Despite a bewildering turnaround of personnel, Dolls frontman Olga has always ensured that their output boasted top-notch musicianship, and he himself is one of the finest guitarists around. His lyrics have always been wilfully obscure paeans to long forgotten characters from Crossroads, or parochial odes to friends in his native Sunderland, yet he also enjoys a massive following in Brazil and Japan.
Newcastle’s Volume label picked them up for 1983’s superb Dig That Groove Baby. Bursting with life and humour, it stormed up the independent chart, giving the Dolls their finest moment when Nellie The Elephant hit No 4 on the singles chart in 1984. A difficult act to follow, then, and A Far Out Disc reflects Olga’s struggle. One-minute fillers, such as the theme to TV’s Razzmatazz and a pointless Commercial Break boosting the previous album, falls in with greats such as My Girlfriend’s Dad’s A Vicar.
Happily, Idle Gossip was a return to form. In RC contributor Ian Glasper’s sleevenotes, Olga dismisses it due to its “spacey/ reverby production”, but you try to pick the bones out of the likes of�If You’re In A Pop Group You’ll End Up Paying A Fortune Practising At Peter Practice’s Practice Place.
