Baby I'm Bored

1	Repeat 3:13
2	My Idea 2:34
3	Rancho Santa Fe 4:23
4	Waking Up 2:35
5	Hard Drive 3:14
6	Shots Is Fired 2:47
7	It Looks Like You 3:15
8	The Same Thing You Thought Hard About Is the Same Part I Can Live Without 3:42
9	Why Do You Do This to Yourself? 1:58
10	All My Life 3:11
11	Stop My Head 3:34
12	In the Grass All Wine Colored 3:26

Barnes & Noble

With his band the Lemonheads, Evan Dando became an alt-rock poster boy in the '90s -- his sweet and scruffy looks and voice the perfect vehicles for his melodic post-punk songs. Baby I'm Bored, Dando's solo debut, arrives a full seven years after the 'Heads last album, as the sandy-haired singer found himself hewing a little too closely to the excesses of his musical mentor, Gram Parsons. Now into his 30s, Dando emerges sober, though far from alone. Of the dozen songs here, all but one are collaborations with various musical pals, including Aimee Mann/Fiona Apple regular Jon Brion, Come guitarist Chris Brokaw, Spacehog frontman Royston Langdon, members of Giant Sand/Calexico, and Aussie tunesmith Ben Lee, who always had an Evan Jr. sound about his own albums. Parsons' spirit fills the regretful "It Looks like You," on which co-writer Brion contributes congenial harmonies, and the self-reflective Lee composition "Hard Drive," set aloft by Calexico's swaying rhythm section. Regret and reflection, it turns out, are consistent themes here, driving the self-indicting "Shots Is Fired," an intimate, demo-like recording on which Dando backs himself on acoustic guitar and piano; and the boisterous Langdon collaboration "Waking Up," which suggests Bowie or T. Rex with its thumping piano, gregarious handclaps, and Langdon's edgy backing vocals. On Baby I'm Bored, Dando sounds anything but -- having rekindled his musical fuse and connected on some memorable musical moments. Lydia Vanderloo

All Music Guide

After the Lemonheads' Car Button Cloth, Evan Dando disbanded the group and took a long, long break, sobering up and marrying, slowly resurfacing after over five years of inactivity. First, he played some gigs, commemorated on the U.K.-only live album Live at the Brattle Theatre, before he finally released his first official solo album, Baby I'm Bored, in the spring of 2003, a full seven years after the last Lemonheads album. It's unmistakably a Dando album -- lots of low-key, three-chord songs, sang in his achingly lovely voice, and lasting not a second more than need be -- not much different than a Lemonheads album, apart from the lack of fast songs, loud electric guitars, and a general sense of maturity that permeates the album. So, there are no surprises, but that's a comfort, really, because Dando sounds comfortable and relaxed, lending Baby I'm Bored a cohesion unheard on his records since It's a Shame About Ray. While the schizophrenia, marked by unexpected noise detours, aren't missed, this cohesion does mean that he doesn't hit dazzling heights, so there isn't anything as immediately indelible as "If I Could Talk I'd Tell You" or even "The Outdoor Life." That said, there is something to be said for consistency. Even if it seems unassuming and underwhelming upon its first listen, Baby I'm Bored with each spin reveals the uniform strength of the songs and the sweet, understated charms of Dando as a performer, since he makes the covers -- several of which are written by Ben Lee -- sound of piece with his own work. Make no mistake, this is a laid-back affair and it's a grower, which may lead some listeners to dismiss it out of hand, but anybody that has longed for Dando to finally return to music will surely find much to enjoy here. Stephen Thomas Erlewine