A backwards bow from these returning '90s L.A. power pop wonders.
Baby Lemonade are known -- and warrant gratitude -- for serving as late-'60s legend
Arthur Lee's last incarnation of
Love. They played over 500 astonishingly good shows backing him when he wasn't incarcerated, 1993-2005. Who better to accept the challenge than a terrific band named after a great
Syd Barrett song from 1970s
Barrett, whose three LPs were a melodic gold rush in a menagerie of classic styles? They loved
Love,
Beach Boys (the killer "Tailor in the Making," the
Epic Soundtracks memorial "Song for Epic," etc.),
the Move (1998's
Exploring Music opener "Clap Your Hands"),
Standells,
the Merry Go-Round, etc., and dug
Flamin' Groovies,
Big Star/
Beatles hybrids (2001's High Life Suite title track),
Posies, and early
Three O’Clock. Attention might turn here to the July 2005 live cover of
Lee's immortal 1967 Forever Changes classic "The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This," flanked by original
Love guitarist Johnny Echols. (
Lee had cancelled due to illness.) But the rest of this crisp best-of demonstrates the value of their own songbook, packed with every such influence co-frontmen
Rusty Squeezebox and
Mike Randle could squeeze in. Best of all is a reminder of what
Lee and savvy L.A. guitar pop aficionados saw in them -- foreshadowing a fourth LP, and reissues of the first three. ~ Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover