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A new compilation album that captures the spirit and energy of Dolly Mixture. They mix a punk attitude, ’60s pop, hooks galore and that special magic dust that makes Dolly Mixture still intriguing 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 these 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 and Mott the Hoople’s Foxy Foxy, 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.
Our take: The UK’s Sealed Records is establishing themselves as one of the foremost punk reissue labels on the planet, and this latest LP from Dolly Mixture continues their hot streak. Dolly Mixture is a pretty obscure band—they never released a proper LP, which didn’t help their legacy—but they’re the very definition of a cult band, with a passionate fanbase who keeps prices on their hard-to-find original vinyl releases sky-high. Their self-released Demonstration Tapes double LP compilation, in particular, is many a collector’s holy grail. Musically, they sound to me like a missing link between the homespun UKDIY pop of bands like Television Personalities and the early shoegaze bands. Like the TVPs, they’re rough around the edges but have great pop songcraft (and awesome bass playing!), but on their later material they’re somewhat darker and more influenced by the Velvet Underground. Other Music collects eleven tracks that have never appeared on vinyl before, ranging from across their original time as a band, which ran from 1978 to 1984. I’m no expert on the band, but if you’re interested in Dolly Mixture, I don’t see why you shouldn’t pick up Other Music. If you’re a die-hard fan of the band, you’ll want these tracks on vinyl, but if you’re a newcomer, Other Music offers a more digestible introduction to the band than either Demonstration Tapes or the Everything and More compilation, both of which are so long as to be unwieldy. You’d better make your choice quickly, though, as demand seems to be exceeding supply on this release.