Dentists - Janice Long Session 02.04.87

by Dixie Ernill

published: 30 / 8 / 2023

Label: Precious Recordings of London
Format: 10"

Excellent indie pop released on 10” vinyl from the ever dependable Precious Recordings of Janice Long Session from under-rated band The Dentists

Review

I’ve listened to quite a few of the sessions that have been released on the excellent Precious Recordings of London record label and so far this is my absolute favourite. The session was recorded when The Dentists, a Chatham based band, were still fairly new, having only released a trio of singles and a debut album, but they were making waves with a couple of high profile support gigs in London with Del Amitri and The Go Betweens recently ticked off. All four tracks recorded at the session are strong – opening up with a re-worked (into an upbeat indie-pop gem) version of the Joni Mitchell classic ‘Both Sides Now’, followed by ‘(We Thought We’d Got To) Heaven’, which surprisingly would not see an official release for four years. The last two tracks, the ace ‘Just Like Oliver Reed’ and ‘A Strange Way To Go About Things’ would, however, be the standouts of the band’s next EP – ‘Writhing On The Shagpile’ and no doubt this session helped to garner enough sales to propel it into the indie charts. Despite me being a big fan of the mid-80’s indie scene, The Dentists are a band that I’ve only got a handful of tracks by on various compilations. Maybe I was put off by the name, but I really need to remedy this – would be great if someone like Optic Nerve or Cherry Red put out a comprehensive compilation of their decade long career.