stand out (plus the add-on of 'Mrs. Robinson' which later copies included), but the album's real strength lies in the tracks in-between; the truly fantastic 'Confetti' (written about Evan's parents' divorce), and the eye-wateringly casual acoustic cover of 'Frank Mills' (from the "hippie" musical Hair), a version that seems to resonate with every ounce of pathos and emotion felt for the lost 1960s generation. To hear Evan Dando sing lines like 'I love him/but it embarrasses me/To walk down the street with him/He lives in Brooklyn somewhere/And he wears his white crash helmet' is to truly appreciate how wonderful and tantalising pop music can be. Then, there's the rush of insurgency and brattishness on the wonderfully truncated 'Bit Part'; the topsy-turvy 'Ceiling Fan In My Spoon'... this was male teenage skinny-tie pop music on a level of brilliance with The Kinks, early Undertones, Wipers.

          TRACK LISTING

          It's A Shame About Ray
          1 Rockin' Stroll
          2 Confetti
          3 It's A Shame About Ray
          4 Rudderless
          5 My Drug Buddy
          6 The Turnpike Down
          7 Bit Part
          8 Alison's Starting To Happen
          9 Hannah & Gabi
          10 Kitchen
          11 Ceiling Fan In My Spoon
          12 Frank Mills

          Essential Extras
          1 Mrs Robinson
          2 Shakey Ground
          3 My Drug Buddy (KCRW Session, 1992)
          4 Knowing Me, Knowing You (Acoustic)
          5 Confetti (Acoustic)
          6 Alison's Starting To Happen (Acoustic)
          7 Divan

          Demo Recordings
          1 It's A Shame About Ray (Demo)
          2 Rockin' Stroll (Demo)
          3 My Drug Buddy (Demo)
          4 Hannah & Gabi (Demo)
          5 Kitchen (Demo)
          6 Bit Part (Demo)
          7 Rudderless (Demo)
          8 Ceiling Fan In My Spoon (Demo)
          9 Confetti (Demo)

          The Lemonheads

          Lovey

            Ltd edition BOOKBACK CD companion to the Deluxe vinyl reissue of The Lemonheads ‘Lovey’ for Record Store Day 2020, housed in a bookback sleeve with expanded liner notes and unseen photos – this is the definitive document of Dando’s first steps towards the mainstream. The lovingly repackaged CD is accompanied by a second disc, ‘Triple J Live at the Wireless’, an unearthed radio session taken from their 1991 trip to Australia.

            The major label debut for Evan Dando’s Lemonheads from 1990, following three “ramshackle punk” (©Select magazine) albums for Taang! Pivoted on a more approachable set of sweet melodies still rife with punky spirit. A light and dark album, polished in the arrangements, nodding to the excess of American culture (Manson and Gummi Bears), hectoring Reagan’s drug laws (‘Lil’ Seed’), riffing on everyday life.

            Remastered with a freshly-dusted off second album featuring a full radio session recorded during their trip to Australia to promote the album and their gorgeous cover of Gram Parsons’ ‘Brass Buttons’.

            “Like Hüsker Dü when they were at their most ferocious or REM when they were at their most Byrdsian hypnotic.” NME

            TRACK LISTING

            Disc One
            The Lemonheads - Lovey
            1 Ballarat
            2 Half The Time
            3 Year Of The Cat
            4 Ride With Me
            5 Lil Seed
            6 Stove
            7 Come Downstairs
            8 Left For Dead
            9 Brass Buttons
            10 (The) Door
            11 Untitled

            Disc Two
            The Lemonheads - Live At The Wireless
            1 Come Back D.A.
            2 Stove
            3 A Song For You
            4 Come Downstairs
            5 Nighttime (Big Star Cover)
            6 Year Of The Cat
            7 Ride With Me
            8 Die Right Now

            The Lemonheads

            Can't Forget / Wild Child

              LTD pressing of AA 7" single. 1000 pressed. “No strangers to a cover, The Lemonheads perfect the art” NME // Limited edition pressing of AA 7” single, ‘Can’t Forget’ is the lead single, and Yo La Tengo cover, from the new Lemonheads album. AA-side is unreleased cover of Lou Reed’s ‘Wild Child’ this is an exclusive and not on the album. Produced by Matthew Cullen and mastered by Howie Weinberg (Beastie Boys, Nirvana, The Ramones). It’s nearly ten years since The Lemonheads strummed to a halt on their ninth studio album, a perky well received set of covers that brought together many unlikely bedfellows (Gibby Haynes produced, Kate Moss did a cameo vocal). The band’s follow up repeats the formula with Evan way out upfront, his emotive slow maturing vocal making sense of another wide-beam playlist. He really has become one of the great expressive singers. “Heartfelt songs and a honey voice with which to sing them” GQ // “Boppy, overcast alt-rock delivered at a fast clip and sung in a whiskey tenor” Pitchfork // Track List A – Can’t Forget AA – Wild Child

              The Lemonheads follow up the critically acclaimed ‘Varshons’ from nearly ten years ago with another eclectic collection of covers.

              Produced by director Matthew Cullen and mastered by Howie Weinberg (Beastie Boys, Nirvana, The Ramones), their tenth studio album brims with the slowly-matured vocal of Evan Dando as he lures a host of personal faves to his melodic lair. He really has become one of the great expressive singers of our time.

              ‘Varshons 2’ is a hokey jukebox filled with unique versions of Yo La Tengo, Nick Cave, The Bevis Frond, NRBQ, The Eagles, Paul Westerberg, The Jayhawks, Lucinda Williams and John Prine.

              Like Hank Williams slumped in his car between gigs, strumming and hollering, reasoning and weeping, humming it on over, Evan and his Lemonheads make every tune their own.

              STAFF COMMENTS

              Barry says: Though it's been ten years in the making, the second iteration of their 'Varshons' series sees The Lemonheads covering a host of excellent originals with style and grace. Where else could you get a masterful combo of John Prine and Nick cave on the same LP? Not many places i'd wager. A superb second outing, and yet more proof of the Lemonheads' continuing relevance.

              TRACK LISTING

              1 – Can’t Forget
              2 – Settled Down Like Rain
              3 – Old Man Blank
              4 – Things
              5 – Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness
              6 – Abandoned
              7 – Now And Then
              8 – Magnet
              9 – Round Here
              10 – TAQN
              11 – Unfamiliar
              12 – Straight To You
              13 – Take It Easy

              Fire Records will be reissuing the first 3 albums by the Lemonheads, Hate Your Friends (1987), Creator (1988) and Lick (1989), featuring copious bonus tracks and many never-before released rarities and live recordings. Together, these seminal albums showcase the band's early punk rock roots and trace the Lemonheads’ transformation towards becoming one of the most successful and influential bands in indie rock. Before the 90s. Before the internet. Before Nevermind. Back when something called “independent music” first began reaching a wider audience, through college radio, word-of-mouth, and that small “underground” record store you seem to find in every town…there was a band from Boston called Lemonheads.

              High school friends Ben Deily and Evan Dando, Lemonheads’ primary songwriters, co-guitarists and co-vocalists, first recorded together on 4-track cassette in the spring of 1985; by the end of the decade they—together with bass player Jesse Peretz, sometimes-guitarist Corey Brennan, and successive drummers Doug Trachten and John P. Strohm—had created a body of recordings which would see them on MTV’s fledgling “120 Minutes,” beating out the Grateful Dead on college radio charts, and entering the consciousness of a generation of music fans. Cited as influences by artists as varied as Billie Joe Armstrong and Ryan Adams, these fledgling Lemonheads recordings—part rock, part pop, part unique hybrid of the 80s punk styles beloved by the band members—mark the start of the trajectory that would eventually lead to “mainstream” success and stardom for a later version of the band. But they also represent a distinct, never-repeated phase of the band’s history: one that is finally receiving the attention it deserves.

              Lick is the third full-length album by the Lemonheads, and the last to feature founding member Ben Deily. It was the group's last independent label-released album before signing to major label Atlantic. An odd mixture of brand-new, and considerably older, sounds, 1989’s Lick brings together the output of several distinct recording sources: six brand new songs recorded with Minneapolis-based band friend and producer Terry Katzman, and a collection of older, B-side and never-released material originally overseen by producer and engineer Tom Hamilton. The difficulties of writing and creating a new full-length album every year (Hate Your Friends and Creator were released in 1987 and 1988, respectively) are clearly in evidence on Lick. While the newest material (“Mallo Cup,” “A Circle of One,” “7 Powers,” “Anyway”) hints at promising new song writing directions for both Deily and Dando, there’s an almost valedictory sense of the past in the inclusion of versions of “Glad I Don’t Know” and “I Am a Rabbit” (from the band’s first-ever, self-released EP), and the now-classic track “Ever,” a previously-unreleased tune from the original 1986 Hate Your Friends sessions.

              At moments, Lick almost sounds like an elegy for itself—or an elegy for a band that has reached the end of the beginning. Also audible in the heterogeneous songs are the tensions of line-up changes—and inchoate, growing frustrations. After various band break-ups or threatened break ups (such as Dando’s brief departure to play bass for Boston band the Blake Babies), the Lemonheads convened to record new material for Lick now featured Dando on drums, Peretz on bass, Deily on guitar (and “piano,” according to the album credits) along with the addition of long-time band friend—and former member of TAANG! labelmates Bullet LaVolta—Corey Loog Brennan on lead guitar. And yet the frenzied, quasi-ironic hammer-ons of Corey’s axe provide some of Lick’s most entertaining moments—like the unaccountably-translated-into-Italian paen to 70s detective Ironside, “Cazzo Di Ferro.” (The song’s music was originally composed by Brennan for his Italian punk band, Superfetazione.) After the album’s completion, Deily opted out of the subsequent European tour, before leaving the band permanently. Jesse Peretz stayed on to record their Atlantic records debut Lovey, but left after the supporting tour in '91. Since then, Dando has been the Lemonheads' sole permanent member.

              BONUS TRACKS: Features bonus tracks including several never-before-released live tracks from a 1987 radio session, live tracks and an interview from the 1989 European tour, and the 4 tracks of the Lemonheads self-released debut EP, Laughing all the way to the cleaners.

              TRACK LISTING

              1. Mallo Cup
              2. Glad I Don't Know
              3. 7 Powers
              4. A Circle Of One
              5. Cazzo Di Ferro
              6. Anyway
              7. Luka
              8. Come Back D.A.
              9. I Am A Rabbit
              10. Sad Girl
              11. Ever
              12. Strange
              13. Mad
              14. Sad Girl (1987, Live On WERS)
              15. Nothing True / Glad I Don't Know (1987, Live On WERS)
              16. Luka (Live On VPRO 1989)
              17. Interview With Lemonheads (Holland 1989)
              18. Mallo Cup (Live On VPRO 1989)
              19. Glad I Don't Know (Original EP Version)
              20. I Like To (Original EP Version)
              21. I Am A Rabbit (Original EP Version)
              22. So I Fucked Up (Original EP Version)

              Creator is the second album by legendary Boston band The Lemonheads. Still featuring the full original line-up of Evan Dando, Ben Deily, and Jesse Peretz, the album also includes John P. Strohm (of the Blake Babies, Antenna, and Velo-Deluxe) on drums. From the oddly surreal album cover image (a snapshot of friend and high school classmate Ivan Kreilkamp, originator of the name “Lemonheads,” clutching a box of Cheerios) to the themes of death, dreams, obsession, and mayhem that haunt the material, Creator is weird, ambitious, and markedly moodier than its predecessor—without having lost the band’s irreverent sense of humour. Also evident in this sophomore effort is a newfound attention to idiosyncratic detail—from the precisely timed inter-song pauses and sound clips, to the carefully-crafted song order of the album’s original 13 tracks.

              Creator finds Ben Deily once again slipping in quotations from Emily Dickinson (“Burying Ground”) and references to Matthew Arnold (“Come to the Window”), while Dando breaks new ground in song writing complexity (the rich sonic tapestry of “Out”) as well as arrangement, ushering in the band’s first-ever acoustic recording (his cover of Charles Manson’s “Your Home Is Where You’re Happy”). At the same time, the band still fires off blistering punk rock (“Clang Bang Clang,” “Die Right Now,” “Take Her Down”) and finds time to lovingly trash Kiss’ 1977 classic “Plaster Caster.” Recorded in one coherent series of sessions—unlike its predecessor, Hate Your Friends, and its follow-up Lick—Creator is, for all its musical schizophrenia, arguably the most coherent of the Lemonheads’ TAANG-era recordings.

              BONUS TRACKS: This Fire Records re-issue features bonus tracks including never-before-released live tracks from a 1988 radio session (featuring a never-before-heard configuration of the band, including guitarist Ben Deily on bass and vocals); also includes an original song (“Cease to Exist”) never released on any album, and a performance by Juliana Hatfield.

              TRACK LISTING

              1. Burying Ground
              2. Sunday
              3. Clang Bang Clang
              4. Out
              5. Your Home Is Where You're Happy
              6. Falling
              7. Die Right Now
              8. Two Weeks In Another Town
              9. Plaster Caster
              10. Come To The Window
              11. Take Her Down
              12. Postcard
              13. Live Without
              14. Sunday (1987, Live On WERS)
              15. Cease To Exist (1988, Live On WERS)
              16. Burying Ground (1988, Live On WERS)
              17. If Only You Were Dead (Early Mallo Cup) (1988, Live On WERS)
              18. Out (1988, Live On WERS)
              19. N.I.B. (1988, Live On WERS)
              20. Clang Bang Clang (1988, Live On WERS)
              21. Take Her Down (1988, Live On WERS)
              22. Falling (1988, Live On WERS)
              23. Instrumental (1988, Live On WERS)
              24. From Here To Burma (With Juliana Hatfield) (1988, Live On WERS)

              Hate Your Friends is the 1987 debut album by the Lemonheads, one of only three full-length releases to feature the original band line- up of Evan Dando, Ben Deily, and Jesse Peretz. The album showcases a hardcore-punk-to-pop-rock sound and sensibility as playfully fierce as it is surprising…especially to listeners who know the band only from their better-known major label recordings of the 1990s.

              The roots of Hate Your Friends begin with the genesis of the band itself: when high school friends Ben Deily and Evan Dando—inspired by a shared love of the 70’s absurdist comedy troupe the Firesign Theatre, literature, and punk rock—began playing their own songs together in 1985. Dando and Deily first started out as a two-piece ensemble: swapping back and forth between a shared Guild guitar (and a crappy amp) and vocal mic, and pounding a drum kit “borrowed” from the high school jazz band. With the addition of classmate and friend Jesse Peretz on bass, the two-man outfit quickly became a power trio. With a handful of original songs, a passionate love for their favourite bands—from Husker-Du, the Replacements, Black Flag and the Germs, to the Saints, Wire and ‘77 UK punk—and a tiny recording budget, the Lemonheads set about their first studio session within days of their high school graduation in June of 1986.

              During that summer, a significant amount of what would become the band’s debut album was recorded in Brookline, Massachusetts, with Deily and Dando sharing vocal, guitar and drumming duties. Above and beyond bass, Jesse proved pivotal as the band’s manager, booker and tireless promoter—helping arrange for the Lemonheads self-released debut EP, Laughing all the way to the cleaners, later that summer, and shortly thereafter helping establish the relationship with Curtis Casella of TAANG! records that paved the way to full-length LP Hate Your Friends. Finally, with the addition of full-time (and fairly short-lived) drummer Doug Trachten, the last songs of Hate Your Friends were recorded in the winter of 1986-7.

              BONUS TRACKS: This Fire Records re-issue features bonus tracks including 12 never-before-released live tracks from a 1987 radio session, rare tracks from the early compilation Crawling From Within, and additional tracks not included on the original release of Hate Your Friends (“Buried Alive” and “Gotta Stop”).

              TRACK LISTING

              1. I Don't Wanna
              2. 394
              3. Nothing True
              4. Second Chance
              5. Sneakyville
              6. Amazing Grace
              7. Belt
              8. Hate Your Friends
              9. Don't Tell Yourself It's OK
              10. Uhhh
              11. Fed Up
              12. Rat Velvet
              13. Fucked Up
              14. Mod Lang (From 'Crawling From Within' Compilation)
              15. Buried Alive
              16. Gotta Stop
              17. Sad Girl (From 'Crawling From Within' Compilation)
              18. Belt (1987, Live On WERS)
              19. 394 (1987, Live On WERS)
              20. Falling (1987, Live On WERS)
              21. Don’t Tell Yourself (1987, Live On WERS)
              22. Uhhh (1987, Live On WERS)
              23. Amazing Grace (1987, Live On WERS)
              24. Rat Velvet (1987, Live On WERS)
              25. Second Chance (1987, Live On WERS)
              26. Sneakyville (1987, Live On WERS)
              27. I Like To (1987, Live On WERS)
              28. So I Fucked Up (1987, Live On WERS)
              29. Sick Of You (1987, Live On WERS)
              30. Hate Your Friends (1987, Live On WERS)

              The Lemonheads

              Hotel Sessions

                "Hello you!! The record you hold in your hands (or clicked on with your mouse) represents the fulfilment of a little dream I had a long time ago, or for a long time. Or is it a long dream I had a long time ago for a short while - or was it a big dream I've had for a long time. Well, anyway I've always wanted to make an "Album" for 53 dollars - Walkman 50 , tape 3 bucks. Oh to record live to cassette, master it and put it out ... I have finally done it ! I recorded this here biscuit in and around either December '92, or Feb '93. I remember it was a sunday night in Bondi - the night the "Car Enthusiasts come out. I had just returned to Australia - my home away from home- from our first Japanese tour. Life was good. I made this tape for our Aussie agent of that time, Stephen Pavlovic. I am forever grateful to this man for introducing me to Australia and a grand gang of Australians!

                This LP documents a lovely lull in the action. a Sunday night into morning to collect myself and my songs. The songs that would be on our next album. some of these never made it and the "Into Your Arms " I did here is better than the one on the album (I like it anyway). So sit back, snort some no doze and listen for the tunes, the sea, the tape hiss (ahhh), the cars, the birds the trucks, and the killer motorcycle at the end of being around!! Wherever you live I'll be back there soon, inshallah!!!. Until then let's all make the most of the tail-end of sex with furniture -Yours ever faithfully” - Evan G Dando.



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