Albums by this artist

Melody Of Certain Damaged Lemons (2000)

Blonde Redhead

Melody Of Certain Damaged Lemons

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» PIERO SCARUFFI | STAFF WRITER

Blonde Redhead Melody Of Certain Damaged Lemons Touch & Go, 2000 RiYL: Stereolab, Cibo Matto, David Bowie, Sonic Youth

Blonde Redhead seemed to have found their true voice on 1998's Expression Of The Inexpressible, which finally moved the New York band beyond the Sonic Youth comparisons that had dogged it for years. But its sequel, Melody Of Certain Damaged Lemons, is a completely different work and certainly Blonde Redhead's most accessible yet.

The tuneful, funky novelty "In Particular" is a light digression that draws inspiration from the likes of Stereolab, Cibo Matto and Pizzicato Five. Another swift, upbeat tune, "This Is Not," parodies the innocent refrains of '60s-era pop. These two songs are by far the band's most lively tracks ever, and may be unrecognizable to even hardened Blonde Redhead listeners.

As its title hints, melody rules in the hands of vocalist Kazu Makino. The trippy noir ballad "Hated Because Of Great Qualities" echoes David Bowie's "Space Oddity," while "Loved Despite Of Great Faults" is a Beatles song in disguise. "For The Damaged" is a piano ballad in a quasi-classical style. On Melody Of Certain Damaged Lemons, Blonde Redhead's intellectual bent has been sanded down, Makino has become a primadonna, and Sonic Youth is a fading memory.

PIERO SCARUFFI | Piero Scaruffi runs the exhaustive music database Scaruffi.com. A native of Italy, he has also been praised for his work on the General Theory of Relativity, formal theories of the mind, and artificial intelligence. And no, we aren't making that up.