Dolly Mixture
Encyclopedia
Dolly Mixture were a British
post-punk
/new wave
band formed in 1978 by bassist and vocalist Debsey Wykes (b. 21 December 1960, Hammersmith, London, England), guitarist and vocalist Rachel Bor (b. 16 May 1963, Wales), and drummer Hester Smith (b. 28 October 1960, West Africa). They had a taste of Top 40 success performing backing vocals for the Captain Sensible
's hit "Wot" and a UK #1 hit backing Sensible on his 1982 cover of "Happy Talk
". Rachel Bor also featured on the Animus/Loose Records single "Wot NO Meat? also by Captain Sensible in 1985
and The Undertones
. Dolly Mixture supported The Undertones on one of their first UK tours. The band also played venues with The Fall and The Transmitters
in 1979. They were once supported by U2.
Relocating to London to gig extensively, national BBC Radio 1
DJ John Peel
gave them exposure on his radio show and in his weekly column in the UK pop paper, Sounds. Signed to Chrysalis Records
, the group released a cover of the Shirelles hit, "Baby It’s You" (1980), produced by Eric Faulkner of the Bay City Rollers
. However, the cover version was disowned by the group, which protested the label’s attempt to sell them as a teen girl group. Their next single, "Been Teen" (1981), was the first single released on Paul Weller’s Respond label. It was followed by "Everything And More" (1982), also released on Respond. Both singles were produced by Captain Sensible
and Paul Gray of The Damned. They became friends with Sensible and recorded backing vocals on his singles and albums. After Sensible had a hit with "Happy Talk" in 1982 (featuring Dolly Mixture, credited as "Dolly Mixtures" on the single, and also in the song's video) and following various appearances on the television show Top of the Pops
, Dolly Mixture — as a separate entity from Captain Sensible — performed extensively.
' White Album
), and each copy was numbered and authentically autographed by the group members. Only one thousand copies were pressed. The album featured 27 demo tracks which covered a large part of the band's repertoire. However, the album did not contain any of the Dolly's previous singles. Also absent were frequently performed live covers such as "Dead Rainbow" (a tribute to Gary Glitter
), Mott the Hoople
's "Foxy, Foxy
", The Velvet Underground
's "Femme Fatale
", Little Eva
's "The Loco-Motion
", and Love Affair
's "My Rainbow Valley". Three other self-penned songs, "Night After Night", "Down The Line", and "Divided By A Wall", suffered the same fate.
The same year saw a release of the "Remember This" single, again on Dead Good Dolly Platters label. The B-side was a piece entitled "Listening Pleasure/Borinda’s Lament", which included dialogue (à la Home Service British Force's Radio DJ), a half-finished song and an instrumental chamber piece with Wykes on piano and Bor on cello.
. The six-track EP represented the band's new artistic direction and contained mostly instrumental pieces, abandoning the guitar/bass/drum format. The most recognizable track was "Dolly Medley", containing highlights of the Dolly’s repertoire, including the previously unreleased "Dead Rainbow", all done in a chamber music
style. It was produced by Dolly Mixture and Andrew Fryer.
The trio dissolved as a working band in 1984.
For additional information visit the band's official website at http://www.dollymixture.net
A double vinyl L.P was reissued by London based label Germs of Youth to coincide with the box set. an exact copy of the 1984 release, hand stamped with the original stamp and signed/numbered by the band. limited to 300 copies.
http://germsofyouthrecords.bigcartel.com
member Patricia O'Flynn (saxophone), Leigh Luscious (guitar), and ex-Amazulu
member Claire Kenny (bass). The latter three members were replaced by Jane Keay, Tony Watts, and Midus respectively. In 1989, Coming Up Roses released a 6-track mini-album, I Said Ballroom, on Utility Records. All songs were written by Wykes and Smith. The first Coming Up Roses gig was at The White Swan in Brixton
on 29 November 1986 (as part of the Send a Volunteer to Nicaragua
benefit), and the last performance was at Up the Creek in Deptford
on 22 March 1991.
Meanwhile, Wykes started collaborating with Saint Etienne
as one of the band's regular backing singers. Saint Etienne's Bob Stanley
became the new Dolly Mixture champion, re-releasing their untitled 1983 double album (this time titled Demonstration Tapes) as a single CD on the Royal Mint label in 1995. Together with Saint Etienne's Paul Kelly
, Wykes went on to form indie-chamber-pop band Birdie, which released the albums Some Dusty (1999), Triple Echo (2001) and Reverb Deluxe (2003).
Rachel Bor played in a band called Fruit Machine until 1999.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
/new wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
band formed in 1978 by bassist and vocalist Debsey Wykes (b. 21 December 1960, Hammersmith, London, England), guitarist and vocalist Rachel Bor (b. 16 May 1963, Wales), and drummer Hester Smith (b. 28 October 1960, West Africa). They had a taste of Top 40 success performing backing vocals for the Captain Sensible
Captain Sensible
Captain Sensible is a singer, songwriter, guitarist who grew up in Croydon, England, and co-founded the punk rock band The Damned in 1976. After leaving the band, he reinvented himself as an alternative pop singer with a rebellious, self-conscious image...
's hit "Wot" and a UK #1 hit backing Sensible on his 1982 cover of "Happy Talk
Happy Talk (song)
In June 1982, The Damned's guitarist Captain Sensible scored an unlikely #1 single on the UK singles chart for two weeks with his version of the song, featuring backing vocals by the band Dolly Mixture.-Cover Version:...
". Rachel Bor also featured on the Animus/Loose Records single "Wot NO Meat? also by Captain Sensible in 1985
Early years
The group was formed in Cambridge by Bor, Smith, and Wykes, three school friends who shared a fondness for The Shangri-LasThe Shangri-Las
The Shangri-Las were an American pop girl group of the 1960s. Between 1964 and 1966 they charted with often heartbreaking teen melodramas, and remain best known for "Leader of the Pack" and "Remember ".- Early career :...
and The Undertones
The Undertones
The Undertones are a punk rock/new wave band formed in Derry, Northern Ireland, in 1975.The original line-up of the Undertones released thirteen singles and four studio albums — The Undertones , Hypnotised , Positive Touch and The Sin of Pride — before disbanding in July 1983.Music guide Allmusic...
. Dolly Mixture supported The Undertones on one of their first UK tours. The band also played venues with The Fall and The Transmitters
The Transmitters (band)
The Transmitters were a British alternative rock band active during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. Mixing elements of punk, jazz and psychedelia, the band were critical favourites throughout their lifetime and played support slots for a wide variety of underground and mainstream bands,...
in 1979. They were once supported by U2.
Relocating to London to gig extensively, national BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
DJ John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
gave them exposure on his radio show and in his weekly column in the UK pop paper, Sounds. Signed to Chrysalis Records
Chrysalis Records
Chrysalis Records was a British record label that was created in 1969. The name was both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis...
, the group released a cover of the Shirelles hit, "Baby It’s You" (1980), produced by Eric Faulkner of the Bay City Rollers
Bay City Rollers
The Bay City Rollers were a Scottish pop band who were most popular in the 1970s. The British Hit Singles & Albums noted that they were "tartan teen sensations from Edinburgh", and were "the first of many acts heralded as the 'Biggest Group since The Beatles' and one of the most screamed-at...
. However, the cover version was disowned by the group, which protested the label’s attempt to sell them as a teen girl group. Their next single, "Been Teen" (1981), was the first single released on Paul Weller’s Respond label. It was followed by "Everything And More" (1982), also released on Respond. Both singles were produced by Captain Sensible
Captain Sensible
Captain Sensible is a singer, songwriter, guitarist who grew up in Croydon, England, and co-founded the punk rock band The Damned in 1976. After leaving the band, he reinvented himself as an alternative pop singer with a rebellious, self-conscious image...
and Paul Gray of The Damned. They became friends with Sensible and recorded backing vocals on his singles and albums. After Sensible had a hit with "Happy Talk" in 1982 (featuring Dolly Mixture, credited as "Dolly Mixtures" on the single, and also in the song's video) and following various appearances on the television show Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
, Dolly Mixture — as a separate entity from Captain Sensible — performed extensively.
Dolly's "White Album"
In 1983, the band released a double album called the "Demonstration Tapes" on their own Dead Good Dolly Platters label. The album sported a plain white cover (a nod to The BeatlesThe Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' White Album
The Beatles (album)
The Beatles is the ninth official album by the English rock group The Beatles, a double album released in 1968. It is also commonly known as "The White Album" as it has no graphics or text other than the band's name embossed on its plain white sleeve.The album was written and recorded during a...
), and each copy was numbered and authentically autographed by the group members. Only one thousand copies were pressed. The album featured 27 demo tracks which covered a large part of the band's repertoire. However, the album did not contain any of the Dolly's previous singles. Also absent were frequently performed live covers such as "Dead Rainbow" (a tribute to Gary Glitter
Gary Glitter
Gary Glitter is an English former glam rock singer-songwriter and musician.Glitter first came to prominence in the glam rock era of the early 1970s...
), Mott the Hoople
Mott the Hoople
Mott the Hoople were a British rock band with strong R&B roots, popular in the glam rock era of the early to mid 1970s. They are popularly known for the song "All the Young Dudes", written for them by David Bowie and appearing on their 1972 album of the same name.-The early years:Mott The Hoople...
's "Foxy, Foxy
Foxy, Foxy
"Foxy, Foxy" is a non-LP single released by Mott the Hoople in 1974. It reached number 33 on the UK Singles Chart....
", The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
's "Femme Fatale
Femme Fatale (song)
"Femme Fatale" is a song by The Velvet Underground from their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. At producer Andy Warhol's request, band frontman Lou Reed wrote the song about Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick...
", Little Eva
Little Eva
Eva Narcissus Boyd , known by the stage name of Little Eva , was an American pop singer.-Biography:...
's "The Loco-Motion
The Loco-Motion
"The Loco-Motion" is a 1962 pop song written by American songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King. The song is notable for appearing in the American Top 5 three times – each time in a different decade: for Little Eva in 1962 ; for Grand Funk Railroad in 1974 ; and for Kylie Minogue in 1988 "The...
", and Love Affair
Love Affair (band)
Love Affair were a London based pop, soul, R&B group formed in 1966. They had several UK Singles Chart Top 10 hits, including the number one success "Everlasting Love".-Personnel:The band primarily featured the following —...
's "My Rainbow Valley". Three other self-penned songs, "Night After Night", "Down The Line", and "Divided By A Wall", suffered the same fate.
The same year saw a release of the "Remember This" single, again on Dead Good Dolly Platters label. The B-side was a piece entitled "Listening Pleasure/Borinda’s Lament", which included dialogue (à la Home Service British Force's Radio DJ), a half-finished song and an instrumental chamber piece with Wykes on piano and Bor on cello.
Fireside EP and the end of Dolly Mixture
The 12-inch vinyl Fireside EP was released in 1984 on Cordelia Records, owned by Alan Jenkins, a member of The Deep Freeze MiceThe Deep Freeze Mice
The Deep Freeze Mice were an English New Wave band that were active between 1979 and 1989. They were based in Leicester, and consisted of the core members Alan Jenkins , Sherree Lawrence , and Mick Bunnage...
. The six-track EP represented the band's new artistic direction and contained mostly instrumental pieces, abandoning the guitar/bass/drum format. The most recognizable track was "Dolly Medley", containing highlights of the Dolly’s repertoire, including the previously unreleased "Dead Rainbow", all done in a chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
style. It was produced by Dolly Mixture and Andrew Fryer.
The trio dissolved as a working band in 1984.
'Everything And More' Dolly Mixture Box Set
In July 2010 Dolly Mixture release a three CD box set including the 'Demonstration Tapes' album, all of the band's singles plus a complete disc of additional demos and live recordings, many of which are available for the first time. The box set will be limited edition only and features 56 re-mastered recordings and a 32 page booklet.For additional information visit the band's official website at http://www.dollymixture.net
A double vinyl L.P was reissued by London based label Germs of Youth to coincide with the box set. an exact copy of the 1984 release, hand stamped with the original stamp and signed/numbered by the band. limited to 300 copies.
http://germsofyouthrecords.bigcartel.com
Other projects
In 1986, Wykes and Smith resurfaced with the group Coming Up Roses, which featured more melodic dance-pop. With Wykes and Smith, the early line-up comprised ex-Shillelagh SistersShillelagh Sisters
The Shillelagh Sisters were a UK female group composed of Jacquie O'Sullivan , Lynder Halpin , Patricia “Trisha” O’Flynn and Maria “Mitzi” Ryan...
member Patricia O'Flynn (saxophone), Leigh Luscious (guitar), and ex-Amazulu
Amazulu (band)
Amazulu were a British ska / pop band from the 1980s. Composed of five females and one male, they achieved success in the UK charts with four top twenty hits - the biggest of these being "Too Good to Be Forgotten" in 1986.-Early days and success:...
member Claire Kenny (bass). The latter three members were replaced by Jane Keay, Tony Watts, and Midus respectively. In 1989, Coming Up Roses released a 6-track mini-album, I Said Ballroom, on Utility Records. All songs were written by Wykes and Smith. The first Coming Up Roses gig was at The White Swan in Brixton
Brixton
Brixton is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in south London, England. It is south south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
on 29 November 1986 (as part of the Send a Volunteer to Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
benefit), and the last performance was at Up the Creek in Deptford
Deptford
Deptford is a district of south London, England, located on the south bank of the River Thames. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne, and from the mid 16th century to the late 19th was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Navy Dockyards.Deptford and the docks are...
on 22 March 1991.
Meanwhile, Wykes started collaborating with Saint Etienne
Saint Etienne (band)
Saint Etienne are an English Pop group comprising Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs. They are named after the French football team AS Saint-Étienne.-History:Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs were childhood friends and former music journalists...
as one of the band's regular backing singers. Saint Etienne's Bob Stanley
Bob Stanley (Saint Etienne)
Bob Stanley is a UK musician, film producer and journalist.-Saint Etienne:Stanley is best known as a member of the pop/dance group Saint Etienne for which he co-writes songs and produces...
became the new Dolly Mixture champion, re-releasing their untitled 1983 double album (this time titled Demonstration Tapes) as a single CD on the Royal Mint label in 1995. Together with Saint Etienne's Paul Kelly
Paul Kelly (film maker)
Paul Kelly is an English film director, musician, photographer and designer.-Music:The son of an RAF fighter pilot - he took up flying aged fourteen, making his first solo flight on his seventeenth birthday. However, a passion for music and electric guitars eventually led him to follow a musical...
, Wykes went on to form indie-chamber-pop band Birdie, which released the albums Some Dusty (1999), Triple Echo (2001) and Reverb Deluxe (2003).
Rachel Bor played in a band called Fruit Machine until 1999.
Discography
| Title | Release date | Label | Catalog No. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Demonstration Tapes | 1983 | Dead Good Dolly Platters Reissued in 1995 on Royal Mint Records |
DMLP 1 RM 01 CD |
| Title | Release date | Label | Catalog No. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fireside | 1984 | Cordelia Records | ERICAT 017 |
| Title | Release date | Label | Catalog No. |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Baby It's You Baby It's You "Baby It's You" is a song written by Burt Bacharach , and Luther Dixon and Mack David . It was recorded by The Shirelles and The Beatles, and became hits for both... " |
1980 | Chrysalis | CHS 2459 |
| "Been Teen" | 1981 | Respond | RESP 1 |
| "Everything And More" | 1982 | Respond | RESP 4 |
| "Remember This" | 1983 | Dead Good Dolly Platters | DMS 1 |
| Title | Release date | Label | Catalog No. |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Dreamism!" | 1998 | Trattoria | MENU 156 |