The Lemonheads: Come On Feel The Lemonheads : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Though the Lemonheads have long been hailed by college-rock geeks, the Boston trio's mainstream buzz has come via singer-guitarist Evan Dando's dimples. Babe-o-licious cover shots of Dando on countless magazines have attracted starry-eyed fans who would probably love the 26-year-old even if he sang like Barney.

On the band's fifth album, Come On Feel the Lemonbeads, Dando delivers clever wordplay and deep, harmonious vocals. On "Paid to Smile" he recognizes the landslide of poster-boy press he's gotten, then brushes it off. He would rather sing about everyday stuff, like how water goes down the drain backward in Australia, the loss of favorite T-shirts to former lovers and how it must feel to be a girl with razor stubble on your legs. The music surrounding these minitales is mainly melodic pop with a new-found country flavor, but like Dando, these sounds would rather have spur-of-the-moment fun than evoke deep passion.

Weepy steel guitar by legendary Sneaky Pete, once of the Flying Burrito Brothers, fills the pretty ballad "Big Gay Heart," the band's nod to Gram Parsons; the song wants to be sad but can't stop smirking. The Lemonheads seem too well-balanced to purge dysfunctional feelings and can't help clowning, even with song titles, to liven up emotional lulls.

The band thrives on bouncy power-pop songs like the quirky, acoustic "Being Around" and the off-the-cuff "You Can't Take It With You," on which Dando cracks up, laughing midnote like a stoned high-school kid.

Though Come On is the group's strongest album yet, it confirms that the Lemonheads, like all pinups, are primarily for fun.