Gypsy Blood (1979)
Remember (1979)
Doll By Doll (1981)
Caritas EP (1981)
Grand Passion (1982)
Revenge Of Memory (2006)
Colonel Panic was kind enough to send us some Doll By Doll releases, and since there’s not enough time in the day, he kindly wrote a few words them to pique your interest. Thanks Col.
Cult hero Jackie Leven began his musical career in the late 1960s, but formed the punk-spirited Doll By Doll in 1977-78. A masterful guitarist and powerful songwriter (he can wring every last drop of emotion out of a tune), it’s a sad fact that he was never able to crack the big time, despite critical acclaim. Doll By Doll recorded five albums between 1979 and 1982 (though, the fifth was never released). Doll By Doll blended folk, blues, Celtic, psychedelic and punk, with Leven as the main songwriter. A Guardian writer described him as “a mixture of Van Morrison and a psychopath.” After Doll by Doll disbanded in 1983, Leven began a solo career, which was postponed due to a vicious and unprovoked attack on the streets of London during the recording of his first album, leaving him unable to speak for nearly two years. After recovering from the attack (and a resultant heroin addiction), he went on to record a slew of solo albums (through 2011) on the Cooking Vinyl label. Martin Goldschmidt, head of Cooking Vinyl, said: “Since (his signing to the label) we have released 26 of his albums. I kept telling him there were too many, but he kept coming up with scams to get another album out.” There were also several fan club only releases. The 3 song EP is a vinyl rip, the others are 2007 remasters. Read more about the individual releases and get track listings at AMG. Click the covers for Amazon links. Listen to “Teenage Lightning,” from Gypsy Blood, below. - Colonel Panic
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Thanks for the up. I’ve never heard of them and they sound interesting. On a lighter note, what’s wrong with the sentence:
“Doll By Doll released five albums between 1979 and 1982 (though, the fifth was never released).” ;-)
Thanks. Guess we’ll need to fix that.
“a mixture of Van Morrison and a psychopath.” … Well, i knew right there i was gonna hafta give this a listen. Thanks! ~junko
Getting through a minute on the player was easy. Sounds good. I’m interested. I recall seeing “Remember” as a used cd and wondering if Doll by Doll was a reference to the NY Dolls.
Thanks for these. Some of you may know the Quaker Goes Deaf who had a great, now defunct record store in Chicago. These were some of his favorite records and it is a delight to here them again after some 40 years since an aftershow at the Quaker’s place.
To bring the story to an end: Jackie Leven sadly passed away last November. Rest in peace. The record I like most is the Live-collection “For peace comes dropping slow”. Highly recommended.
I was floored when I discovered Leven, more so by the fact that I’d never heard of D by D considering how good they were and what I’ve heard of his solo work is excellent also.
As for the end of the band, I’m sure you know, it’s not all that uncommon a story; bad timing, unscrupulous managers and club owners along with the personal dynamics within a band itself among other things can all contribute to the demise of a well deserving act, band or solo and Leven was more than deserving IMHO.
Thanks again for the contribution, Colonel.
Gonna listen…
What more could you want?
Heard a lot about Jackie Leven, now’s the chance.
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You have renewed my faith in the ever burgeoning world of the interweb. Anyone that promotes the power that is/was DbD/Jackie Leven, deseves digimedals. I URGE anyone who dwnloads any of thse albums to dig deeper…it is a truly emotionally charged music. Bytheby…Willard…please keep on keepin on. You roool. X
Thank you Willard. Been a long time fan of Jackie Leven. Found him while reading a Ian Rankin novel. I can recommend the DVD “Meeting of remarkable men” And everything else of course. Thanx!
Big fan of Doll By Doll and JL – was lucky enough to see them back in the day. Really after the Caritas EP but all the links are dead *sigh*
Regards/
Jl, These are still among my very favorite records, and they still pop up on my radio show occasionally. Charlie Quaker/The Quaker Goes Deaf
Please re-post. I have been looking for these for a long time. Great blog
I had seen the albums by these guys, but never investigated them. I saw your post and decided to look at your page on this band. I then realized that I had just seen an obit for Leven in the Feb issue of Uncut I was given while I was in the hospital. I read it more throughly and it says that he did 26 solo efforts before he succumbed to cancer. WHEW! I got all of your posts to check them/him out. I really appreciate the music you have turned me on to. Do you have any of his solo works? Would love to hear those as well. Just a thought… Tanx
Actually Flash, I’m clueless about these guys. Colonel Panic was the brains behind this post.
The obit intrigued me. The fact that he had such an extremely large output over a period of 16-17 years (1994-2010/11 – I’m not sure of the year of his last release) is amazing. All apparently are on Cooking Vinyl. If you can, you should check out the article, it’s a fascinating glimpse of his life (he was married by the time he was 16). Anyway, I’m going to look for a post to check out his solo work, especially When The Bridegroom Comes, named after the Judee Sill song he covers (another incredible singer/songwriter who died tragically). Will let you know what I find.