Baby Lemonade, one of the greatest hopes for Los Angeles rock & roll in recent memory, have delivered a second album which almost puts their excellent debut LP,
68% Pure Imagination, to shame. The band's influences -- from
Love (the group was
Love founder Arthur Lee's backing band prior to his recent prison incarceration),
Badfinger, and
Al Green to
the Clash are all synthesized beautifully on this record. It's a complete statement, an igloo of artistic integrity, and the
Baby Lemonade has its own unique style to a degree that most bands with far longer tenures will probably never achieve. The band's songwriters,
Rusty Squeezebox and
Mike Randle, have matured beyond any expectations, and despite the fine playing (especially drummer David Green's flawless performance) and singing, the songs are the stars here. "Better Things" is a gorgeous rock ballad that is poignant and beautifully sad. There's some great hard rock stuff on here, too -- "Greenboat," "Clap Your Hands" and the album's closer, "Underground D.J." (a probable single) are uniformly excellent. The album's centerpiece, "World Lines," is a psychedelic masterpiece, and it dwarfs any of the band's earlier efforts -- quite a feat, indeed. The record's production (by Darian Sahanaja and Nick Walusko of
the Wondermints) is an exercise in dimension and restraint that shows off all of Baby Lemonade's diverse talent, and this is one of
Exploring Music's secret ingredients. Rock & roll is in excellent shape in Los Angeles, primarily due to this band. ~ Matthew Greenwald