Lemonheads

Evan Dando's reconstituted Lemonheads line-up haven't sparked his creative juices. Instead of new material, this latest release offers a collection of demos from the height of the band's early '90s popularity. Recorded to four-track while on tour in Australia, Hotel Sessions is billed as the Lemonheads at their most stripped down. These 14 tracks find Dando, then still riding the first wave of alt-rock fame, laying down demoes for what would become Come on Feel… for the band's manager. Come on Feel… would be their most elaborately produced effort, but its glossy style isn't far removed from these surprisingly fleshed out sketches. More than two-thirds of the final record is already here and most of the tracks sound more or less as they appear on the finished product. Dando delivers two songs that didn't make the cut ("Superhero" and a track written by at-the-time bass player Nick Dalton, "And So the Story Goes"), while "Dawn Can't Decide," which Dalton also wrote, "Rick James Style," "Favourite T" and "The Jello Fund" are all missing. More than anything, Hotel Sessions sounds like one of Dando's solo acoustic tours of recent years. What's of value for fans is Dando's commentary, as he intros each song, describing what each is about or his plans for it in the studio. Far from essential, Hotel Sessions is a glimpse of a once great songwriter in mid-process.