Doctor's Children - Tomorrow I'll Die/ Winds of a Storm

Jangly indie kids of the paisley patterned kind

Label: Glass

Year of Release: 1985

Given the way in which the treble-heavy lo-fi world of mid-eighties indie has been hoovered up, regurgitated, shaken then reissued again in multiple different formats over the last thirty years, it's always slightly surprising to find anything left to talk about on here. Anyone from that era who put out a single with a minimally designed sleeve seems to have had their output re-released by Cherry Red and Revola twice over by now.

Bow before Doctor's Children, then, who have been really (unfairly) neglected in the race to remind the world that once upon a time, bands did as they liked and a cottage industry happily indulged and even paid them. "Tomorrow I'll Die" was their debut single in 1985, and while the group were not Creation signings, it has a lot of clear similarities with that roster - sharp guitar sounds meet howling vocals and a steady, patient back-beat. The group could regularly be found supporting the Jazz Butcher at London gigs, and developed a fair reputation for psychedelically tinged indie-pop as time moved on.

If that's your bag, this possibly isn't the best place to start, but their follow-up "Rose Cottage EP" has moments of beautiful autumnal melancholy, not least the chilly "Blessed Is The Man" which sees the group really fill out their sound more ambitiously with swelling organ sounds and chiming piano lines.

The group eventually released the John Leckie produced LP "King Buffalo" in 1987 which managed to pick up the attention of notorious critic Robert Christgau stateside, who noted their ambitions to put a new spin on classic American rock and happily observed the "chaotic feedback and organ murk subsumed in the soaring Byrdsy-Velvetsy ebb and flow". Ultimately though, he only saw fit to conclude his review flippantly with "so it goes in the realms of better-than-average guitar bands". Damning them with faint praise this may have been, but he still seemed fonder of them than The Stone Roses or Radiohead who were given far lower marks further down the line. 

"King Buffalo" was re-released on CD in Germany in 2018 to seemingly very minor interest, but it's worth sparing some of your time to if the chance presents itself, and especially if jagged, homespun English 80s post-punk psychedelia is your bag.

The group consisted of Dave Ramsey on bass, Matthew Woodman on keyboards, Paul Smith on guitar and vocals and Rowland Howarth on drums. Smith later joined the group Helter Skelter who released the album "Consume" on the Paul Morley run label Sense in 1990.

If the previews below aren't working properly, please go right to the source.