It’s about time I got onto the next in my singles series. I’m doing a bit of an alphabetical skip too, but it makes sense. You see, the next artist I’m coming to is Dot Allison, the London-based singer-songwriter, who first made her name as part of early 90s post-rave Scottish trio One Dove – made up of Dot, Ian Carmichael and Jim McKinven.
One Dove first appeared in 1991 with the 12 inch single Fallen on the legendary Soma record label from Glasgow. That 12 inch in itself became a bit of a legend, probably boosted at the time by the involvement of Andrew Weatherall, fresh from his career-defining success with Screamadelica.
Two years later One Dove’s first and only album Morning Dove White was released. I think at the time people were expecting a bit of a Screamadelica-like impact, which although that never really happened, it was still a pretty decent record. At least I remember it was. I don’t have it any more. But I do have the single White Love which preceded the album. It’s a lovely, lush, rolling groove of a tune. The sort of thing that used to be called chill-out when that wasn’t a pejorative term.
One Dove split in 1996 after abandoning work on their second album, and Dot Allison went solo. Her first album Afterglow was released in 1999, and was a bit of a cracker. Still is. Just listening to it again, I’m still loving its blend of beats, pop and heartfelt ballads. But that’s not my concern here.
Dot’s second album We Are Science came out in 2002. It was preceded by the single Substance which is the second CD featured here. It’s an good enough song, and the album itself was OK. But I think it was a combination of it not being what I was hoping for (she veered off on a bit of an electro/rock route) and the songs just not being as strong, which meant that I just didn’t really love it very much.
About the same time as buying the single I went to one of my disappointing gigs ever. I hadn’t seen Dot before, and buoyed by my love for Afterglow I was expecting a great gig. Instead we got six tracks, all off the new album, and that was it. To say Mrs Growl and I left the 100 Club feeling short-changed is an understatement!
Anyway, there’s a particularly fine Slam remix of We’re Only Science on the Substance single. Here it is, along with an edit of White Love.
Download: One Dove – White Love (Radio Edit)
Download: Dot Allison - We're Only Science (Slam Remix)
The good news after We Are Science is that Dot has been doing some new material, which I must say is sounding particularly fine. More of a return to Afterglow, but with more depth and complexity. The bad news is that she hasn’t got a record deal for her new album Exaltation of the Larks yet. Let’s hope she manages to get it out in the not too-distant future. In the meantime, you can buy her most recent EP – Beneath the Ivy – from iTunes.
One Dove first appeared in 1991 with the 12 inch single Fallen on the legendary Soma record label from Glasgow. That 12 inch in itself became a bit of a legend, probably boosted at the time by the involvement of Andrew Weatherall, fresh from his career-defining success with Screamadelica.
Two years later One Dove’s first and only album Morning Dove White was released. I think at the time people were expecting a bit of a Screamadelica-like impact, which although that never really happened, it was still a pretty decent record. At least I remember it was. I don’t have it any more. But I do have the single White Love which preceded the album. It’s a lovely, lush, rolling groove of a tune. The sort of thing that used to be called chill-out when that wasn’t a pejorative term.
One Dove split in 1996 after abandoning work on their second album, and Dot Allison went solo. Her first album Afterglow was released in 1999, and was a bit of a cracker. Still is. Just listening to it again, I’m still loving its blend of beats, pop and heartfelt ballads. But that’s not my concern here.
Dot’s second album We Are Science came out in 2002. It was preceded by the single Substance which is the second CD featured here. It’s an good enough song, and the album itself was OK. But I think it was a combination of it not being what I was hoping for (she veered off on a bit of an electro/rock route) and the songs just not being as strong, which meant that I just didn’t really love it very much.
About the same time as buying the single I went to one of my disappointing gigs ever. I hadn’t seen Dot before, and buoyed by my love for Afterglow I was expecting a great gig. Instead we got six tracks, all off the new album, and that was it. To say Mrs Growl and I left the 100 Club feeling short-changed is an understatement!
Anyway, there’s a particularly fine Slam remix of We’re Only Science on the Substance single. Here it is, along with an edit of White Love.
Download: One Dove – White Love (Radio Edit)
Download: Dot Allison - We're Only Science (Slam Remix)
The good news after We Are Science is that Dot has been doing some new material, which I must say is sounding particularly fine. More of a return to Afterglow, but with more depth and complexity. The bad news is that she hasn’t got a record deal for her new album Exaltation of the Larks yet. Let’s hope she manages to get it out in the not too-distant future. In the meantime, you can buy her most recent EP – Beneath the Ivy – from iTunes.
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8 comments:
A friend used to live in a flat with Dot in Glasgow. The box of Ritz Crackers had the word Ritz scored out and replaced with Dots. It wasn't anything to do with ownership.
Also, the Fallen remix supposedly came about because Dot shagged Andy Weatherall.
Hi, thanks for the white love edit. A bit of a long shot, but do you have One Dove's legendary cover of Dolly Parton's Jolene? Been looking for it for ages, ever since it was listed as one of the best covers of all time on some newspaper list.
I used to have the Jolene cover, but it was on an old cassette single. And we know that these have all gone the way of the dodo. So no more, I'm afraid. Must hunt it down though.
First anonymous - what is that first para about? I'm confused...
Posted Jolene here previously:
http://thevinylvillain.blogspot.com/2008/08/one-dove.html
If you want it you can email me at ACID TED http://acidted.blogspot.com/
Hi, great blog - nice bit of history too!
Is there any chance you can upload The Slam remix of 'We're Only Science' again? - Would be much appreciated!
She is fantastic, her voice is spectacular, the one dove was also an amazing band. Thanks for the amazing review.
my bro the voice of this women is really pretty, when you hear her you can feel a inner peace, is like angelic chorus sing for you.
This woman is not only a beautiful singer but also she's so talented and sometimes that's hard to find because when women are beautiful they don't have skills.
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