The Mighty Lemon Drops were an
English rock group active from 1985 to 1992.
Originally called the Sherbert Monsters, the quartet first formed in the spring of 1985 in Wolverhampton, in the The Black Country. Group members Dave Newton and Tony Linehan were the principal songwriters for the group. Their sound can best be described as neo-psychedelia in the vein of Echo & The Bunnymen played with a ringing Rickenbacker as the lead instrument which allowed them to transcend, and not merely imitate, the work of their influences. They were very popular on the College radio circuit and were the soundtrack for many students' lives in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
In December of 1985 the quartet, now all officially Mighty Lemon Drops, released their first single, Like An Angel, which shot to the top of the UK Indie Chart. They also recorded a session for John Peel around the same time. They soon landed a major recording contract, the matter, in this case, being late summer when Chrysalis Records signed the group for the UK, & Sire Records / Warner for the USA / Canada.. Previously Paul Marsh, Dave Newton and Tony Linehan played together in a band called Active Restraint in 1982 with Newton leaving to become a founding member of another band, The Wild Flowers (who later had an excellent track called A Kind Of Kingdom and the album Dust in 1986). Becoming part of the "C86 movement" which was championed by the New Musical Express they were soon snapped up by Blue Guitar, a subsidiary of Chrysalis.
Derek Jarman produced the video for the polished Out of Hand single in 1987 which was followed by their sole hit Inside Out in 1988. They were eventually dropped by Chrysalis after three albums (Happy Head, World Without End and Laughter) when failing to repeat their initial independent success. During the sessions for Laughter, Linehan left the band being replaced by Marcus Williams.
The band released two more albums, Sound...Say Goodbye To Your Standards and Ricochet before finally breaking up in 1992. Two further posthumous album releases followed (All The Way and the greatest-hits package Rollercoaster) and at the end of 2000 the band played a one-off comeback gig in Wolverhampton.
In 2006 Dave Newton produced Inside Out (as well as played bass on the track) for the LA noise pop/shoegazers The Lassie Foundation's 2CD collection and final album, Through and Through.
Tony Linehan now works as a project manager and emigrated to New Zealand in April 2007.
David Newton still works as a recording engineer / producer, & has recently completed projects for, amongst others, The Little Ones and The Blood Arm. -
Discography
[edit] Singles
- Like An Angel 1985
- The Other Side Of You 1986
- My Biggest Thrill 1986
- Out Of Hand 1987
- Inside Out 1988
- Fall Down (Like The Rain) 1988
- Into The Heart Of Love 1989
- Beautiful Shame 1989
- Too High (Remix) 1991
- Unkind (Remix) 1991
[edit] Albums
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mighty_Lemon_Drops
