30th
January 1988
Glasgow
Barrowlands
The
Eighties were pretty good times for Scottish bands. OK, so perhaps the English held down the
Number 1 spot with The Smiths, but boasting Orange Juice, Lloyd Cole & The
Commotions, Big Country, The Proclaimers, Friends Again, The Waterboys, The Bluebells, The
Associates and (pre-Sparkle in the Rain) Simple Minds, we Scots confidently
felt we had most of the rest of the Top Ten tied up.
Of course, to this list one has to add Aztec Camera: arguably the most accomplished of the lot.
Of course, to this list one has to add Aztec Camera: arguably the most accomplished of the lot.
No
slight is intended to the talents of the likes of Malcolm Ross, Craig Gannon
and Dave Mulholland who all enjoyed stints with the band, but in reality Aztec
Camera was primarily a vehicle for the not inconsiderable talents of East
Kilbride born Roddy Frame.
The
group’s first single Just Like Gold was recorded in 1981, when Frame was a depressingly
precocious seventeen-year old. The debut
album, High Land Hard Rain released two years later represented, alongside
Orange Juice’s debut album, the epitome of the fresh new sound which was emerging
from Young Scotland in the early 1980s.
The
lead off track, Oblivious, was a joyous success of layered jangle-pop, at once
both quirky and danceable; Frame’s acoustic guitar work particularly memorable. Pillar to Post and Walk Out To Winter were
both hits on the Indie chart, whilst We Could Send Letters showcased Frame’s eloquent
lyric writing to the fore, featuring another acoustic guitar solo of sublimely
restrained dexterity.
The album closed with the sprightly Down The Dip – a thinking man’s rewrite of Sham 69’s anthem Hurry up, Harry. A captivating collection from start to finish.
The album closed with the sprightly Down The Dip – a thinking man’s rewrite of Sham 69’s anthem Hurry up, Harry. A captivating collection from start to finish.
There
was, however, an audible intake of breath when we learned that Aztec Camera’s follow-up
album would be produced by Mark Knopfler.
For Dire Straits were at this point in time well on their way to
evolving into bloated Stadium-Rock blobbyness, and Mr K really enjoyed little, if
indeed any cache within the UK indie scene.
But
the album was remarkably convincing – perhaps lacking a measure of the sparkle
of the debut, but certainly a clear cut above most of the dross around at the
time. All I Need Is Everything and Still
On Fire were both strong singles, although only the former charted.
Back Door To Heaven and the strident Birth Of The True were both a treat, but the standout cut was perhaps the nine minute long title track. I am guessing this song is probably the one where the Dire Straits guitarist’s influence was greatest and, although at times it sounds as if Frame and Knopfler are attempting to re-write Albatross, Roddy's perfectly-phrased vocal performance saves the day. In fact, I consider it his finest.
Back Door To Heaven and the strident Birth Of The True were both a treat, but the standout cut was perhaps the nine minute long title track. I am guessing this song is probably the one where the Dire Straits guitarist’s influence was greatest and, although at times it sounds as if Frame and Knopfler are attempting to re-write Albatross, Roddy's perfectly-phrased vocal performance saves the day. In fact, I consider it his finest.
This
particular gig was the Glasgow stop on the early 1988 tour to coincide with the
band’s third release: the rather disappointing Love. The singles chosen to promote the album were
Deep and Wide and Tall, and How Men Are – both distressingly anodyne efforts. With Roddy only later accepting what we had
all realised some months earlier: that Somewhere in My Heart was the Top Five
hit in waiting.
Of
the other songs on the album Working In a Goldmine was pleasant enough but
smouldered without ever quite catching fire, whilst the soul-influenced Paradise only just managed to keep its head above water; at times almost drowning in an
opulent production job (Andean Pipes, anyone?)
Killermont Street was another Frame masterpiece however: his heartbreakingly poignant paean to Glasgow’s main bus station, a jumping off point for so many Scots going south.
Killermont Street was another Frame masterpiece however: his heartbreakingly poignant paean to Glasgow’s main bus station, a jumping off point for so many Scots going south.
A
first impression when the band took to the stage at The Barrowlands was
surprise at just how many folks there were in Aztec Camera these days. Eight, including a percussionist and two
girlie backing singers.
I think the opener was All I Need is Everything, and I am fairly sure the set included Pillar to Post, The Boy Wonders, and a cover of The Blue Orchid’s Bad Education, but I cannot really be sure after all this time.
I think the opener was All I Need is Everything, and I am fairly sure the set included Pillar to Post, The Boy Wonders, and a cover of The Blue Orchid’s Bad Education, but I cannot really be sure after all this time.
I
do recall Roddy’s short acoustic spot; performing Down The Dip, Birth Of The
True and Jump – the last named regretfully shorn of the electric guitar
blowout. Oblivious was one of the
encores and, unless memory is tricking me again, the evening was rounded off
with Frame on stage alone giving a version of Bob Dylan’s I Threw It All Away.
And
that was the last time I saw ever Roddy (to date, at least). No criticism of Aztec Camera intended with
that statement, but the Eighties were drawing to a close, and the Nineties were to
be my Van Morrison decade.
Setlist (From memory with internet clues - but it could all be bollox)
All I Need is
Everything
Pillar to Post
Lost Outside the
Tunnel
Working in a
Goldmine
How Men Are
Killermont Street
Birth of The True
Jump
Down The Dip
Bad Education
The Boy Wonders
Still on Fire
Deep & Wide
& Tall
Oblivious
Walk out to Winter
I Threw It All Away
I think Somewhere In My Heart was performed between Walk Out and I Threw It.
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