26×26 – R is for Roddy Frame

Today’s album is Surf by Roddy Frame

After yesterday’s very poor show with Queen, I’m pleased to say I’ve got a very good one for you today!

This is without a doubt one of my favourite albums ever, in fact it might even be my number one.

For those who don’t know, Roddy Frame was the frontman of 80′s indie band Aztec Camera.

Aztec Camera released six albums, with varying levels of success. The band was really just Roddy Frame, with a succession of backing musicians over the years, so the jump to ‘solo artist’ came as no surprise.

1998 saw the release of ‘The North Star’, Roddy’s first album as a solo artist. A real return to form, in a production and songwriting sense – the last Aztec Camera album gave the impression that Roddy had somewhat lost his way.

The follow-up album to The North Star was Surf. An album recorded at home, just a man, an acoustic guitar, and a stunning collection of songs.

I’m not going to go through the tracks on this album in any great detail. I’ll just tell you that this is Roddy Frame at his brilliant best. The guitar playing and vocals are outstanding, and I’ve yet to find an album of songs so ‘complete’, beautiful songs, performed and captured perfectly.

If you admire the whole ‘acoustic singer\songwriter’ thing, it really doesn’t get any better than this.

Go and buy it immediately (and make sure you get the one with the two bonus tracks, they are two of the best – I don’t know why they were not on the original release).

Standout track: Over You

Other ‘R’s who didn’t quite make it: Razorlight, Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Rakes, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Rolling Stones

26×26 – O is for Orange Juice

Today’s album is You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever by Orange Juice

One of my favourites for you today. You may have heard of Orange Juice, one-hit-wonders with ‘Rip It Up’ in 1983. Well, this band is quite a bit more more than a one-hit-wonder – in fact, their role in the history of British pop music is hugely significant.

Orange Juice were signed to the legendary Postcard Records of Scotland, alongside Aztec Camera, Josef K and The Go-Betweens. They released several singles on Postcard – ‘Falling and Laughing’, Blue Boy and a couple of others (highly collectible these days, as are all the Postcard records). The singles achieved very modest success, but they are still cited as hugely important records in the ‘Indie’ scene to this day.

Their debut single ‘Falling and Laughing’ is credited as being the first ‘indie pop’ record, a couple of years before Rough Trade and The Smiths came along.

Indie Pop is best described as a mixture of jangly guitars with fey and whimsical lyrics and melodies, performed by ‘geeky’ guys, and guitars! Edwyn Collins and OJ captured this perfectly (OK, not quite as geeky as Morrisey!).

You could say they were one of the first Indie bands (alongside Aztec Camera et al).

This is the debut album from the band, released in 1982 on Polydor (after the demise of Postcard). The opening track, the aforementioned  ’Falling and Laughing’ was released as a single.

The album is a beautiful collection of sensitive pop,  with the jangliness of The Byrds,  Nile Rodgers-style rhythm guitar chops, and some deeply soulful stuff (heck, there’s even a cover on Al Green’s L.O.V.E Love on here!).  Edwyn’s vocals aren’t exactly technically perfect, but it works – perfectly right for the music and the times. The rhythm section are funky and the guitar playing is somehow very naive, yet innovative.

Other great moments on the album are ‘Wan Light, ‘Dying Day’, ‘Consolation Prize’, ‘Intuition Told Me’ and ‘Felicity’ .

Edwyn eventually went on to have a very successful solo career, as I have already written about.

I urge you to have a listen to this album. It was a big influence on the likes of Johnny Marr, Bernard Butler and many others. A little piece of music history.

Standout track: Falling and Laughing

Other ‘O’s who didn’t quite make it: Oasis

26×26 – A is for Aztec Camera

Today’s album is High Land, Hard Rain by  Aztec Camera.

Wasn’t really a tough choice for me, this one. This is one of my favourite albums of all time, a ‘Desert Island Disc’.

Released on Rough Trade in 1983, and recorded when singer\songwriter Roddy Frame was only 17 years old. Already having a couple of classic singles under their belt on Scotland’s famous Postcard label, Roddy Frame was dubbed ‘The Boy Wonder’ by the indie music press. Still regarded by those in the know as one of the greatest songwriters this country has ever produced.

This is a collection of naive, yet somehow very mature songs – at times heartbreaking. It gave us the hit single Oblivious, and lesser hits such as Walk Out To Winter. You listen to these songs with awe and then remember that they were written by a 15-16 year old boy. Truly outstanding.

Spoiler: you may not have heard the last of the Boy Wonder in this A-Z

Standout track: We Could Send Letters. A beautiful, heart-wrenching tale of lost love (from a 15 year old!)

Other ‘A’ artists who didn’t quite make it: Arctic Monkeys, Amy Winehouse