#211: The Lemonheads - It's a Shame About Ray (1992)

Emily: Last week's episode of Girls aired early on HBO Go, so Zack and I watched it on Thursday night instead of the typical Sunday. The episode, oddly enough, was titled "It's a Shame About Ray." It's fitting, considering we found out that Ray (a recurring character, and now Shoshanna's boyfriend) is essentially homeless. A shame, indeed. The very next day, Zack emailed me a list of prospective albums for our next blog excursions. The very first one listed was The Lemonheads' It's a Shame About Ray. I immediately made the connection between the album and the episode title and selected it to be #211 precisely for that reason. The band name seemed vaguely familiar, but I wasn't exactly sure why. Were they featured in a Girls episode? Probs not, but even if they were that wouldn't explain the name recognition. As I listened to the album, I didn't recognize a single song, but I could tell that this was my kind of music. I'm always drawn to early-'90s alternative, college-radio kind of stuff, and this album fits the bill exactly. There's some pop, some guitar, some angry drums, and a good helping of early-adulthood angst. I was a fan all the way through, and upon hearing the last track I finally realized where I knew The Lemonheads from. The last track (actually a bonus not included on the original pressing) is a cover of Mrs. Robinson that plays relatively frequently on Radio 104.5. Aha! Mystery solved, and another awesome album has been added to my personal listening library.

Favorite Tracks: Alison's Starting to Happen; Rudderless; It's a Shame About Ray

Zack: Listening to various pieces of foundational alternative rock is kind of fascinating. You can see where certain bands branch off of and all the various influences. If you blur in punk and grunge and a few other notable subgenres, the web becomes almost infinitely expanding. There wouldn’t be a Coldplay without a U2. TV on the Radio, with all of their looping, wouldn’t have existed if not for Radiohead. Pixies and R.E.M. single-handedly created like a billion bands. Weezer made emo music. The list goes on. Now I don’t know the entirety of early '90s rock, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the Lemonheads spawned Fountains of Wayne, Death Cab for Cutie, Franz Ferdinand and a hell of a lot more than that. Internet capabilities are down across campus currently, so I can’t fact check that. Hell, I probably wouldn’t even if I could. But you listen to this album and you just hear that semi-poppy, still a bit melancholy tone. They switch up that formula by incorporating other genres into it – there’s even a country-esque jam – but the overall idea stays the same. And that idea would later be remodeled by like several boatloads of bands. So here’s to Lemonheads, one of the most influential alternative bands I’d never heard of.

Favorite Tracks: Rudderless; Alison’s Starting to Happen; It’s a Shame About Ray

#38: Simon and Garfunkel - Bookends (1968)

Emily: This album is split into two halves - Part 1 is a concept album about aging, and Part 2 is unused songs from the soundtrack to The Graduate. Oddly enough, the outtakes are much more compelling than the new material. The concept part was just strange to me. I mean, there's an entire track of just old people talking. Although the second half is perhaps less cohesive than the first, the individual songs are strong enough to stand on their own as singles. Overall the tone is quiet and wistful, which is not too exciting but is the classic Simon and Garfunkel sound.  I much prefer when they up the tempo, adding musical interest to Paul Simon's clever lyrics.
Favorite Tracks: Mrs. Robinson; A Hazy Shade of Winter; Save the Life of My Child

Zack: My first inclination for this review was to have Emily’s and my own overlap in a beautiful harmony. But then I realized that that may be a bit hard on our readers because our words would be so soothing that when you doubled them up it would just be too much. When I think of Simon and Garfunkel, I think soothing. Well, that, and this clip from an episode of Futurama… Bookends is no exception. It will caress you down into a relaxed state and sing to you beautiful words that mean very little when actually contemplated. One of my favorite quotes of all time is from an interview between Paul Simon and Dick Cavett where Simon explains that the reference of Joe DiMaggio. “It's about syllables, Dick,” he said. “It's about how many beats there are.” The pair would later go on to claim that the shout-out was because they wanted to honor the great DiMaggio for his integrity, but we all know that the real answer is the simple one. Bookends ultimately comes down to simplicity. There is nothing terribly complex about it, and its beauty lies in that fact.

Favorite Tracks: Mrs. Robinson; A Hazy Shade of Winter; Old Friends