There are already about a million free Dovers tapes on this blog so they shouldn't really require further introduction or explanation; and this is another one of those tapes which might be of interest if you were actually in the group, but there's otherwise no real reason for you to care about it. That said, I was in the group, and even I haven't listened to this one since probably 1987.
Actually, that's possibly not entirely true. You might conceivably experience a few seconds of curiosity if you were one of the people interviewed on the first track, which seems to just about justify this thing as a free download; not that I really need such justification. In the spring of 1987 I was coming to the end of my three year degree at Maidstone College of Art and had somehow managed to remain effectively unemployable, which made the prospect of life out in the real world terrifying. I therefore put myself up for nomination for president of the student union on the grounds that it would warrant some form of extension to my grant and mean I could spend another year bumming around college hoping to eventually achieve sexual intercourse. It had worked for Carl - the singing Dover - who had been president of the student union during my first year, and he'd spent most of the time beating them off with a shitty stick. Unfortunately I was up against Nick Shaddick who had a much better idea of what the job entailed and of what he was talking about, so he won, which was probably for the best. My research - or at least my equivalent of Hillary Clinton kissing babies and opening new branches of Taco Bell - had been to shove a tape recorder under the noses of friends and acquaintances and ask them what it would take to secure their vote, and the first track comprises their answers. In order of appearance, those you can hear were: Martin de Sey, Garreth Roberts, Ian Elliott, Neil McLeod (who we auditioned as drummer at one stage, but he didn't seem to like our music very much) with the golden tonsils of Nicola Percy at work in the background, Niki Medlik, Trisha (some friend of Niki, can't remember her second name), Gill Ewington, Andy someone-or-other-from-the-sculpture-department, Karl Foster, a couple of blokes from the painting department - one of whom might have been called Pete, Kirsten van Schreven, and Lynne Blackburn.
As for the other shit on here, tracks 2 and 3 were recorded at Carl's place in Bermondsey on the 14th November, 1987, and the rest was at my place in Chatham on the the 11th December, 1987; except for the guitar instrumentals which were just me.
So there you go; and it's still better than the entire Radiohead back catalogue. Enjoy. Don't enjoy. Whatever. Knock yourself out.
Tracks:
1 - Lawrence on the Campaign Trail
2 - Havin' a Laugh
3 - Do the Frug
4 - Havin' a Laugh
5 - Fatback
6 - A.I.D.X.
7 - The Insect
8 - B.L.A.C.Clowns
9 - Keep Your Dreams A'Burning
10 - Are You My Mother?
11 - Is This Recording?
12 - Fatback (guitar instrumental)
13 - Misery List (guitar instrumental)
14 - The Insect (guitar instrumental)
15 - Batman's Personal Friend (guitar instrumental)
16 - Beat Me Black & Blue (guitar instrumental)
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