The Lemonheads @ Òran Mór, 5 December

Live Review by Sam Wiseman | 09 Dec 2011

There’s always been something appealingly incongruous about Evan Dando’s approach: simultaneously an angst-ridden college rock icon, and the lovable creator of gorgeously countrified indie, he’s rarely allowed his impulses to be restrained by calculated aesthetic judgements. The Lemonheads’ classic 1992 record It’s a Shame About Ray, however, largely eschews that capriciousness: it’s a carefully-crafted, and unusually coherent, collection of deceptively intricate songs.

In other words, you might think, it’s a record perfect for tonight’s start-to-finish run-through. Despite the flawless rhythm section, however, Dando is characteristically uninterested in recreating the record’s nuances. His endearing enthusiasm – he clearly still loves playing these songs, almost twenty years on – brings out the poignancy of the album’s slower tracks, particularly Frank Mills.

Many of the Lemonheads’ finest songs, though, combine that enthusiasm with deceptively knotty and fast-paced chord progressions, which inevitably become muddied as Dando rushes exuberantly through them; Rockin’ Stroll and, after the Ray set, If I Could Talk I’d Tell You, are cases in point. It’s a problem not helped by the bass-heavy sound and dodgy acoustics of Oran Mor’s upstairs venue. As a presentation of a classic record, then, tonight feels a little misguided; but Dando’s engaging unpredictability generally makes up for such setbacks.

Laughing All The Way To The Cleaners - The Best Of The Lemonheads is released on 2 Jan http://www.thelemonheads.net