The Lemonheads – Car Button Cloth (1996)

Car Button Cloth was not commercially as successful as the previous two albums by The Lemonheads. It's neither the album people normally mention first when talking about The Lemonheads. The most well-known album is probably It's a Shame About Ray, which, I agree, is a brilliant album. Nevertheless, there's something about Car Button Cloth that I really really like. It's not quite as straight forward college rock as the previous albums. There's great variety between the different songs, which makes it very interesting from beginning to the end. I first heard this album when me and a few of my friends were having an evening where we each would bring some albums that other people might not be that familiar with. We would then listen to the albums together. It was a great way to hear some new music. A friend of mine brought this album and I've been hooked ever since.



This was the last Lemonheads album released by Atlantic Records. After that, the frontman Evan Dando went on to a solo career and The Lemonheads didn't return until a decade later with their self-titled album. To this day, Car Button Cloth is my favourite album by the Lemonheads. It has some excellent alternative college rock, some folkier songs and some more punk oriented songs, all played with excellent authentic rock sounds. There are lots of similarities to other artists I have listened to over the years, such as The Replacements, Guided by Voices and The Posies.

The album starts with a great melodic rock song, It's All True, where Evan Dando's raspy vocals really show what they're made of. This song reminds me particularly lot of The Replacements. If I Could Talk I'd Tell You is a bit lighter upbeat song that has some interesting sound effects such as pouring water. The chorus is very catchy. Break Me takes a different type of approach. The vocals are quieter and there are some melancholic overdriven guitars that almost remind me of Sunny Day Real Estate's noise sound. If you had to explain to someone what 90's alternative rock was all about, you could just play them Hospital and they would sort of understand. This, slightly lo-fi song sounds like so many other bands of the time, most notably Teenage Fanclub during their Bandwagonesque era. I only just learned now that The Outdoor Type might not be originally by The Lemonheads. They give the credits to Tom Morgan, who was the frontman of Smudge. I always thought this song was originally written by The Lemonheads and later on covered by Frank Turner, but seems like it wasn't theirs either. I don't blame these people for playing the song as a cover though, because it's a brilliant song with brilliant lyrics. I myself have recently played this song a lot. Losing Your Mind is totally different from the first half of the album. This melancholic and emotional song has some truly great noise guitars. Something Missing on the other hand is pure college rock. The tight overdriven guitar riffs and punky sounds are great. Knoxville Girl is a traditional Americana folk country song that The Lemonheads play with their trademark noisy guitars. 6IX continues noisy and gritty college rock with excellent punk rock guitars. C'mon Daddy is a great gentle song that flows really beautifully. It sounds quite a lot like some of the ballads by Teenage Fanclub. One More Time is probably the most obvious hit song on the album. The riffs and chorus just invite you to dance and sing along and to party with all you've got. Tenderfoot sounds a lot like some of the songs by Guided by Voices. It's great songwriting, but the sounds a re quite muffled and gritty. The album ends with a sad ballad Secular Rockulidge that turns into proper hard rock around the half-way of the song. The latter part kind of reminds me of Pixies.

Like any self-respecting band in the 90's, The Lemonheads as well has some excellent music videos. The video for If I Could Talk I'd Tell You has a great, very 90's, video that features Evan Dando being pushed in a shopping cart around a carnival with bearded ladies, guy in a crawfish outfit, a clown and a dwarf. There's no real storyline, but all sorts of interesting things happen throughout the video.

I didn't really know The Lemonheads in the 90's when they were famous. Back then I only knew their cover version of Mrs. Robinson because it was featured in Wayne's World famous scene ripping off The Graduate. I'm happy I've found them later on though, because they are a really really good band.

Listen to the album on Spotify.