Bostin!

Long, long ago...in a galaxy far, far away...Stirchley in fact...I saw a band. An ace band. A bostin band. A band that made the kind of classic pop music that makes you just feel good. The band were Dodgy. I'd come to them through buying a white label single for 50p. I just liked the graphic on the sticker and, in those days, the only way to hear new music was to buy it or tape it off your mates. I thought it was going to be a dance track, but it was pure pop...in a good way. It turned out they were from Brum too. Result. Over the next year or so I saw them a couple of times at The Hibernian...then Dr Fame (I always figure fame would be a Dr...with mad hair and a lab coat...like a kind of madder version of Phil Spector...jeez what is that guy on?) came a calling and they played gradually bigger venues before finding their natural habitat on the Festival scene. Classic single followed classic single...then...just as they were really getting somewhere the lead singer, Nigel, quit. Bugger. At the time he said he wanted to go off and do stuff with samplers. The other two members of Dodgy, Matt and Andy, seemed genuinely gutted...and a bit confused. They kept the name and formed a new version of the band...not bad...but the lead singer had more of a bluesy, rock voice...totally unsuited to the sweet harmony kind of stuff that the band were famous for. Nigel followed his sampler route...hmmmm. I saw both factions at the time..and I've seen Nigel quite a few times over the last 9 years...each time asking myself 'when the hell are they going to reform?' His debut solo album released earlier this year, 21st Century Man, made me ask the question once again, because he's gone back to what he does really well. Listening to the album it's pure Dodgy. Clearly the original three members of the band have reached the same conclusion and...to cut a very long story short...they're back...BACK...BACK!

Having lost a couple of great bands in the last few weeks (Larrikin Love and Ladyfuzz) it's nice to have one back again. If you're 30 something you'll know (and possibly love) tracks like Staying Out For The Summer, Lovebirds, In a Room, Good Enough...if you're not...well they're well worth a listen. There's an intriguing rumour that they might be playing Glastonbury too...