Evan Dando - Baby I'm Bored

Evan Dando's debut solo album arrived in 2003, not long after the country covers EP Griffith Sunset and 7 years on from the messy Lemonheads album Car Button Cloth.  This album is far more together than either of those.  It opens with the almost raunchy guitar of Repeat, swiftly followed by My Idea featuring some earnest strumming.  Proceedings darken a little for the woozy Rancho Santa Fe and the Bowie-inflected Waking Up.

Joey Burns and John Convertino were involved in the making of this album and you can hear their influence on the Americana-tinged Hard Drive, one of the catchier songs here, and also In The Grass All Wine Colored.  There's plenty here to please Lemonheads fans, songs like Shots Is Fired, It Looks Like You are up to scratch with his band's material.  The Same Thing You Thought Hard About has a more ragged edge but is really quite effective Dando clings on to the melody for dear life, and his vocal cords just about manage to keep the song in check. 

He hasn't left his country excursions behind, but the sparse, two minute Why Do You Do This To Yourself feels underwritten and doesn't really gel with the rest of the songs here.  The finest track is the sparkling All My Life, which has a yearning,  world weary melody and a moment of truth chorus: "all my life I thought I needed all the things I didnt need at all".  It's one of those wonderfully simple, yet effective songs that Evan Dando seemingly just tosses off effortlessly. 

Not a perfect album, but a must have if you like the Lemonheads.