It's a shame about Ray

"It's A Shame About Ray, in its 2008 incarnation, is still a great album, but a palpably darker one. The original 29 minutes remain a compact pop thrill. "Mrs Robinson" remains a trouble-making aberration (and one left off initial pressings of the album). There's a sweet b-side, "Shaky Ground", and then nine solo demos that provide a rueful new coda. Beneath the fresh bubblegum zing, they reveal the truth about Evan Dando: long before fame got to him, he was exquisitely well-prepared to self-destruct".

"The slew of unreleased Ray demos is most welcome. Barely there home recordings of the songs on It's A Shame About Ray prefigure Elliott Smith and other four-track enthusiasts of the late '90s for their intimacy and the sense they give that young Dando wasn't the golden-haired pinup he was perceived to be, but a songwriter committed to spinning his musical and other obsessions in his own way".

"The album is a simple collection of sunny melodies and hooks, delivered with typical nonchalance by Dando. None of the songs are about anything major, nor do they have astonishingly original melodies, but that's part of their charm — they're immediately accessible and thoroughly catchy. Dando's laid-back observations of middle-class outcasts are minor gems".

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"It's A Shame About Ray delivered on Dando's promise. Half an hour of guitar-pop perfection, walking the tightrope effortlessly between laid-back melodies and rousing indie cool. It brimmed with the confidence of a songwriter peaking. The following years may have seen Dando dangerously slide into his own image, somewhat squandering his talent for a while, but thankfully, out the other side, he has continued to create".

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"If Lovey captured Evan Dando as he found his signature blend of punk-pop, jangle pop, and folk-rock, It's a Shame About Ray is where he perfected that style. Breezing by in under half-an-hour, the album is a simple collection of sunny melodies and hooks delivered with typical nonchalance by Dando".

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"The bonus material on this anniversary reissue bolsters the fact that Dando is one of the best songwriters of his generation, with an incredible ear for hooks and an appreciation of the pop greats before him. It's a Shame About Ray remains a near-flawless album in a genre described derisively, at the time of its release, as bubble-grunge. It's not edgy, and it's not complicated, but it's incredibly enjoyable and relatable, and that's what the Lemonheads have always done best. Frankly, there's no reason not to love it".

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"The Lemonheads' transition from fickle wastrels to purveyors of disarming guitar-pop was part accident, part design. Half the band quit after 1990's fractious 'Lovey', leaving Evan Dando and drummer David Ryan to recruit singer/bassist Juliana Hatfield. As a writer, Dando chose to start anew too, creating short, memorable, acoustic-rooted songs that swam against the prevailing tides of grunge and shoegaze ... The album proved a major breakthrough, both here and in the States".