Dolly Mixture : Classic or Dud?

The best Dolly Mixture site with the most info can be found at:

http://www.elysium-london.demon.co.uk/Pages/dmcur.html

Oh, one of them used to be married to Captain Sensible (who they backed on 'Happy Talk' sad to say) and may still be for all I know/care. Think there's also an instrumental (?) ep by the DM that I've never seen/heard.

DM = possibly the greatest unknown indiepop band ever. The fact that nothing of theirs is currently in print is FUCKEN CRIMINAL

As for Dolly Mixture: you already know I'm gonna say CLASSIC.

Bob from Saint Etienne writes (October 11, 2004 entry):
Dolly Mixture CD... well yes, don't I wish I had a spare box of them. For anyone thinking of forking out fifty, sixty, or seventy quid for one, DON'T! unless you really can't wait. I know they are going to release their whole back catalogue at some point, in the next year or so.

THE WHOLE BACK CATALOGUE!!

It was great, especially the few live performances and a clip of them performing 'Happy Talk' on Top of the Pops.

Debsey was in the audience and was stormed by fans after the film finished. One girl in standing near me was too shy to approach, mirroring the end of the feature where 2 girls and their mother come backstage at ToTP to sheepishly grab and autograph.

Is this the long-rumored, never-completed Dolly Mixture film from the '80s??? PLEASE say there will be a DVD release. PLEASE.

Dolly Mixtures (*)
BBC director Simon West follows the early career of teenage Cambridge-based girl group Dolly Mixture, and how they fare in a male-dominated industry. This is the film’s belated premiere.
UK 1982, 30 min.

longer piece here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguide/features/story/0,,1497492,00.html

dud.

Back to Dolly Mixture, I wonder though, how many copies the reissue will sell. What other early 80's indie girl groups don't have a reissue readily available?

oh you beat me to it.

I've not seen anything by Strawberry Switchblade, except a pricey Japanese reissue years ago. Also, The Rosehips (the ones on Subway Organisation) who got really good just before breaking up.

i think the flatmates' stuff is out of print.

the funny thing about the shop assistants, i completely adore 3 or 4 of their songs--2 of which are some of my favorite songs ever-- and am almost completely indifferent to all the others.

Pleasure
Girls at Our Best!

1 used & new from $200.00

http://www.officialdamned.com/docs/bandmembers/captain/dolly/index.htm

Sorry.

I have a the Delta 5 singles, but I never could find a compilation of their stuff that supposedly came out at some point in the 1990s.

I don't know if anyone else here happens to know any more about it than that?

The A-side of their first single was produced by Eric Faulkner of the Bay City Rollers, fact fans.

I once played Debsey's boyfriend in a comedy sketch at school, a few months before the band formed (and became the toast of Cambridge). She also played a character called "Tonica Martini", in a spoof James Bond film that was made by some of my classmates.

Now if you want a CD copy of Devine & Statton's _The Prince of Wales_, that will cost you.

Not Dan,

This whole season of films has been such a pleasure, it's only been three consecutive Tuesdays but I'll miss it.

I managed to miss the post-screening fun because I had to jump in a cab to catch the Wolfhounds reunion show! That was tremendously good also.

Which is actually no bad thing imho.

Yeah, not to many people crying over the Delta 5 thing not having the Pre material. I wonder about that because I'm obsessed with the 2 Manicure Noise singles that came out on Pre and wonder if I could ever reissue those.

these cds share about half a tracklist, should have just made one 2 cd compilation.

overground has re-released a lot of their catalog wonder if they'll ever get around to shop assistants, i seem to have lost my copy.

That seems inflated. I got a copy at Rockit Scientist (not known for being ultra-cheap) for something like $20 last year, and he knew what it was. xpost.

I've actually had the five unreleased demos on cassette for awhile ("Now When I Count," etc.) and thought of throwing them online, but this site beat me to it. Which is just as well, because my cassette is extremely muffled and worn by this point.

Am I the only person here to defend See The Whirl? Overproduced it may be, but it's still pretty solid.

I would buy a PragVEC reissue - all I've heard is No Cowboys and "The Follower." They're interesting enough that I want more.

has anyone seen the dolly mixture film?

(this one: http://www.barbican.org.uk/film/event-detail.asp?ID=8032)

APPARENTLY there's a retrospective on the way.. there's been talk of a demo tapes reissue for ten-odd years now so i'll believe it when i see it, but nonetheless i'm excited..

more info here (ooh a three cd set!): http://anorakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1198&sid=de9d5366484c1a85aec14f4aa9810358&start=20

;_;

I would be very happy if this actually happens.

Need to sell my Demonstration Tapes CD on Ebay before this comes out!

The box set is scheduled to be released on 5th July 2010. 56 songs including everything released officially plus a disc of unreleased/live/demos/etc.
Also, a new website.

HOORAY

that puppy is preordered

Yeah, This is something to look forward to. It's going to be great to hear some new (to me) stuff by them. I've still never heard all the released stuff (Fireside EP has eluded me). Plus maybe this will lead to a bit of press and perhaps the documentary being made available.

i'm slightly surprised that there's not a dvd of it in the box..

The box looks pretty stunning as it is but that would've been a classy move. I can't complain though. It's pretty amazing that this is even coming out at all. I can't think of any comparable bands that have had had this kind of reissue treatment?

The Homosexuals?

Or possibly Orange Juice, with the Ostrich Churchyard/Heather's On Fire sets, although not all jammed into one box in that case. Still, these kind of things are rare.

YMG?

Now there's a reissue of the Demonstration Tapes on vinyl.

It's the same price as the box set which has everything and more (so to speak) so you would really have to be an enthusiast to pick this up.

if the box has been sufficiently well done i'll sell my original set of vinyl

Don't have any of this on vinyl so I don't have that dilemma. And the box looks beautiful.

I sold my Royal Mint CD a few months ago in anticipation of the box set, can't wait.

Got my box set today! Woo yeah

mine on the way, can't wait

OMFG!!!

Take a look at http://www.dollymixture.net/box-set.html

The booklet text you see quoted? I wrote that!

Debsey's partner contacted me a few years ago to ask whether it would be OK to quote an old 2003 blog post on a future re-issue, and I said: yeah, no problem, go ahead. Then I never heard from him again. So I'm dead chuffed that they finally sorted things out.

Debsey's partner

which would be Paul Kelly, brilliant graphic designer and former member of one of the greatest indiepop bands of all time, East Village..

Hey, neat news there Mike!

Paul Kelly, that's the one. He also partnered Debsey in Birdie as I recall.

This has totally made my day. Woo Dolly Mixture!

Aaargh, nooooo! Paul Kelly tells me that the photo on the website is of a mock-up version of the booklet; my text didn't make it to the printed version. Still, none of this alters the fabulousness of the musical content...

Ah, Birdie were so good. I'm gonna order me this box set.

despite my box turning up slightly bent >:( it looks lovely, gorgeous package, excellently done.

Agreed; it's a handsome package, with an excellent essay by Bob Stanley.

Saw Bob S last night, Mike. He hadn't realised you were the Mike who wrote the text at first, and he was saying how sad it was it had been dropped.

My vinyl reissue showed up in the mail today -- too bad they only made 300; hope they repress!

Ta for the info, ithappens. Bob's essay does a much better job, though; my 7 year-old blog post is as much about my own teenage angst as it is about Dolly Mixture, so I was surprised that they ever wanted to use it in the first place! And the Mixtures have been nice enough to send me two extra copies of the box set, so it's all good.

Debsey and Paul are DJing at the Lexington this sunday (that's islington, london, england, 2pm onwards)

Facebook Email:

"This Sunday, July 25th, Debsey Wykes (her out of Dolly Mixture!) and Paul Kelly (him out of East Village!) (the pair of them out of St Etienne!) are guesting on the decks.

There'll also be copies of the lovely new Dolly Mixture box set on sale, so purchasers can save on the postage fees."

had a dip-in listen this evening, the remastering is good if not entirely impressive, the disc of unreleased stuff pretty fantastic

Had a chance to pick up the box today at Amoeba for nothing due to store credit, yay. V much looking forward to this.

will Birdie ever release anything ever again?

i saw the dolly mixture doc last night w/paul kelly in attendance doing a Q&A. 40 minutes long, featuring great bittersweet and/or funny interviews w/debsey and hester and rachel and incredible 16mm color footage from the late '70s shot by a friend of the band's who followed them around for a bit. paul kelly is a charming dude, the music was tremendous (i'd never heard them before, my wife insisted that we had to go and she was otm), and it looks like i'll have to get that box set.

Definitely -- it's simply stellar, and Bob Stanley's liner notes are lovely.

great box, the third disc of unreleased stuff is the jewel in its crown

yeah the unreleased disc is maybe the strongest isn't it? it's a shame the documentary wasn't in there too, i'd love to see it again,

http://www.filmfriendsforever.com/events/take-three-girls-dolly-mixture-story

Lucky Brits, please post when it shows in the US or is available on DVD!

i should suggest they submit it to MIFF

yeah the unreleased disc is maybe the strongest isn't it?

But still, I was a big fan Birdie and have waited years to hear this stuff and it's living up to the legend.

i'd really want to find some birdie, any recommendations? are there 2 lps? have you heard the east village song debsey sings?

Some Dusty was the first album. Can't remember what the other was called, but it was pretty good too. Don't know the song you are referring to.

Hm, where there two other ones? Online covers look different from what I remember. Maybe I wasn't such a big fan after all.

it's on the (Paul Kelly's) east village album drop out, i assume it predates birdie. it's a lovely thing.

some of those birdie albums are vv hard to come by i think. there's also another band called biirdie, which might throw some people off.

the first birdie album is the best one - 'linus' in particular is up there with the best east village songs. the second one and the comp are both nice but don't have the same otherworldly edge

the second album is 'triple echo' and while i agree that 'some dusty' is better 'triple echo' is still pretty fantastic. the compilation 'reverb deluxe' is nice because it bridges both records if you don't have the singles. both are certainly miles better than anything saint etienne has released in the past decade. east village on the other hand, i had longed to hear them for so long, everyone always spoke in hushed reverent tones and then I did and it was pretty mediocre, up there with the Real People or the Dylans-blah. I am aware that this is not the prevailing opinion.

you got that right

both birdie albums are available on the dolly mixture online shop:

http://dollymixture.greedbag.com/

and "linus" is probably the best song ever written by anyone.

And Triple Echo has Poster, Monday and Rosie's Drugstore on it... if not for Linus, I'd say it was better than Some Dusty.

So, is anyone else going to tomorrow's screening of the Dolly documentary?

I totally would be but I'm on holiday at the moment... bad timing!

will Birdie ever release anything ever again?

― keythhtyek, Sunday, October 10, 2010 12:11 AM (6 months ago)

I'm very pleased to say that there is a new(ish) Birdie song on the Second Hangover Lounge EP, which will be out in the next few days! I love it, but then I would. Details will be posted in the coming days at http://hangoverlounge.blogspot.com (The EP should make it into quite a few shops in the UK for Record Store Day on Saturday, if any of you are interested).

More Birdie business, if anyone cares: they are playing an exceptionally rare live set for us on Saturday lunchtime, with David Tattersall of the Wave Pictures, and also with the wonderful Would-be-goods. More details here: http://hangoverlounge.blogspot.com/2012/01/birdie-return-to-stage.html

I care!

And here they were:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7156/6737999447_a5473c126a_z.jpg

They were amazing.

Wish I could have been there.

Nice! Got any pics of the Would-be-goods?

There are some here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.283477248374319.70866.165516670170378&type=3

There'll be some videos along by and by, no doubt.

It was a real pleasure to see both of these groups in an environment which was worthy of them!

Ooh, good work by Ms Jarvis there.

Looks fantastic. Thanks for that link.

I recorded the performances for the Daylight Music Podcast, Last Saturday's will be along at some point this year (there's quite a backlog) they can be found here:

http://www.jointhecircle.net/radio/?p=1684

Apologies for the advertising.

Thanks for the advertising!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmB-6Koyxl8

(That's "Let Her Go" rather than "Come Out Party" but that's not so important I guess.

Dolly Parton stands to make a new fortune off "I Will Always Love You""

Dolly Parton is set to earn millions from Whitney Houston's cover of her song I Will Always Love You, it has been revealed.

The track, which Whitney covered for the soundtrack of The Bodyguard, was originally penned by Parton in 1973.

Last month, Parton revealed to CNN that Houston's cover had already raked in lots of cash for her.
'When Whitney did it, I got all the money for the publishing and for the writing, and I bought a lot of cheap wigs,' she said.

Wrong Dolly thread.

Lolville indeed.

I'm presuming Debsey never wrote anything for Whitney.

Just breaking.

Thanks for the revive anyway, hadn't seen the recent youtube.

Time for a new screenname.

Debsey did write for Lena Zavaroni, though.

did the dolly mixture box set ever come out?

Yes, it did.

and presumably it is now long gone... :-(

Apparently so... :(

http://dollymixture.greedbag.com/dept/~dolly-mixture/

I have two spare copies.

(By "copies", I mean "original official versions", not "CDR knockoffs".)

do you mean the original demonstration tapes dbl vinyl alb, mike, or the 3 CD disc boxset? if the latter, do you have one for sale?

i used to own an original copy of the demonstration tapes, after the same friend (prettybluefox) who martin s mentions upthread played it to me and i then saw copies of it for sale in the Virgin Megastore, quite some time after it was originally released. Sold that many years ago, but the other day i was listening to a 'CDR knockoff' of the first CD reissue, and it still sounded terrific - especially 'side 3', always my fave - so i wld v v like to hear the unreleased stuff

The box set is an improvement over the earlier CD reissue soundwise I think. Never heard the vinyl.

You have mail, Ward...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VT82yIvSXA

Well I'm involved in organising this so I guess this counts as spam but I am delighted to say we have tempted Birdie out to play again, fot the fifth anniversary of this thing I help to do:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z_5ihPluXH0/US6MUepX5CI/AAAAAAAAAo0/WQj5UpxeJtQ/s320/the+hangover+lounge+2013+05+26+copy.jpg

http://hangoverlounge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/5th-birthday-party-starring-birdie-amor.html

will Birdie ever release anything ever again?

― keythhtyek, Sunday, 10 October 2010 00:11 (seven years ago)

Apparently a new single's on the way!

Reissue of Demonstration Tapes on vinyl:

https://www.monorailmusic.com/album/b33f0fa1-ff29-11e9-8305-1298a0617e72/Demonstration_Tapes.html

And some unreleased material that sounds essential:

Well, this is is something incredible. A new compilation album with unreleased songs (in some cases taken from casette) that captures the unbeatable spirit and energy of Dolly Mixture. Early recordings mix their winning punk attitude, 60's pop hooks galore and joyous originality which makes Dolly Mixture sound so fresh 41 years after they formed.

This album has been pieced together from original tapes and 1/4 inch masters. Side A is raw recordings and it just adds extra grit to the sweet indie pop delights of Dolly Mixture. Among the 11 tracks are two tracks that were recorded in 1978 at Spaceward Studios and intended as their debut 7", an alternate recording of How Come You’re Such A Hit With The Boys, Jane?, Covers of the Velvets Femme Fatale, Mott the Hoople's Foxy Foxy, Love Affair's Rainbow Valley, a Demo for Paul Weller's Respond Records plus five tracks recorded in 1984. These were the band’s final recording session and recorded at Treetop Studios, Suffolk. All tracks on vinyl for the first time.

Side One
1. How Come You’re Such A Hit With The Boys Jane? (Alternate studio version - previously unreleased recording from cassette)
2. Femme Fatale
3. Foxy Foxy (previously unreleased studio recording from cassette)
4. Night After Night (previously unreleased studio recording from cassette)
5. Divided By A Wall
6. Rainbow Valley

Side Two
1. Dust To Dust
2. The Same Mistake
3. Our Tune
4. Down The Line
5. Now When I Count

https://www.monorailmusic.com/album/fc545cf0-ff28-11e9-8305-1298a0617e72/Other_Music.html

Wow. I saw them many times between 1978 and 1980; Femme Fatale and Foxy Foxy were in their early sets (along with covers of Dizzy and Leader Of The Pack), and I remember Divided By Wall being talked about as their first single.

I don’t think we need to explain why you need to grab this now if you don’t have it already.https://t.co/h26evlVKQn pic.twitter.com/ICY4sYCUVP

— Slumberland Records (@SlumberlandRecs) March 24, 2023

I've been to see Rachel Love a couple of times in the last 2 years, tbh the fist time I just went because she was in one of the best bands of all time, so you kind of have to don't you. but she was great and played here again a couple of weeks ago and she played 2 of the harshest diss tracks of all time Miss Candy Twist and How Come You're Such A Hit With The Boys, Jane? - so I know who the Jane is in that song, but which obviously terrible music journalist was Candy Twist> I wouldn't want to be her tbh.

Jane is just the best song. I feel bad for not making the v recent show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUWsEtAJaR8

Supporting the Jam, sausages with the Bay City Rollers and defying skinheads: post-punk girl group Dolly Mixture look back

Well that made me dig out some things. On streaming media at least. It's a trip reading this thread and watching something go from almost unfindably obscure to accessible via a brief search. YouTube even delivered up the TOTP performance!

Sometimes you have to wonder if some material was so celebrated because it was so hard to find. But then you hear it, and nope. This is still startlingly fresh and lovely it feels like stumbling into a secret history of something you knew must have been there all along. But the piece goes a good way to explaining why they were so unjustly sidelined.

Does that article mention Birdie at all?

https://www.chickfactor.com/interview-birdie-gets-ready-to-reissue-some-dusty-25-years-later/

https://www.chickfactor.com/the-very-long-overdue-debsey-wykes-interview/

And, before I forget:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g2M01K6Q1Q

Didn't know they had their own thread--I posted about them in a different thread a few months ago...This has become an all-time favourite:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VstBuin9V6Q

yep, clemenza's post last year was what hipped me to them and they've been in sporadic rotation ever since. i only know them in hindsight, but what a bunch of heroes.

of course there were the go-gos, who were terribly successful as far as we could see.

cf: they were a teenybopper band. they were kind of like the spice girls in the u.s.

Uh, no

Debsey did write for Lena Zavaroni, though.

Indeed she did and it works, by Jove, it works!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9XQucaIhNw

Yeah, both the A-side and the B-side ("Dream Come True") were pre-existing Dolly Mixture songs that were a part of their live repetoire, so they weren't written to order for Lena.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOlnumOA1NU

this https://freq.org.uk/interviews/ian-button-interview/ towards the end mentions Railcard which is Rachel and Pete Momtch and ian

Didn't know about the revive--had "Never Mind Sundays" on a mix-CD in the car this afternoon!