It’s About Time: Come On Feel The Lemonheads at 30
A personal reflection on a classic pop album
Few albums from 1993 defined the alt-rock scene like Come On Feel The Lemonheads did upon its release 30 years ago today.
For me, I was given quite a lot of shit for being a Lemonheads fan in deep red Ulster County, NY, where mofos hear a song like “Big Gay Heart,” and it pierced them so deep inside their souls it elicits a barrage of homophobic slurs from their rotten throats. Honestly, it said more about them than it did about me liking a song with the word “gay” in the title.
Released in the thick of grunge’s second wave with Vs. and In Utero coming out that same season, not to mention gangsta rap’s tight grip on the youth as well, a pure guitar pop album was surely a tough sell at the time. But then those melodies just hit you one after the other: “The Great Big No” → “Into Your Arms” → “It’s About Time” could be one of the all-time great three-song sequences to open a record, right up there with Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti and The Replacements’ Tim. Then Juliana starts in with her background harmonies on “Down About It” and “Paid To Smile” and you’re elevated even further into the bliss.
VIDEO: The Lemonheads “Big Gay Heart”
Then comes “Big Gay Heart,” Evan Dando’s graceful stab at a Gram Parsons country ballad that could arguably be the best song he’s ever written alongside his songwriting partner Tom Morgan, who co-penned most of these tunes. I remember putting “It’s About Time” on a mixtape for an ex-girlfriend, a woman who would grow up to become a staunch Trump supporter as fate would have it. Not that it matters, but I should have seen the signs when I learned that her favorite band was Diamond Rio.
When I think back to when Come On Feel The Lemonheads came out on October 12, 1993, a lot of time was spent listening to this record with crushes in mind as I hummed along to these emotionally honest songs. Even when you flip the tape over to the album’s more raucous side two, flanked by such crunchy gems as “Rest Assured,” the Nic Dalton-penned “Dawn Can’t Decide” and the Belinda Carlisle-assisted “I’ll Do It Anyway,” the romance is still in the air.
The album winds down, however, on a sweet note with the acoustically playful “Being Around” and the heartbreaking “Favorite T.” Then it’s one last Mats-ish blast with “You Can Take It With You” before closing out with the discordant piano instrumental “The Jello Fund” (don’t forget to stick around for the hidden tracks “Lenny,” “Noise Parts 1-3,” “The Amp Went Out” and “High-Speed Idiot Mode” — a mini-suite of madness that calls back to the experimental abandon of their early Taang! days).
Also, how could I forget to mention that Rick James, who would be put in jail shortly after this appearance, sits in with the band on the slowed down version of the punked-up quickie “Style,” appropriately dubbed “Rick James Style.”
Further kudos go to drummer David Ryan and Dalton on bass, who gave Dando his best rhythm section, and to the Robb Brothers behind the boards for giving the album such a crisp sound.
If you’re going to revisit Come On Feel The Lemonheads, definitely check out the 30th Anniversary deluxe edition out now on Fire Records. It adds a second disc of demos and acoustic versions, plus a host of one-offs from sessions and compilations like Evan Dando’s solo cover of Victoria Williams’ “Frying Pan” from the Sweet Relief charity album, a cover of “Little Black Egg” by The Nightcrawlers, Evan’s homage to Gram Parsons on “Streets Of Baltimore” and Buddy Holly’s “Learning The Game.”
Listening to Come On Feel at 50 is satisfyingly cathartic, having that full sense of comfort with myself at a half century as opposed to having just turned 20 in 1993. This album remains a vitamin boost to every big gay heart it entered.
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