It's 2:30am and my frickin' dog decides he needs to pee. So, while I sat here waiting for him to come back inside, I trolled the internet and found this worthy piece of news. From Drowned In Sound:
Quote:
The Glasgow School
by Orange Juice on Domino Records
Release date: 11th July 2005
Anyone who thinks the spirit of independence was heralded by Oasis and Britpop in the mid 90s, think again.
Likewise, those who think the Red Hot Chilli Peppers were the pioneers of punk rock riffs and attitude mixed with the soulful sounds of the discotheque, how wrong you are.
Back in 1978 as punk's initial maelstrom started to wither and die, The Nu-Sonics - Edwyn Collins, James Kirk, David McClymont and Steven Daly - were already becoming bored with punk's nihilistic attitude and set about creating something entirely different. By the end of that year, Orange Juice and music with attitude that you can dance to were both born, as was the blueprint that over the next two-and-a-half decades would influence everyone from the Jesus And Mary Chain and the Happy Mondays to, more recently, Belle & Sebastian and Franz Ferdinand.
'The Glasgow School' collects all of their now legendary recordings for Postcard Records - for many years the definitive independent label - including the previously unreleased 'Ostrich Churchyard' album that should have been their debut long player but was scrapped amidst the band's subsequent signing to Polydor.
Opening with the brittle-edged gutter funk of 'Falling And Laughing', Edwyn Collins' voice sounds as raw and impassioned as a young Alex Kapranos might do today, while James Kirk's Funkadelic preened licks add a nonchalant air across tracks like 'Blue Boy' and 'Satellite City' that pre-date Fruscante and Navarro by a good six years or more.
During 'Love Sick', where Collins reveals his heart is pounding and his mind is confused, or on the whimsical 'Consolation Prize' when he realises he's never going to be man enough for the object of his desire, one can almost visualise the youthful David Gedges and Stuart Murdochs of this world sat by their record players making notes.
Like all good things, the story of Orange Juice came to an abrupt end at an NUM Benefit show in 1985, although the definitive line-up had disintegrated some four years earlier. Nevertheless, those two years on Postcard Records undoubtedly defined many an era, therefore, raise your glasses and salute the birth of twee! It's Indie Rock and Roll, Brandon, but not as you know it. The Glasgow School is one of those must-own records for anyone remotely interested in discovering the missing link between John Lydon's nascent snarl and Anthony Kiedis' fun-for-all-the-family stadium-sized drawl.
Simply impeccable.
