It's a Shame About Ray


It's a Shame About Ray is the fifth album by American alternative rock band The Lemonheads. It was released on June 2, 1992. Tom Morgan of Australian band Smudge helped author the album while The Robb Brothers produced it. At the time of principal recording, the band consisted of Evan Dando, Juliana Hatfield and David Ryan. While not originally on the album, the band's cover of "Mrs. Robinson" was added to the album in later pressings after it became a major worldwide radio hit, and featured a later lineup of the band, with Nic Dalton on bass.

History

The title track was inspired partially by band leader Evan Dando seeing the line, "It's a shame about Ray" in a Sydney newspaper referencing the fact that Ray Martin had lost his job as the presenter of the midday show. "It's a Shame about Ray" was a big international hit for the band, reaching no.31 in the UK Top 100, as well as a #5 hit on the Modern Rock Tracks chart in America. The music video features Johnny Depp. The song was later included at #138 on Pitchfork Media's Top 200 Tracks of the 90s.. The album reached no. 33 in the UK Top 100.
"Alison's Starting to Happen" refers to Alison Galloway, the drummer for Smudge.
The album also includes a cover of the song "Frank Mills" from the musical Hair.
Pressure from the record label caused the title of the song "Drug Buddy" to be reduced to the less-provocative title "Buddy" when the album was reissued, only to be changed to "My Drug Buddy" on later releases.
"Confetti" and the title track were also released as singles in the UK.
Actress Polly Noonan and her car appear on the cover of the album.

Re-Releases

After its initial release, the album was re-issued with a cover of the song "Mrs. Robinson", originally by Simon & Garfunkel. This version was released as a single, recorded to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the release of the movie The Graduate, for which the song and video appeared in the DVD release. The song had been recorded in Berlin, whilst on tour, with Nic Dalton on bass guitar.
The album was re-issued as a collector's edition by Rhino in 2008. This edition includes several demo versions of album tracks, the B-side song "Shaky Ground", plus a DVD containing the previous VHS release Two Weeks in Australia.

Performances

The band performed the album in its entirety at London's Shepherds Bush Empire on September 14 and 15, 2005, as part of the All Tomorrow's Parties-curated Don't Look Back concert series. The cover of "Mrs. Robinson", a song that Dando grew tired of after its popularity, was missing from the setlist. However "Mrs. Robinson" was not on the original, first pressings of the album.
The Lemonheads announced an Australian tour for November and December 2010, where they would play the album, It's A Shame About Ray in its entirety, along with other select songs from their other albums.

Track listing

All songs by Evan Dando unless otherwise stated.
  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"
;Re-release bonus track
  2. "Mrs. Robinson"

    Personnel

;The Lemonheads
Album – Billboard
Singles – Billboard