Josef K, Valentino's, Edinburgh, 8th February 1981

Josef K, Valentino's, Edinburgh, 8th February 1981

Photo: Courtesy of & ©Keith Milne

Tweet

Fruit Of The Loon

Fruit of the Loon
Interview with Edwyn Collins by Kris Needs in Flexipop Magazine (Issue #29)
Photo: ©Neil Matthews
Source : Cactus Mouth Informer

(click right to read)

Tweet

Laid back Orange Juice

Laid back Orange Juice, Glasgow (circa 1980-81)
From PCHille / Born Yesterday fanzine.
Photo : ©unknown

Source : C86 & All That
The official page for the forthcoming publication of Neil Taylor's book: of 'C86 & All That: Indie 1983-86'. The page features news, extracts, audio, visuals and extra material.

Tweet

Postcard Records Postcards

The Postcard Records postcards which came with Orange Juice's 'Poor Old Soul' - Aztec Camera's 'We Could Send Letters' - and Josef K's 'Chance Meeting.'
All still in mint condition. Like the discs.

Tweet

Early Jesus And Mary Chain on stage.

Psychcocandy. Jesus And Mary Chain on stage on the Rollercoaster Tour '92.
Photo: ©unknown
Source : Spacemen3

Tweet

The Sound of Young Scotland button badges

Part of my collection of authenic Postcard Records related button badges.
Have had them almost since I first discovered the label all those years ago.
Photo also features the generic back cover artwork that some of the singles came in.
Image ©japanese forms

Tweet

The First Ever Primal Scream Gig

A couple of photos from the very first Primal Scream gig. Photos taken by Paul Groovy on the 13th August 1983 at Alan Mcgee's new club The Living Room, at the Adams Arms in London. The band consisted of only two members; Bobby Gillespie and Jim Beattie, plus a drum machine. They played a 13 minute set of 5 songs.

Images ©Paul Groovy
Source:Groovy Black Shades

Tweet

Orange Juice : Salmon Fishing in New York (badge)

Orange Juice : Salmon Fishing in New York (button badge - circa 1984-85)

An artefact from my badge collection. I've had this authentic article for nigh on 30 years now. Also have with a few other Postcard Records related ones. I've already posted pics of these badges before but the quality wasn't up to much so I'm updating them. Expect to see some more shots here soon.
japanese forms

Tweet

Orange Juice 'Falling And Laughing' poster @ Rough Trade

Postcard Records’ Orange Juice ‘Falling And Laughing poster on the ceiling corner above the door, opposite the counter at the Notting Hill Rough Trade Record Shop.

Source & ©Erik Kraft /  Falling And Laughing   -   In situ view.

Tweet

Postcard Records in a 1981 Rough Trade Catalogue.

Postcard Records centre spread in a 1981 Rough Trade Distribution Catalogue. The idea was to pull it out and pin it up on your wall.
Illustration and lettering by Krysia Klasicki.

Source : C86 & All That
The official page for the forthcoming publication of Neil Taylor's book: of 'C86 & All That: Indie 1983-86'. The page features news, extracts, audio, visuals and extra material.

Tweet

He Bangs The Drums

Bobby Gillespie bangs the drums in an early an early incarnation of The Jesus And Mary Chain (circa 1984-85)

Source : Suicide Watch
Original photo : ©unknown

Tweet

Jim Reid enjoys a Harp

Jim Reid (The Jesus And Mary Chain) shows his joy in having a tin of Harp lager in his hand. Not too keen on the stuff myself; always found it to be pretty piss-poor, but then again, it might just be Jim's favourite tipple for all I know.

Despite a reverse image search I couldn't come up with the name of the photographer who took this photo or who has © to it. Does anyone out there know?

Source: Dark Elizabeth Queen

Tweet

Mary Chain 10

image ©japanese forms

Another one of my cuttings from a long-binned copy of the NME. This one features a (Jesus and)Mary Chain 10 compiled by 'The Ringing Sound' of Dunedin, New Zealand. I've no idea what the 'Ringing Sound' is or was/were but I would imagine that it was some sort of record shop or radio show back in the 80s. The paper is a wee bit yellowed and (as with the Postcards 10 list) I've marked with a pen the JAMC discs that I had at that moment on it. Photo features some of my Mary Chain 45s. All still in mint condition! japanese forms

Tweet

Orange Juice by Pigsty Art

Sound of Young Scotland : Orange Juice by Pigsty Art

Source & ©Pigsty Art

Tweet

Orange Juice : Largs, 1981

Orange Juice, The Moorings Café, Largs 1981
Photograph © Harry Papadopoulos.

Source : love sick / blueboy

Tweet

A Trainspotter Writes...

This post previously appeared here in June, 2007. It's been updated with a better photograph.

image ©japanese forms

While packing some things the other day, I came across an old notebook in which I used to write lists and references of discs that I wanted to acquire. Inside this, I found some cuttings from long-binned copies of the NME.-I've no idea when this one was printed but I imagine it was in the early 90s or thereabouts. The cuttings were mostly lists that the magazine published of the ten most sought after / best releases by various bands or labels. There were Sonic Youth and Suicide lists among others and, amazingly, the one above featuring Postcard Records. Back then, I had marked the discs that I had in the list -correcting an error for the 'Simply Thrilled Honey' catalogue number- and, in my atrocious handwriting, added below the cat. N°, the title, and band name for Josef K's 'It's Kinda Funny' single that wasn't included in the list. In all, just a bit of paper but a nice little addition to the blog. The paper has yellowed a bit. Image also features Orange Juice's 'Love Sick / Blue Boy sleeve. japanese forms

Tweet

Postcard Goes to Rough Trade

Edwyn Collins (left), Alan Horne, Postcard Records supremo,(right), and Chris from Rough Trade press.
Photograph from Document & Eyewitness: An Intimate History of Rough Trade.* ©Scott Piering collection
Source : Automatic

*Available @Amazon

Tweet

Aztec Camera : August 16th, 1981

A very youthful Roddy Frame and bandmates play one of Aztec Camera's earliest dates at Valentino's in Edinburgh, August 16th, 1981. The band was support to headliners, Josef K.

image courtesy of and ©AH MacKay

Tweet

Aztec Camera - Snap Decisions

As anyone following the blog will have noticed, I've been trying to set up a new layout for Sound of Young Scotland. Not working out as I want it as I'm having trouble merging the header colour with my background colour. Both are the same colour but for some reason when I add my homemade header it appears either lighter or darker than the background. Anyhow, hope to get this fixed sooner or later.
As for the time being, I'll be continuing to import most of my posts from my Sound of Young Scotland @Tumblr as well as rearranging older posts that have been 'messed up' with the new layout.
So, for the first 'new' post back here @Blogger here's a rather nice pic of a youthful Roddy Frame (Aztec Camera). No idea where this comes from as it appears with a set of several shots of Roddy. Shots which have been clipped from some magazine or other which could be either Sounds or Melody Maker or both. The original photograph is by ©Janette Beckman, who worked for both the magazines I mention, in the late 70s early 80s.

Original photo ©Janette Beckman
Source : Clover Swine

Clover Swine has contacted me to confirm that the image above is from Smash Hits, found on Flickr Smash Hits archive.

Tweet

Simply Thrilled : The Preposterous Story of Postcard Records

There I was, the other week or so, trying to whistle some tired, old Soft Machine tune in the shower when, after numerous attempts at said tune, I decided that I'd just whistle Orange Juice's 'Moscow' instead as I soaped
my various body parts. Ah! Orange Juice. A real breath of fresh air that band was. Mind you, at the time when Postcard Records was on the go I much preferred Josef K to the Edwyn Collins' fronted outfit. You could put
that down to my then Joy Division infatuation probably or maybe the fact that OJ were just a wee bit too pop-orientated for my taste. Well, anyhow, here we are 30-odd years later and Simon Goddard has just published a book; 'Simply Thrilled: The Preposterous Story of Postcard Records,' all about the origins and the outcome of the legendary, cult, Glasgow label.

 Nowadays, in todays superfast, internet buzz infected world, everybody is into everything. If you're not there you're afraid to be considered as some sad loser. You only have to look at the huge demand for tickets for the recent Kraftwerk shows and the upcoming Jesus and Mary Chain ones. Hipsters vying with the nostalgia-addled middle-aged. All clambering to pay ridiculous prices for gigs or bloated box-sets that have everything in them except for the kitchen sink. A kitchen sink that most band members probably only used to piss in anyway.

 At any rate, the first incarnation of Postcard Records, so far, has been mostly confined to a few small revivals through labels like Domino -with Josef K's 'Entomology' and Orange Juice's 'The Glasgow School' compilations- and the recently revived Les Disques du Crépuscule who reissued Josef K's 'The Only Fun in Town' a few weeks back. A box-set of all the Postcard singles from Cat. N° 80-1 to Cat. N° 81-8 (13 singles in all including one unreleased) doesn't appear to be on the cards.

A release of a box-set compilation (with a few facsimile trinkets included -like a miniature version of Alan Horne's infamous "sock drawer"- to keep the veteran or johnny-come-lately fans happy) is something I've always wondered about. Why has it never happened? Are there too many copyright issues? Is the participation or non-participation of some or other protaganist
preventing this? I've no idea myself but I imagine that with the recent wave of enthusiasm, brought on by Simon Goddard's highly-entertaining book, there would have been some sort of rush to "cash-in" and re-release these much sought after gems other than on yet another compilation cd.

Be that as it may, we at least have Goddard's book to take us back in time to the violent, dreary and dull pre-Postcard Glasgow of the Seventies. Though I don't really recall it as being as such. Except for the violence, of course. Mind you, I didn't live there and was only ever in the place for football games or the odd concert at the long-gone Apollo in Renfield Street. I'm sure that there are a few documentaries about life in 70s-styled No Mean City worth seeing but a wee keek at Neil Young busking in Glasgow would give you a wee glimpse of life in the city centre back then.

As in Goddard's book though, we all tend to have memories of things, places, and events that differ. You only have to listen to one person or another's story of an event or of how things were and happened to see just how subjective memory is.

Goddard's narrative relies entirely on memory or, more likely, selective memory, of how events were; how each protagonist recalls the who, what, when and wherefore of how things were. Events and what went on are mostly based on the two principal Postcard Records characters and founders of the label; Orange Juice's Edwyn Collins and self-styled Postcard supremo, Alan Horne.

Goddard's book is pretty much an enjoyable read; from a prologue which tells us all about the 'Cat Artist' Louis Wain and how one of his drawings of a kitten banging on a drum came to be the Postcard logo to the early days of the label, and finally to the post-postcard downfall. In brief, from the inception to the label's undoing in less than two years.

The account ends there. Even though the label was relaunched in 1992; producing some fine recordings over 5 years or so from the likes of Vic Godard, The Nectarine N°9, Paul Quinn  & The Independent Group before finally calling
it a day in 1997 with a final album release by Jock Scott and the aptly named 'My Personal Culloden'.

Goddard doesn't take the story any further. One can imagine that some day a second volume will appear where we'll get to learn about the part of Alan Horne's life that is mentioned in the afterword as well as the shenanigans behind and during the Postcard II era.

Like a good few others I imagine, it seems a bit lacking. I, for one, would have liked to have learned more about Janice Fuck and Greta. What became of them? As well as more from Clare Grogan and Paul Haig on how they saw and remembered things. What fans of the label and its bands have to say about events. How they saw things.

You can't have everything though and all in all, as I mention above, it's a pleasant read. A book well worth buying if you're interested in, or even remotely interested in all things Postcard.

©japanese forms

............................................................................

Once more, I'd like to thank Maria Hughes at Random House for sending me a copy of the book for review.

Simply Thrilled : The Preposterous Story of Postcard Records
Simon Goddard : Available @ Amazon

image ©japanese forms 

Tweet

Sound of Young Scotland returns to Blogger

Following some problems with image copyright on a few posts, and continuous reblogging of said posts @Tumblr, I have decided to relocate Sound of Young Scotland to Blogger. This is where I originally began this blog quite some time ago. So, after an 18 month hiatus, I'm back to where I started. I'll be setting up a new layout and colour theme over the next few days; this should take some time. I'll also be importing most of the posts from Tumblr -dated as they were posted there. This should take a wee bit of time to do as I'll have to check out the various possibilities of how to go about doing it. I'll be doing my best to source and credit anything I post here.
For the time being, I've already added a few of my most recent posts @Tumblr. You can check them out below. japanese forms

Tweet

Edwyn Collins unzips his lips

 

Edwyn Collins unzips his lips.

Original photo ©Pennie Smith

Tweet

Orange Juice chill out

Backstage with Orange Juice & friends at Dingwalls, Newcastle, 1983.
A "Rip It Up"  era Orange Juice chill out.
Wonder who the girls reflected in the mirror are?
Source & ©The Go-Between

Tweet

Paul Haig's coffee break

Paul Haig ponders over a cup of coffee.

Source & ©unknown
If anybody has any details on the © please contact me via Twitter
(see sidebar for Twitter link)

Tweet