Lemonheads : The Lemonheads : Review : Rolling Stone

For the Lemonheads' first album in ten years, singer Evan Dando has recruited a crack team of collaborators, including Dinosaur Jr's J Mascis and one of the most formidable rhythm sections in the history of punk rock: Descendents drummer Bill Stevenson and bassist Karl Alvarez. At its best, The Lemonheads sounds exactly how you want the Lemonheads to sound -- "Rule of Three," "Let's Just Laugh" and "No Backbone" apply that same gnarled mix of country, alt-rock and punk Dando has used ever since It's a Shame About Ray and Come On Feel the Lemonheads. But the better tunes were actually penned by Stevenson or Dando's old writing partner Tom Morgan, of the Australian group Smudge; few of the Dando-authored tracks can compare to Stevenson's hard-stomping breakup anthem "Become the Enemy" or the ode to his late father, "Steve's Boy." Dando does his dulcet-throated slacker-frontman thing as winningly as ever, which ought to set aquiver the panties of aging Gen X gals everywhere. Me, I'm saving the quivering for a Bill Stevenson solo album.