Song picture
Kiss The Doll
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Rough demo, recorded on a 4 track porta-studio in Ross's flat in Edinburgh during winter 1986/87.
Artist picture
Rococo were an 80's rock band, based in Edinburgh Scotland.
Rococo formed in 1986 in Edinburgh, Scotland. The core members were Ross McVie (rhythm guitar and lead vocals), Roddy Wilde (lead and rhythm guitar, keyboards and b-vox), Iain Summers (bass, drums and b-vox) and Colin Dawson (lead and rhythm guitar, keyboards and b-vox). During this period, we used at least five different drummers (including Iain). Iain played drums on many of our studio recordings, but would play bass when we performed live. It seemed that every time we got a new drummer sufficiently well rehearsed to start gigging with us, he would leave shortly after and the recruitment / rehearsal process would start again. It was a shame as we were getting some really positive reviews. The first drummer was Dougie Barton and he was superb - he had a Phil Collins style to his drumming. He left when his job moved him down south. Next was Dave [??] - he was a Simon Philips style drummer - solid as a rock and seriously loud. I think he left to try to make his living as a drummer. Next we borrowed Craig Hannah part time from another band and finally Alan Henderson took on the role. Rococo composed and recorded a lot of original material over a relatively short time period; almost enough for two albums. Some was done using a four track porta-studio, and some was recorded in David Gray's studio in Penicuik. As is often the case with bands, there were musical differences and the band split up in '88. Despite this, we have remained friends over the years and in 2003 we did a re-union gig as part of a charity fund-raising event for Edinburgh Sick Children’s Hospital and Radio Lollipop organised by one of our many former drummers, Alan Henderson. Another re-union gig took place in 2011.
Song Info
Genre
Rock Rock General
Charts
Peak #470
Peak in subgenre #114
Author
Rococo
Rights
Rococo 1986
Uploaded
December 19, 2006
Track Files
MP3
MP3 3.8 MB 128 kbps 4:10
Story behind the song
“Kiss The Doll” was recorded on a 4-track porta-studio in Ross's house in Edinburgh during winter 1986/87. If you listen carefully you'll hear about fifteen or twenty tracks in this recording. You’ll also notice that the sound quality is pretty awful by modern standards. This is partly because this recording is taken from a copy of a copy of the original, partly because the sound quality has suffered because of gradual degradation of the tape over the past 20 years, but mainly because the recording was done using a 4-track porta-studio. I’ve done the best I can to clean up the recording using a SoundBlaster Audigy sound card. Those that are too young to remember 4 track porta-studios might wonder how we managed to record 15 or 20 tracks of music onto a 4-track tape recorder. This was achieved by recording three tracks, then mixing these onto the 4th track. The first 3 tracks were then deleted. Two more tracks were then recorded which left one track free. The two new tracks were then mixed with the track that had the original 3 tracks and these 5 tracks would be mixed and recorded onto the free track. And so on, and so on.... Of course every time we bounced the tracks back and forwards like this we lost sound quality and if we got the mix wrong at any stage there was little or nothing we could do about it. Nowadays you could multi-track record a song like this on your home pc using a basic sound card costing less than £100, but 4-track porta-studios were all that most people could afford back then in the mid to late ‘80’s. What sounds like keyboards and bass pedals in the slower section towards the end of the track is in fact many overdubbed Fender Strat parts played through lots of effects and recorded straight into the porta-studio; no guitar amp was used when we recorded this song for fear of disturbing Ross’s neighbours. The drum part was originally recorded for a different song. It was significantly slowed down and then used as the foundation for this song. "Kiss The Doll" was released, with five other songs, on a cassette called "The Toy" in 1987. All the tracks were recorded using Ross's portastudio and I think we sold a few hundred copies to friends and at gigs.
Lyrics
I can hear you calling after There's better days ahead. A wasted voice getting lost in the storm that's blowing. Smile for me, dance for me (turn yourself around), It's been so long since I turned to kiss the doll. There's love on her hands, Kiss the doll. Chasing games, That leave a shadow on the place where love has been but not returned, It's been so long since I turned to kiss the doll. Time on your hands, mine are full. Picture this; A faded photograph that hangs on the wall.
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