Aztec Camera / Roddy Frame: Classic or Dud?

xpost to It's Friday, Post Vids of Chill Tunes Why Not?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzkp48musvE

"knife" (1984)

alltime vibe.

"The Crying Scene" is a jam

shame the deluxe edition stuff isn't on us spotify. couple of his solo albums aren't there either. he seems really ripe for a revival. at least they have the version of the first album with "orchid girl" and "queen's tattoos."

he is a very charming man, isn't he?😻

sorry to spam this thread but he is someone i am admittedly too big a fan of to be objective whatsoever. thanks for the revival.

i even have a very fond recommendation for his 2002 all acoustic album surf.

"high class music" (2002):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9drqJU3bRg

these acoustic-only tunes are some of his best and always have been.

"mattress of wire" (live, easily better than studio version, 1984):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i66Mbln4xU0

"dry land" (2006):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u26z5XK0x38

"if life could taste that good again, i swear i'd never complain."

🙂oh, gosh. please tell me more.🙂

Life should taste like Roddy Frame imo

Listening to Knife from start to finish for the first time in decades, it's really fucking great.

I was just thinking the same of Dreamland

Dreamland is my fav Aztec Camera album by a long shot.

was frestonia his faux-weller attempt? i always get about two minutes into the songs and then go, "oh yeah. it all kind of goes this direction, doesn't it?"

giving it another attempt atm and the big boomidy-b'dapdap-b'boom-CRASSSHHH reprise on "rainy season" made me irl lol. oh boy.

i mean it's alright. he still sounds in good spirits, but those silly guitar solos. he was still doing that for a couple songs on his last album, too! just funny. i mean he's got the chops, why the hell not. on that note, his amazing cover of "jump" is not on us spotify and that's just, like, fucking stupid man. (grr face)

don't care if it's already been posted. here 'tis. definition of a classic-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDhQ8ed7WLg

"jump" (1984)

sheesh, his digital catalogue is telling a story. i wanted to post a youtube of the song "imperfectly" from frestonia and make a snarky comment about how he invented imagine dragons, but i found this bemusing stat:
https://i.imgur.com/OF7q1HT.png

ahh well, here it is; wdyt?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CukQYM5CqxU

"imperfectly" (1995)

okay, "beautiful girl" is preposterous. they had to have known that it sounds simultaneously like "summer breeze" and that phantom of the opera riff in "echoes." that is a fucking bland song jesus crimini.

i just don't buy his attempts to be a rocker dude. some of it's alright, but nah man. this ain't you.

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)

so my daughter, for some reason, has become really into Aztec Camera...trying to think of other bands/artists in that vein to recommend - maybe Orange Juice?

Prefab Sprout

especially Steve McQueen aka Two Wheels Good

trash can sinatras second album

yep I second Steve McQueen

xp it’s called “I’ve seen everything”

awesome thanks!

Crowded house, temple of low men
Lloyd Cole, rattlesnakes

Robyn Hitchcock, woodentops, go-betweens, and c86 bands

Trash can Sinatras is a great shout but maybe not aor enough... the singer's sister's first record with fairground attraction might be closer to the young idealistic yuppie vibe i get from aztec camera

I feel like orange juice are a bit weird compared to aztec camera.

The Pale Fountains

The Woodentops

so my daughter, for some reason, has become really into Aztec Camera...

oh come on, we all know the reason: aztec camera fucking smashes!

maybe some of that early sophistipop stuff for riyl? style council, ebtg, etc. kinda feel like anything else more immediately adjacent has already been mentioned.

maybe she’d like men at work?

The Bluebells? Scritti Politti?

Martin Stephenson & The Daintees

The Bible/Boo Hewardine solo

Kevin McDermott Orchestra

Perhaps some of the Scottish bands that were around at roughly the same time, The Big Dish, His Latest Flame, Del Amitri, The Silencers, Deacon Blue (their first record particularly), Love & Money

... Danny Wilson, there were dozens of them.

If looking for something more recent in the tuneful Scottish singer-songwriter vein, can recommend both Hamish Hawk and Withered Hand

And Ballboy.

really appreciate the thoughtful suggestions, been listening to a few - Steve McQueen is a great one should have thought of that

very interesting to me as a yank w/no knowledge of Del Amitri besides that soggy "Roll to Me" song that was an alt rock hit here in the 90s, the first DA album is really great!

Trashcan Sinatras is another name I've seen for years and this second album is indeed amazing

Pale Fountains I'd never even heard of but are great, looks like two went on to Shack another band I've never heard

cheers everyone

If you go for Shack, do check the Magical World of the Strands, which is the Head brothers again. Thread just reminded me of it so put it on for the first time in 15 or so years & still sounds gorgeous.

AC question: Are there any releases of mattress of wire & just like gold outside the original singles? Don't see them on streaming.

Don't sleep on Trashcan Sinatras' Cake, my favorite of theirs. I also like a lot of Weightlifting, but that gets a bit further from the sound of AC.

Haircut 100 is Aztec adjacent I think and may be a good listen.

Seems like there must be American 80s bands that would fit, but I'm not coming up with anything.

The postcard singles never made it to any cd issue or compilation, a real shame.

Was looking through my 80s jangle pop playlist and a few that might suit, with enough tasty chords and properly thrilling bridges or big chorus buildups:

Marshall crenshaw
Close lobsters
Long ryders
Billy bragg's workers playtime
Max eider, best kisser in the world
Not sure which nick lowe record would appeal most to an aztec camerade, maybe impossible bird

Early Byrds (the Gene Clark years)? Maybe The Left Banke, if you can find their collection There's Gonna Be Storm Haven't heard a lot of the Beau Brummels, but vocals esp v nice, Moby Grape in the right mood, ditto Small Faces, Humble Pie, Ronnie Lane's albums (he's the Face etc. I'm mostly thinking of AzCam-vibewise). Incl. the one q Pete Townsend, for that matter some of PT's early solo stuff (and Who, on occasion)

later on: The Records, 20/20, Big Star, esp early and mellower live tracks. More cherrypicking: some by The Individuals (esp. "Walk By Your House," studio version, but live is good too) maybe The dB's and related solo-duo etc., The Bongos?

Oh seems like after High Land Hard Rain Came out, Frame mentioned early Jackson Browne as a favorite.

some good roots+influences there―love left banke!

also good point re:original singles. def seek them out, easily located on youtube. firm agree: big shame that's the only way to hear them these days. i've said this elsewhere, even tho summa those are definitive versions, i have to admire roddy's decision to leave them in the past. think about it like this- not sure if i'd want such stuff recorded when i was 16 to just be 'out there'

also for stuff contempo to aztec camera, what about friends again? they're fun!

never heard aztec camera, have always been curious

all i can say is this revive has made me SO confused about what they might sound like, lol

Loved it when Roddy moussed his hair, squeezed into a leather jacket, and played the vulgar riffs he once eschewed:

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