Aztec Camera / Roddy Frame: Classic or Dud?

Small World on Surf has one of the most beautiful melodies I have heard in recent years. It was the theme to the TV series Early Doors. It has the same qualities of his early songs, the romanticism, which I know will condemn him in some eyes.

"Surf" is a bit too stripped for my taste, but the songs are quality ones, surely.

"lost outside the tunnel" is the only song which ever did something for me. it has the melancholic vibe and the scottishness in the singing and tune. we had a thread about that a long time ago. all the other few songs i heard i found boring, generic, flat, bland, mor, without any interest and spark. except "jump" of course but that's not his.

classic

there is another song i dig, "worlds in worlds", a demo is online on his site. "marble arch" is quite nice too. i know hardly any of his work so there are probably much more...

_Dreamland_ is the only Aztec Camera album I got rid of

Why? I consider it perhaps his best album other than the debut.

i love Dreamland. Great album. That's the one with Valium Summer right? That album is solid all the way through.

Overrated as per but I find I can still listen to 'Oblivious' a lot.

apropos of nothing else on this thread: pinefox, i always wanted to ask you, do you like (have you heard) M. Ward?

The first album really needs to be re-issued with the A and B sides of the two Postcard singles added.

But the real first album, "Green Jacket Grey" has never been issued at all. We need that, plus the four single sides. I've heard the whole thing (I think; nine songs) - really cool stuff.

http://www.gigsandtours.com/tour/roddy-frame-aztec-camera-s-high-land-hard-rain/?pre=aztec&offercode=artistroddy&direct=true

Just saying.

Yes, issue "Green Jacket Grey" already! Unfortunately it will probably never officially happen since Roddy seems to hate it.

Every time I search it, it's a dead(link)end.

https://soundcloud.com/elframo/green-jacket-grey

Yeah been hoping for that Postcard era stuff to turn up in an equivalent of Orange Juice's The Glasgow School or something. Has Roddy Frame publicly disowned it or anything?
Certainly High Land hrd rain sounds better without th etinny production taht was one arlier versions of the cd.

Oh, it's just one track, I thought it was the whole thing. Sorry.

I have a dusty old cassette featuring a tinny fuzzy bootleg of Green Jacket Grey in our loft which I haven't listened to (or even thought about) for about 20 years. I must go and try and find it.

Seriously considering getting my passport to attend one of the High Land shows.

I hope he 'll put out some new material soon — it's been 7 years since his last album. White Pony (a newish song he's been performing live for a few years) is great.

I'm hoping these are just warm up shows in the long run.

A new record would be fantastic.

I saw him doing an acoustic show last year, and if this tour is even half as good as that, I'll be a very happy lass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhFeRZv0mVc

Yes, issue "Green Jacket Grey" already! Unfortunately it will probably never officially happen since Roddy seems to hate it.

I heard that he played Green Jacket Grey and When The Spirit Shows in London on Sunday night. Maybe, just maybe, he doesn't hate it after all.

I was at the London show on sunday night. I've seen Roddy play acoustically many times, and (though I loved those acoustic gigs) this was on completely another level. A wonderful and utterly unforgettable evening. And, yep, he played Green Jacket Grey, The Spirit Shows and Just Like Gold. And this one of course:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8hN927iSrM

Not the song, the album "Green Jacket Grey"

but.

Aye, but playing songs from that era perhaps suggests he doesn't hate it as much as was previously thought. Maybe.

New old treats, something of a treasure trove: https://soundcloud.com/postcard-of-scotland/

gripped High Land, Hard Rain earlier this week based on the band name alone, friend of mine said they were buds with Orange Juice? really great record, sorta reminds me of Prefab Sprout and XTC

Good man, the follow up "Knife" is excellent as well. After that it gets patchy but there's moments of brilliance along the way. The best Roddy is voice+guitar.

Yes, early Aztec Camera was on the Postcard label. Malcolm Young was in Aztec Camera for a while, but he also spent time in the other Postcard bands, Orange Juice and Josef K.

I will swear until the day I retire that Knife is Roddy's greatest work. I understand this is far from the consensus, but I stand by it.

I would recommend parts of Stray and Dreamland.

It's kind of strange that he didn't get truly consistent until he started releasing albums under his own name. All of his solo records range from decent (North Star) to great (Western Skies + Seven Dials) to flat out brilliant (Surf).

Some things bear repeating: how does a 17yr old write a song like 'We Could Send Letters'?

Why did I think he was dead? Odd, that.

I saw him on a solo tour way back in . . . 86-87? Whenever he released the live album with the plaid pants. He was surprisingly good. I say "surprising" only because . . . well, a solo show.

Was it a live album? I think so. A live EP, more like. The one on the right in this picture:

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/0RcAAOxyeR9TGA16/s-l600.jpg

Coincidentally, the ScottishTeeVee YT channel just posted this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NxkgHYuoh0

Pretty wild that Aztec Camera were using a Fairlight for live shows in 1983. Rough Trade must have had great expectations for Roddy.

gosh, was he sexy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w1Q8ZkXZ1Q

Used to listen to High Land, Hard Rain regularly -- how's the rest of their discography?

Marvelous moments all over the place.

Got a Best Of list at HTV?

Sure: https://humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2017/06/13/happy-in-happy-extremes-the-best-of-aztec-camera/

I don't know much beyond High Land... but I'm dazzled at the notion that there are 15 better songs *in the world* than 'We Could Send Letters', let alone 15 by the same man.

Thanks, Alfred!

alfred otm of course, tho i am making my token appearance in this revival to rep for knife. it's my favorite thing he's ever done.

(also fist bumps to alfred for repping "black lucia" — very solid jam!)

Thanks to Indexed, I'm listening to Dreamland's "Safe in Sorrow" as I type.

I think Scritti and Anita Baker were Roddy's inspiration to go soul pop rather than SOS.

we should poll dreamland. if high land didn't exist, it'd be his second best album.

I think Scritti and Anita Baker were Roddy's inspiration to go soul pop rather than SOS.

― Piedie Gimbel,

He went on and on about Rapture in these 1987 reviews. He got it better than American critics.

*interviews

Rapture had been number 2 in the NME's 1986 end of year list, so it was a UK critical commonplace at the time.

I think Western Skies, under his own name rather than AC, is up there too.

yeah, probably not his best album. in fact, upon revisting, i am currently thinking of everything else he's ever done with a much better opinion than frestonia. it's very mor. no thank you.

but i recommend everything else he's ever done in varying degrees of essential-ness.

wow this thread has blown up in the last couple but after soto's refresh i rechecked Love it's still nope, but also based on recs here i listened to Surf 4 times and it is indeed greeeeeaaaaat.

ever since hearing 'Birth of the True' at the end of his follow up, I've longed for an entirely acoustic album - one guitar, one voice, no harmonies. And here it finally is: 'Surf'; and it's quite beautiful

Ugh god same can't believe I've been sleeping on this record for 20 years thank you Alfred for the revive and everyone else involved in this beautiful old timey internet forum, what a gift

jammin' the north star this afternoon for the first time in a long while. big sigh. so good. absolutely nothing even resembling a surprise happens.

and yet.

ps- is faux boy band north star-era roddy your favorite?
https://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000087094007-tmec67-t500x500.jpg
because it's mine.

Dave Mustaine, recently:

... there’s a guy named Roddy Frame who is the singer for a band called Aztec Camera, and most metal people would call me a pussy if they heard Aztec Camera, but it’s a great band with beautiful songwriting. That’s where I turn to when I want to learn something. I’ll go to people who are exceptional in their field. And Roddy Frame writes for a lot of people. When somebody has unlocked the secret of songwriting, for me, I want to maybe not pick their brain, but at least observe.

and then there's me who actively got called a pussy for liking aztec camera.

but yeah, spot on dave. roddy's clearly great, sure. lol @ "exceptional in their field." ya think ol'davo thinks of himself accordingly?

lol

I'm not a pussy ok! I'm just observing exceptional people in their field! I'll kick your ass! MEGADETH

was looking for youtube covers to help me figure out how to play some of the tunes from Surf, found the video below which is not exactly helpful because it's all arranged for piano but is great none the less, pandemic-era living room set of Roddy songs, very interesting to hear on a piano

I guess in the end I have to agree with Dave Mustaine, I don't know that Dave has unlocked the secret of songwriting but if anyone has it's probably Roddy Frame

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0MuJIKBTGQ

Some things bear repeating: how does a 17yr old write a song like 'We Could Send Letters'?

dreamland thoughts...

suspend disbelief, close your eyes, and press play on "vertigo" with the thought that it's roddy, sakamoto, jam+lewis.

i mean... "vertigo" up to classic camera status for me anyway. it's roddy doing city pop!

OMG Roddy Frame turned 60 this year, how is that even possible?

that's clark kent for you, man. idk how he does it either. (winkwink)