History
The album and its title track was inspired partially by a club owner who called everyone 'Ray'. Band leader Evan Dando later saw the actual line, "It's a shame about Ray" in a Sydney newspaper article about something that happened to a child named Ray. "It's a Shame about Ray" was a big international hit for the band, as well as a #5 hit on the Modern Rock Tracks chart in America. The song was later included at #138 on Pitchfork Media's Top 200 Tracks of the 90s.
"Alison's Starting to Happen" refers to Alison Galloway, the drummer for Smudge. The album also includes a cover of the song "Frank Mills" from the musical Hair.
The band performed the album in its entirety at London's Shepherds Bush Empire on September 14 and 15, 2005, as part of the All Tomorrow's Parties-curated Don't Look Back concert series. The cover of "Mrs. Robinson", a song that Dando grew tired of after its popularity, was missing from the setlist. However "Mrs. Robinson" was not on the original, first pressings of the album.
"Confetti" and the title track were also released as singles in the UK.
The album was re-issued as a collector's edition by Rhino in 2008. This edition includes several bonus demo versions of album tracks, along with the B-side "Shaky Ground" plus a DVD containing the previous VHS release Two Weeks in Australia.
The Lemonheads announced an Australian tour for November and December 2010, where they would play the album, It's A Shame About Ray in its entirety, along with other select songs from their other albums.
Read more about this topic: It's A Shame About Ray
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