I recently bought this box set containing (pretty much) the complete works of the mighty Orange Juice.
I’ve been a huge fan of the ‘Juice for many many years, but this box set has just brought it all home. This is one of the finest, and most influential bands of the modern era (Franz Ferdinand, anyone?). I fully intended to write a full, in-depth piece on this, but while researching for it, I found this:
Frankly, it says it all, so I’m not even going to bother saying any more, just read this brilliant piece by Frankosonic – it’s far better than anything I could write.
I will say this – if you are a music fan (a real music fan), you have to check out Orange Juice. Damn good stuff.
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.
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
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