"Simply Thrilled: The Preposterous Story of Postcard Records" by Simon Goddard + unseen Paul Slattery photos of Aztec Camera & Orange Juice from 1980

(L/R) "Simply Thrilled" Author Simon Goddard, Edwyn Collins and Photographer Paul Slattery

Just before we went to see Roddy Frame play at the Shepherds Bush Empire (you can read the review of that gig here) we popped along to the launch party of Simon Goddard's new book "Simply Thrilled: The Preposterous Story of Postcard Records", which is out now on Ebury Press. The party was a well attended gathering at Scottish outfitters Lyle & Scott's flagship store in Carnaby Street and the author was there, along with Edwyn Collins, to sign copies of the beautifully presented book. Retro Man Blog's very own Paul Slattery has some of his early pictures reproduced in "Simply Thrilled" and he caught up with Edwyn for the first time since he photographed Orange Juice as they, and Postcard Records, were just starting to make waves back in 1980.

Author Simon Goddard made his name with three impressively detailed books on The Smiths, Morrissey and Ziggy period Bowie, all crammed full of the minutiae of his subject’s music. These were fact packed Rock ‘n’ Roll encyclopedias and song-by-song guides that satisfied the thirst for knowledge and curiosity of every ardent music geek and connoisseur. However “Simply Thrilled: The Preposterous Story of Postcard Records” is, as the title alludes to, a very different proposition. Whilst researching the book, the author came up against so many differing versions of the same story that he decided to go with Postcard Records boss Alan Horne’s advice to just go ahead and “print the legend” to “write the myth, as that is far more interesting”. Actually, there probably wasn’t that much for Goddard to get his investigative teeth into anyway, Postcard only released around a dozen or so records from a meagre roster of four bands - Orange Juice, Aztec Camera, Josef K and The Go-Betweens - and it was all over in a couple of years, hardly the stuff that encyclopedias are made of. So, what we do get is a thoroughly entertaining “dramatic reconstruction” of the Postcard Records story, not written in some dry Q&A format with an endless cast of characters reminiscing on times gone past but in what could pass as a screenplay to a musical Bio-pic. I can imagine “Simply Thrilled” being filmed say in the vein of Joann Sfar’s stunning fantasy “Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life” or the recent movie “Svengali” which, although a work of fiction does somewhat blur the boundaries between a parody of the music business and real life.

Orange Juice in 1980 - Photo copyright Paul Slattery

Don’t worry, fans of Goddard’s previous books will still get their fix but they will have to skip to the large annotated discography at the back to find notes on release dates, the colour of labels or the meaning of comments etched into the vinyl’s run-out grooves. Don’t expect much on the stories of Aztec Camera or The Go-Betweens either, as there are almost as many pages devoted to Louis Wain, the Victorian Cat Artist whose cute drumming feline became the Postcard Records logo, than there are about those two bands. Josef K fare slightly better in terms of column inches although it is very clear that Horne never really wanted to sign them in the first place. “Simply Thrilled” is very much the story of Alan Horne and Edwyn Collins, from their first encounter right up to the demise of Postcard Records rather than an in-depth look at how a Record Company works. Alan Horne is described as a sensitive and clumsy loner who comes across as Kenneth Williams playing the role of Andy Warhol, spitting out quick-fire ripostes and cutting put-downs. He is introduced to Edwyn Collins via mutual friends and recognises him as the singer of a band called The Nu-Sonics who he saw play at a chaotic and violent gig in Glasgow. With their shared love of The Velvet Underground and Soul music they soon become close friends, bickering and trying to out-do each other like a comedy double act. The Nu-Sonics evolve into Orange Juice, inspired by the slightly fey melodies of Buzzcocks (as immortalised in OJ’s classic single “Rip It Up”), Subway Sect’s embracing of Northern Soul and the scratchy disco rhythm guitar of Chic’s Nile Rogers. The seed of Postcard Records is sown when Horne decides to produce a flexi-disc of Orange Juice to give away free with copies of his fanzine and his confrontational character soon becomes the driving force behind the label.

The "Simply Thrilled" launch party

Alan and Edwyn seem to delight in offending Glasgow’s macho, aggressive elements and Orange Juice seem to equally offend hard-core Punks, hooligans (or “Neds”) and Teddy Boys alike. The band become almost an “Anti-Rock” concept, with their semi-acoustic guitars held high, there are no Peter Hook, Paul Simonon, Dee Dee Ramone style low slung basses and certainly no throwing of guitar hero shapes or poses. With their jumble sale second hand clothes of tartan, plaid and suede it was a somewhat twee look and sound that was to pave the way for countless “Indie” bands to come. The pair’s confrontational approach brings them into conflict with the influential DJ John Peel who they tell to “wise up old man” as they thrust a copy of Orange Juice’s debut single at him. It worked; Peel played the record that very night although he did complain about the two rude Scotsmen who accosted him in the BBC’s lobby. John Peel was later to accuse Orange Juice of “ruining” his favourite band, the Undertones, but you’ll just have to read the book to find out how! Then there’s the running feud with Rough Trade’s Geoff Travis that at one point reduces Alan to a worrying depression. He eventually snaps out of it and gets his revenge by negotiating a deal that amazingly secured Postcard an 85/15 cut of the profits. In his interview with Goddard, Geoff Travis strongly denied this so Horne actually digs out a copy of the original contract (no doubt from his sock drawer that passed as Postcard’s filing cabinet…) to prove to the author that his version was actually the truthful one. Along the way there is an embarrassing meeting with The Velvet Underground’s Nico who, they are horrified to discover, no longer resembles the gorgeous blonde chanteuse from those iconic photos of her New York heyday.

Aztec Camera in 1980 - Photo copyright Paul Slattery

Then in a somewhat “pot calling kettle black” scenario, The Fall’s Mark E Smith refuses to put up Orange Juice and their label boss at his house after a gig in Manchester because he thought Horne was “a weirdo”. Goddard excels in bringing these vignettes to life and he is particularly adept at conjuring up evocative scenes of the violence experienced at those early gigs in Glasgow. Considering that the label’s motto was "The Sound of Young Scotland”, there is not much emphasis placed on the impact that Postcard Records had on Glasgow’s music scene and their influence on Creation Records’ Alan McGee and bands such as Belle & Sebastian, Teenage Fanclub, The Pastels, Franz Ferdinand and the whole C-86 “Indie Pop” boom. But that is a minor gripe, this is a book brimming with an enthusiasm that will make you dig out all the records and we are left with a teasing clue from Horne that what came after Postcard was far crazier, whether that is crazy enough to merit another book we’ll have to wait and see.

Simon Goddard has also written the highly acclaimed "Mozipedia: The Encylopedia of Morrissey and The Smiths" and "The Smiths: The Songs That Saved Your Life" as well as "Ziggyology: A Brief History of Ziggy Stardust". You can buy the books direct from Ebury or from the usual outlets.

With thanks to Simon Goddard, Maria at Ebury Press and Paul Slattery for the excellent photos.

Roddy Frame at The Shepherd's Bush Empire May 22nd + Unseen Aztec Camera photo by Paul Slattery from 1980

Roddy Frame - Photo copyright Richard Wood 2014

Roddy Frame played a rare live show last night to a packed out Shepherd's Bush Empire in support of his excellent new record "Seven Dials" and he achieved the unusual feat of playing over half of the album without, as he wryly commented "sending everyone scuttling off to the bar". He seemed genuinely moved by the rapt attention given to the new songs, and he was right when he said he loved the sound of silence between his songs. The blight of big gigs like this, and why I generally avoid them, is the modern day habit of people, not only chattering away between songs but during them too. I remember seeing The Go-Betweens at the same venue and losing my rag with some idiots for talking and laughing all the way through "Finding You", one of the most beautiful songs ever written! But thankfully Roddy's audience seem as nice as the man himself! I want to hate Roddy Frame, he looks preposterously youthful for his fifty years of age, stick thin and a full head of hair, I take a quick look at the guys in the crowd around me and notice a comforting amount of balding pates, glasses and expanding waist-lines, yep, I feel a bit better now! I think that his audience must be an Oscar Wilde "portrait", as we all get older and suffer the ravages of ageing, Roddy just seems to get younger. Not only is he an extremely talented singer, and guitarist but he seems annoyingly good-natured too, his between song banter is worthy of a stand-up routine in it's own right. 

Roddy Frame - Photo copyright Richard Wood 2014

Girls look on admiringly, there are shouts of "we love you Roddy" every now and then and guys think how nice it must be to have a pint or two and a good chat with him. He's a music fan, he knows the score, he  gently mocks the anorak tendencies of fans - "do you want more of the technical stuff and background to all the songs?" he asks. He also has a dig at journalists for misinterpreting his lyrics, "Someone said this song is about death, it's not, I'm only fifty for god's sake!" He then goes off on a tangent, musing that maybe he would have been more critically acclaimed if he'd have popped his clogs after his third album. But he's certainly alive and kicking, in fact he is positively bursting with energy, bouncing around as though he's in a boxing ring, a huge grin spreads across his face. 

Roddy Frame - Photo copyright Steve Worrall 2014

Tonight he is backed by the same band that performed with him on the "High Land, Hard Rain" gigs last year, but I think I prefer to see Roddy play solo gigs, just him and his acoustic guitar, as some of the arrangements seem a bit too much for me. There's the odd bit of guitar rocking-out that grates and the drummer is a bit snare-heavy. However, it does allow Roddy to showcase his versatility and he mixes up the performances nicely, switching from electric to acoustic guitars and back again. My highlights were the more subtle and moving movements of the gig such as a stunning version of "On The Avenue" from Frestonia where he is accompanied solely by the piano, and his voice takes on another dimension, he delivers it beautifully. "Killermont Street" is another stand-out but somewhat surprisingly it's a new song that really grabbed me, "Into The Sun" is surely destined to grow into a classic alongside "Oblivious" and "Somewhere In My Heart" and all his other big hits. 

Photo Copyright Richard Wood 2014

I was a bit disappointed not to get anything from "Surf", or indeed "Western Skies", but I suppose these are more suited to his one-man acoustic shows and I can't be greedy when we get treated to a great version of "The North Star", and an exuberant "Bigger Brighter Better", two of my favourites from his solo out-put. He is a truly underrated guitarist too, his intricate Flamenco flourishes and deft fretwork just make you gawp open-mouthed at his sheer dexterity. He really should get more credit, he's right up there with the greats. Early Aztec Camera single "Mattress of Wire" and a truly uplifting version of "We Could Send Letters" were also superbly performed and lapped up by the crowd and the set closes with a sweet and soulful "Back On Board". So, a thoroughly enjoyable night out in the company of Roddy Frame, let's hope it won't be so long until his next London gig.

Roddy Frame - Photo copyright Richard Wood 2014

With thanks to Richard Wood for the great photos, please check out more of his pictures here.

For our report on Roddy playing Aztec Camera's "High Land, Hard Rain" last December please check out the Blog archive feature here. Now, as a little bonus here is a previously unpublished photo of Aztec Camera taken in 1980 by Retro Man Blog contributor Paul Slattery...

Aztec Camera in 1980 - Copyright Paul Slattery

 

Roddy Frame: Aztec Camera's "High Land, Hard Rain" at The Theatre Royal Drury Lane Sunday December 01st

Roddy Frame at Theatre Royal Drury Lane - Photo by Steve Worrall

I never really liked Aztec Camera, I remember seeing them on Top Of The Pops once, and Roddy Frame was all fringe, floppy hair and tasselled jacket. It was too sugary sweet and pop for me, too much of that awful 80’s production and drum sound and far, far too cheerful and upbeat for an angst ridden Punk Rocker. A quick look at my gig diary at the time of the release of their debut album “High Land, Hard Rain” in 1983 tells me that if I wasn’t getting knocked unconscious (unintentionally) at a Discharge gig in a dangerously hot and sweaty 100 Club or seeing a man hit himself over the head with a metal tray in a band called Pogue Mahone I was either getting elbowed in the head by chicken dancing Psychobillies at King Kurt shows (unintentionally) or being chased from my own band’s gigs by chair-leg wielding skinheads (very much intentionally!). It wasn’t until hearing Roddy Frame’s duet with Mick Jones on the Big Audio Dynamite sound-alike “Good Morning Britain” in 1990 that I took a bit of interest and was a bit surprised to find out that Frame was a big Clash fan. Later on I was more impressed with his debut solo album “The North Star” in 1998 than I was by any of the Aztec Camera albums; it was a great record with some cracking songs such as “Reason For Living”. Then seeing Roddy Frame play a great gig at the LA2 and later a low-key acoustic show at the intimate Borderline around the time of his “Surf” album, hearing those Aztec Camera songs stripped of the distracting 80’s production, it dawned on me just how great they were. It wasn’t just the songs though but also his virtuoso guitar playing, humorous storytelling and easy going banter with the crowd that made me a convert to the cause. 

So tonight is the first date in a small tour to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of Aztec Camera’s debut album "High Land, Hard Rain", and it’s a far cry from the Borderline, it’s the Theatre Royal Drury Lane no less. We are way up in the Grand Circle and considering the majority of men in the crowd are somewhat folically challenged I have to sit behind a giant with the most frizzed up frightening hair I have seen for some time. For a theatre it’s a poor view and I spend most of the gig ducking around, craning my neck trying to get a good vantage point and it meant that photo opportunities were quite limited. The show starts promptly at 8pm, the house lights dim and Roddy appears alone with his acoustic guitar and launches straight into a beautiful run through of “The Birth of The True” from the “Knife” album. “So what have you been doing for the last thirty years?” Roddy asks and plays “How Men Are”. This is followed by a sublime “Spanish Horses”, dedicated to the city of Barcelona; it highlights Roddy’s quite stunning guitar work, the flamenco rhythm driving the song along. “Small World” is beautiful tonight and Roddy explains that it was picked by Craig Cash to be used for the sit-com “Early Doors”. Then he introduces a drummer and bassist and tells us he is going to play some songs from his early East Kilbride period that didn’t quite make the cut for “High Land”. There is a bit of banter about the fact that there was probably a good reason why they didn’t make the album, but in reality the songs are excellent, “Green Jacket Grey” and “Orchid Girl” are both excellent. In between the songs the bass player whispers something to Roddy, who in turn confesses to us. “Our bassist is such a polite Austrian gentleman, he’s just told me his monitors are missing, and I mean actually missing”. Sure enough they were not even set up on stage so we have to endure the sight of a roadie bending over to set them up during “Orchid Girl” but luckily it doesn’t detract too much from the song itself. “Well we never had monitors at our early gigs back in the day, so that’s one for the purists”. Then suddenly, that’s it, it is interval time and I feel a bit short changed, people were just getting into it and it feels as though the rug has been pulled from under my feet. Then it turns out the interval drags on for way over twenty minutes, it’s a bit disappointing. But never mind, people can buy luxury ice cream from authentic usherette trays…“Rock ‘n’ Roll!”

Photo by Steve Worrall

Luckily the second half of the set makes up for it as Roddy returns with the band augmented by a keyboard player and another guitarist, and then it’s into the album itself. They finish a wonderfully upbeat “Oblivious” and as the rapturous applause dies down Roddy exclaims “Oh, I quite like this classic album thing, I’ll have to write another one!” He could make it as a stand-up comedian I’m sure as the self-deprecating comments and witty one-liners flow as fast and furious as his nimble fingers along the fret-board.  “I need a different plectrum for this one, for your information it’s 1 mm, I know these things can be important” and “Apparently the venue said there are no photos tonight, usually I don’t like people taking photos either but tonight I’ll make an exception. I don’t mind, do what you want, this gig is for you. You can even sit and paint a watercolour of the show and put it up on your Blog if you want”. He taps into the demographic of the crowd perfectly, despite still looking quite annoyingly young, fresh-faced and healthy. “I am not sure about this classic album thing, but you look like you’ve been to a few, sitting there with your £7 glass of Rioja, some of you look like you’ve even been to one of those fake Pink Floyd tribute classic album shows. I bet you don’t know what’s coming next, don’t worry, I do!” 

Photo by Steve Worrall

There’s one bit where a member of the crowd hisses a loud “shhhh!” as some idiots are chattering away while Roddy is talking, in fact even during some of the quieter acoustic intros some people seem to be more intent on catching up with the latest gossip rather than concentrating on the show. I don’t get this modern phenomenon of people paying money to go to gigs just to talk through them. It would appear neither does Roddy, the irate punter’s plea for some respect seemed to have worked. “Listen, can you hear that? No neither can I, I love the sound of silence”. There are, however some nice bits of crowd banter, “is that the same old guitar?” someone shouts as Roddy straps on a beautiful gold Gibson ES295 semi-acoustic. Roddy laughs, “What? Is this like an impromptu Q & A session now? Do you really want to hear a bit of background to the songs?” “YES!” the crowd cries. He explains the guitar is a replica of the model that Scotty Moore used during the Sun Studio sessions with Elvis, gives us a quick blast of Scotty style guitar and finishes off with an Elvis swing of the hips. He talks about moving down to Acton in London and even gives us the address and directions “you can all go on one of those music heritage location tours, you come out at the tube, right by the police station then run past the estate.” There’s more banter about his guitar technician/roadie, who I am quite surprised to notice is the bassist in the excellent Power Pop Punk band Cyanide Pills, “I need a different guitar for each song so my guitar roadie is going to be the busiest man in London tonight”. Then there is this chestnut, “There’s only one thing worse than tuning guitars, it’s listening to other people tuning them”. So, of course no surprises, we get the whole album faithfully reproduced, unfortunately it’s so faithful that we also get a thumpingly intrusive and unsubtle snare drum sound that irritates in places. However, it all falls into place on a quite stunning “We Could Send Letters” which sends shivers down the spine, a truly memorable moment. Another highlight is “Lost Outside The Tunnel" which Roddy goes on to explain was influenced by the Liverpool Post-Punk Psychedelic scene of Teardrop Explodes and Echo & The Bunnymen. He also tells us how Aztec Camera supported The Teardrops on the day Ian Curtis died. The gig draws to a close and again he homes in on “the middle-aged Rock Fan dilemma” (sounds like a song by The Fall…) “I put out on Twitter that the gig will end at 10pm, we’re running a bit late and now I feel guilty as I know most of you will have to get back to your baby-sitters.” He ends off with a lovely version of “Killermont Street”, an uplifting “Bigger, Better, Brighter” and of course “Somewhere In My Heart”, and the crowd respond with a rousing standing ovation. The encore is short but he leaves us with the good news that there will be a brand new solo album to be released sometime in 2014.

Photo by Steve Worrall