Active for just barely two years in the mid-’80s, Oxford, England-based indie prototypes Talulah Gosh were integral to the culture of fanzines, 7″ singles, and dreamy-eyed guitar pop songs that would immediately pave the way for twee, indie pop, noise pop, and decades of future underground music. After Talulah Gosh came the Shop Assistants; a few years later Bratmobile; then even later, the Vivian Girls, not to mention the bands spawned by TG members after their breakup, like Heavenly and Tender Trap, all drawing on the melancholy melodies and reverb-soaked delivery that sound sublimely stumbled upon throughout this all-inclusive compilation.
A short promo for the upcoming TALULAH GOSH compilation ‘Was It Just A Dream?’ which is coming out on Damaged Goods Records on the 21st October 2013. It’s a 29 track double gatefold vinyl LP and digipak CD with 24 page booklet and sleeve notes by The Legend! (or Everett True if you like). Cover designed by Alison Wonderland
In their short lifespan, the band’s recorded output comprised mostly multiple singles and compilation appearances. In the years that followed, there were several vault-scouring collections, most notably 1996’s K Records retrospective “Backwash”, which gathered all known studio recordings, live tracks, and radio sessions for a 25-song megalith of the band’s work.
“Was It Just a Dream?” expands “Backwash” by just four songs with the group’s earliest demo recordings made in 1986. The sheer number of tunes can be a little overwhelming when taken one after another, but any given track holds all the inventiveness and shambling energy of the C-86 scene or the homespun esthetic of the soon-to-follow K Records approach to twee and the softer side of punk idealism. Standout tracks like a spiky live version of “Pastels Badge” or either of two versions of the band’s namesake song, provide the best windows into their sound, and the four demo recordings fall somewhere between the working-class punk of the Billy Childish camp and the group’s own fearless, introspective song writing, which was strongly stated even from the start. A ground breaking and often overlooked group, Talulah Gosh quietly made it possible for everything from Riot Grrrl to the late-2000s bedroom indie scenes to take shape, whether the artists who followed knew it or not. “Was It Just a Dream?” is essential listening for any fan of indie pop in any of its permutations.
The Complete Story Of Talulah Gosh! 29 Tracks! one of the leading bands of the twee pop/C86 scene, their name came from the headline of an NME interview with Clare Grogan. They formed when Amelia Fletcher and Elizabeth Price, both wearing Pastels badges, met at a club in Oxford. Formed in 1986, their original line-up comprised Amelia Fletcher (vocals, guitar), her younger brother Mathew Fletcher (drums), Peter Momtchiloff (lead guitar), Rob Pursey (bass) and Elizabeth Price (vocals). Rob left early on, to be replaced by Chris Scott. Elizabeth left in 1987 to be replaced by Eithne Farry. They called it a day in late 1988 with Amelia, Mathew and Peter reappearing soon after as Heavenly.
The Fat Angel Sings 