Inside Out: 1985-1990

The Mighty Lemon Drops carved out a nice niche for themselves in the post-C86 guitar pop landscape in the U.K. as well as in the burgeoning college rock movement in the U.S. There have been occasional reissues of their work, most often rarities, but never the full collection they deserved. Cherry Reds 2022 release Inside Out 1985-1990 remedies the situation with an exhaustive set that provides ample proof the band were onto something good over that five-year span. The group mixed brittle psychedelia, booming post-punk angst, oft-timelessly hooky melodies, and arrangements that leaned on the edge of melodrama but never went toppling over. Yes, it was a little similar to the template Echo & the Bunnymen had implemented so well a few years earlier, but the Mighty Lemon Drops were more focused, less grand, and easier to grasp. One simple way to differentiate between the two is while Echo covered the Doors, the Lemon Drops covered the Standells. This collection digs deep into the early years of the band, unearthing demos, radio sessions, their first single "Like an Angel," and well-recorded live gigs -- all painting a picture of a band with a firm grip on their garage rock-meets-post-punk sound. Their first album, 1986s jangling, bustling with energy Happy Head, is paired with single tracks from that era, as is their second LP, 1988s more produced, slightly more sedate World Without End. These two albums and their attendant singles stand out as two of the best records any band of that era strung together consecutively. The crispness of the playing and singing, the simple severity of the hooks, and the few-frills production style have kept them both sounding near perfect decades later. 1990s Laughter is a less immediate, more studied album that suffers in comparison to the first two, but taken on its own, it turns out to be a fine slice of guitar pop. The rarities dug up from later in the groups career that round out the set are just as good as those from earlier. An alternate version of "Out of Hand," demos for "Hear Me Call" and "World Without End," live recordings from 1989 that strip the songs from Laughter to the bone, and a fun remix of probably their most well-known song "Inside Out make for a fine vault dive. The Mighty Lemon Drops definitely deserved a collection this thorough and well curated. It shines an illuminating spotlight on a band who were exhilarating at their best, never less than interesting the rest of the time, and certainly worthy of rediscovery for anyone who wrote them off, for whatever flimsy reason, back in the day. ~ Tim Sendra