happy tunesday! "idle gossip" by the toy dolls

The Toy Dolls (or at least their lead singer, Olga) go acoustic.

Some background. The Toy Dolls are an English band from Sunderland (I think). I should look that up, but I'm gonna be lazy. They've been around for something like 40 years. They married the punk rock sound to humorous lyrics. I think I recall Olga explaining in an interview that he can only write songs about his real experiences. And he does have a way with lyrics -- and titles. Some of my favorite titles are:

• You Won't Be Merry on a North Sea Ferry
• One Night in Moscow (& We'll Be Russian Home)
• Don't Drive Yer Car Up Draycott Avenue
• Queen Alexandra Road is Where She Said She'd Be, But Was She There to Meet Me...No Chance
• The Death of Barry the Roofer with Vertigo
• If You're in a Pop Group You'll End Up Paying a Fortune Practicing at Peter Practice's Practice Place
• The Ashbrooke Launderette...(You'll Stink, Your Clothes'll Shrink, Your Whites'll Be as Black as Ink)
• I Gave My Heart to a Slag Called Sharon from Whitley Bay

Of course, laughs aside, clever song titles don't matter if the music sucks. But it doesn't. They've got really good energy and they capture the punk stylings really well, but the sense of whimsey works well with it.

Anyway, I first heard the group back when I was in college. A guy I knew had a mix tape that included their version of "Nellie the Elephant" (a children's song dating from the 1950s. Sadly, the guy had no idea what group had recorded it. I next came across the recording one late night when I was driving home from Boston. Or maybe Pawtucket. SOme progressive radio station out of Providence was playing it. But in a case of cosmic tease, they didn't ID the band, so I was still left not knowing who had recorded it. I finally got that bit of information when I found a used copy of the 12-inch single at St. Marks Sounds, which was one of the record stores I frequented at the time.

So now I knew who had recorded the song, and I was able to get my grubby hands on a couple records. Now, decades later, and with the ability to buy CDs over the interwebs, it's easy to keep up with their releases. Olga (OK...Michael Algar) is still running the show -- he has long been the only original member. It kind of reminds me of how Dr. Feelgood became Lee Brilleaux and whoever was backing him.

Anyway, all these years later, they're still a great band -- no doubt because Olga is an incredibly skilled guitarist.

So, for some reason, Olga decided to put out an acoustic album -- just him and a guitar, playing acoustic versions of some of the group's classics. I found out about it a couple days ago when I was noodling around Amazon to see what was new. I streamed it and loved it, so I'll be buying a copy.