Dolly Mixture – Demonstration Tapes (1983)

There, in the second half of the 70s, amidst the punk hangover and the birth of post-punk, new wave and a lot of other things, Cambridge city friends Debsey Wykes, Hester Smith and Rachel Bor decided to pretend that, like god and world, they were also a band.

What started as a joke turned serious when they received an invitation to perform live; rushed to learn to play, and mixing their musical passions/influences – basically 60s pop, especially girl groups and Undertones – they christened themselves as Dolly Mixture.

Until 1983 they recorded only 4 singles and an EP, but they played shows all over England (alongside the aforementioned Undertones and Fall, among others, and with U2 as the opening band), they went through the program of master John Peel several times, appeared on TV and the barter, but apparently got fed up with not having their talent recognized and fucked up.

Thus, in 1984 they ended the trio, but before that they gave the world their only full album, curiously – or not, as Caetano would say – a collection of demos called Demonstration tapes. And even though the album, filled with 27 de-li-ci-o-sas songs, is still not as popular as it should be, listening to it is drawing similarities with other records by other bands of the same strain recognized as classic indie pop references. and/or the like, such as Pastels and Television Personalities.

So, my dears, this is a classic reference for bands like Teenage Fanclub, Belle and Sebastian and a lot of other people. He doubts? Press play and check it out.

Essential!

PS: Yes, I know Debsey Wykes worked with dear Saint Etienne many years later. But that’s a story for another day.