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Friday 6th April 2012
All Day BBQ Festival

Sparrow and the Workshop
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On Our iPod

Golden Grrrls - New Pop 7”

Chris Devotion & The Expectations - Amalgamation & Capital (album)

Trailer Trash Tracys - Ester (album)

Throwing Up - Mother Knows Best 7”

Howling Wolf - Complete Chess Masters 1951-60

The Ketamines - A Rotten Bond/1 Yr (from Oddbox Singles Club Pt 2)

Cardinal - Hymns (album)

Proper Ornaments - Taking the Gamble Out of Buying 12”

Darren Hayman - January Songs (album)

Various: Marshall Teller EP 12”

Latest Forum Posts

Album Review

Dolly Mixture
Everything and More Dolly Mixture label

Article written by Paul M - Jul 18, 2010

Dolly Mixture

To the casual observer of musical history Dolly Mixture, were little more than a footnote; the three girls in cute frocks from Cambridge who supported Captain Sensible on his hits Wot and Happy Talk, the latter a number one smasheroo. Of course we, with our nappers chock full of far cooler bands, know they were more than just that. For Dolly Mixture invented indiepop. Ok, they didn’t work long into the early hours and cobble up a formula for all music that fits that loose label. And I’m sure Orange Juice, the Smiths, the Field Mice and the Pastels, amongst many, will claim their patents were pending too but Dolly Mixture, with their new wave take on the 60s girl group sound certainly went some way to inspiring a lot of female fronted jangly C86 bands including Talulah Gosh, the Flatmates and Shop Assistants, as well as many new bands from distant shores, particularly Brooklyn and Scandinavia, to this day.

Certainly their handful of releases from 1980 to 84 have been much sought after, shifting on eBay for shedloads, which is why this three CD box set is now so welcome. CD1 is the major coup, a repressing on CD of their own label long player the Demonstration Tapes, which first appeared in 83 in a double vinyl pressing of 1000 (it got a very limited CD reissue in the 90s). Re-mastered, it’s not as lo-fi as the name might suggest, fusing Shangri-Las harmonies with Undertones-like fuzzy powerpop sensibilities and despite its length, an incredible 27 tracks, it keeps throwing up bubbly belters on each play.

CD2, titled Singles, captures the As and Bs of the four 7”s and one 12” EP. It includes their two major career high points, the cheery New Look Baby and the seminal Everything and More and familiarity over the years hasn’t dulled the joy of hearing the eight tracks from the singles now. The CD finishes with the six tracks off the Fireside EP which showed the direction the band were heading in when they called it a day – very competent instrumental chamber pop. Lovely though they are, they sound somewhat odd alongside their earlier work.

CD3, titled …And More, is the rest of their recorded output; demos, live tracks and various songs that have never previously been released. It’s interesting and worth a few spins, particularly to hear their version of Love Affair’s Rainbow Valley.

The package is completed by a terrific 32 page booklet featuring pictures and notes by long term fan Bob Stanley of Saint Etienne. Bob of course appreciated what the girls brought to the musical banquette; no frills, cheery fayre that made you happy, while the journos of the time dismissed them as little more than Nolans-esq pop pot noodles. Bob's right and they're still very more-ish today.

Links:
http://www.dollymixture.net/