Although the Dentists fit well with the neopsychedelic/paisley underground movement of the 80's, their music also has a timeless quality. They combined their love for melodic 60's psychedelia with the 70's punk ethos and 80's indie stylings of The Smiths, REM and the Go-Betweens. Or you can just as easily see them as precursors of Brit-pop, since their music isn't that far removed from what The Stone Roses would do in the 90's or Coral and the Zutons in the 00's. At that time they were lumped together with The Prisoners & Milkshakes as part of the Medway scene, the common thread being a love for the 60's and a certain rawness in the execution. The title of the album is also a (very English) allusion to the 60's, these being the historic final words of the BBC broadcast of the 1966 World Cup final, one won by the English national football team - for the first and last time. It was their debut long-player, released after the very well received single "Strawberries Are Growing In My Garden" (here available as bonus track). Opening tracks "Flowers Around Me" and "I'm Not The Devil" are an indie take on the Jefferson Airplane and The Byrds, respectively. "Tony Bastable" owes more to the energy of garage/punk and "You Make Me Say It Somehow" is an excellent garage/folk melange - according to band members, the inspiration was "A House Is Not A Motel by Love together with a bit of Eight Days A Week". "Mary Won't Come Out To Play" and "Kinder Still" are a couple of gentle ballads and "Excellent Dream" a punk folk number of the kind that peppered Love's 1965 debut. "Engineers Set" sounds like a cross between early REM and The Who. "Back To The Grave" is another sped-up folk rocker, while "Tangerine" is more New wave-ish and "Arrow Points To The Spot" paisley pop (Ever heard the band 3 O' Clock? Very typical of that genre). "Everything In The Garden" is melodic psychedelia and "One Of Our Psychedelic Beakers..." a combination of Buzzcocks and early Floyd. The reissue adds the band's debut single. "Strawberries..." has often been anthologised (notably in the "Children of Nuggets" box set) and remains a pinnacle of neo-psychedelia, with its punky production, Byrds-ian riff and references to the Beatles' Strawberry Fields. "Burning The Thoughts" is a punkier proposition and "Doreen" a charming psych ballad. To sum up, unbeknownst to the record buying audience, the Dentists created in 1985 a timeless masterpiece of psychedelic folk rock. They had perfect melodies and poppy harmonies but thankfully avoided polishing them for MTV's shake and went instead for a raw and edgy sound that suits them well. Maybe the real problem was their name: They should have chosen a cute bug or animal name, like The Beetles, Monkeys, Yardbirds, Eagles, Animals etc. OK, theses were taken, but what about The Zebras? The Mosquitoes? The Hippopotamuses? Even The Donkeys would be better than The Dentists! Nobody likes those!
*****Flowers Around Me, I Had An Excellent Dream, Strawberries Are Growing In My Garden (And It's Wintertime)
****I'm Not The Devil, You Make Me Say It Somehow, Kinder Still, Little Engineers Set, Back To The Grave, Tangerine, Everything In The Garden, One Of Our Psychedelic Beakers Is Missing, Doreen
***Tony Bastable V John Noakes, Mary Won't Come Out To Play, Arrow Points To The Spot, Burning The Thoughts From My Skin
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