16 Again: 16 songs from 11 years now on vinyl

By Henry Lipput

The wonderful Dot Dash collection, 16 Again (Country Mile Records), is the first time these songs have been on vinyl and it’s a great way to hear them (but you really need to visit, or revisit as the case may be, the original CDs to get the whole sonic picture). It’s also a terrific way to introduce new fans to the band and a way to remind current fans why they liked Dot Dash so much in the first place. 

You can think of these songs, hand-picked by the band, as "a greatest hits album by a band with no hits" as the Bandcamp page says. But there's a difference between songs not being hits and songs loved by fans that should have been hits ("Unfair Weather" is one). The title 16 Again refers to the fact that these songs (all but one but more on that later) have been previously available on all seven of their albums released by Wally Salem’s The Beautiful Music label between 2011 and 2022.

Seven of the eight songs on Side One of 16 Again focus on the band’s two most recent albums Madman in The Rain and Proto Retro. Both of these albums were recorded with the current Dot Dash lineup of Terry Banks (guitar), Hunter Bennett (bass), and Danny Ingram (drums) and a have crisper, poppier sound thanks to producer Geoff Sanoff and both albums are full of bangers. The last track on Side One, “Holly Garland,” is from 2016’s Searchlights but although it has a slightly different lineup it fits right in.

Banks, Bennett, and Ingram have been with the band since 2011’s Spark>Flame>Ember>Ash but between that album and 2016’s Searchlights there were other lead guitarists. But since they left, Banks has expertly handled both all guitar duties and continues to contribute lead vocals. Banks has the perfect power pop voice and his guitar work is clean and drives the songs as do the brilliant rhythm section of Bennett and Ingram.

Side Two continues this musical journey with songs from the other four albums beginning with “Tatters” from 2015’s Earthquakes & Tidal Waves and ending with “There and Back Again” from their debut release in 2011. But they’re not done yet: 16 Again ends with Dot Dash’s cover of Television Personalities’ “Jackanory Stories” which was included on Volume 4 of The Beautiful Music’s series of tributes to Television Personalities.