I mentioned last week that Dan Treacy of The Television Personalities had founded Dreamworld Records in 1985. Today’s lot, from Wolverhampton in the heart of the English Midlands, made their breakthrough on that very label.
The Mighty Lemon Drops debut single went to the top of the indie charts in April 1986 shifting almost 15,000 copies. They were much championed in the music press with many a comparison made to early-era Echo and The Bunnymen which is what got me interested in the first place; but having given them a listen, I didn’t see the comparison and I quickly lost interest in the band.
They were a four-piece classic line-up with vocal, guitars, bass and drums. The sales of the debut single led to a bidding war and by the following year they were on a subsidiary of Chrysalis Records in the UK while Seymour Stein had snapped them up for Sire Records over on the other side of the Atlantic. Big things were expected…..but in the end nothing really happened beyond very minor chart success and one Top 40 album from the three that were recorded.
By 1992 they had called it a day.
Thinking back, this was a band who were hyped to the nth degree by the press to such a ridiculous extent that the music could never live up to it. They were decent enough but they weren’t brilliant nor did they really stand out from the crowd. But their debut single on Dreamworld has stood the test of time better than many and it was the once chosen to feature on CD86:-
mp3 : The Mighty Lemon Drops – Like An Angel
Here’s yer b-side of the 7”
mp3 : The Mighty Lemon Drops – Now She’s Gone
While here’s the two b-sides of the 12″ version which had actually come out six months prior to the 7″…
mp3 : The Mighty Lemon Drops – Something Happens
mp3 : The Mighty Lemon Drops – Sympathise With Us
Enjoy
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 