Alan Horne's Swamplands

(James King & The Lonewolves, Memphis, Alan Horne photos by Peter Anderson)

Well, well. Two posts in three days. This Swamplands post has actually been a draft in the SoYS vaults for a couple of years. A draft which I've finally got around to posting. I'm not too sure about all of the details. So, if anybody wants to rectify any particular fact, I'm willing to correct what's noted below if it's wrong.


Launched in Scotland in 1980 and closed the following year, Postcard Records emerged from the fallout of the 1970s punk explosion. Two of the label's Scottish bands managed to continue in the music business directly after the label broke up and went on to release several discs with some success.

Founder Alan Horne, besides Josef K, signed both Orange Juice, featuring Edwyn Collins, as well as Roddy Frame's Aztec Camera to Postcard. Regrettably, the departure of both acts to major labels led to the company's demise in 1981, after releasing just a dozen singles and one album.
In 1992, Horne reactivated Postcard and released an Orange Juice compilation album, alongside new releases from Paul Quinn, Vic Godard and The Nectarine No. 9, formed by Davy Henderson (Fire Engines, WIN). Lasting a wee bit longer than the original Postcard, the label came to an end in 1995.

In between those two incarnations of Postcard, Horne formed the Swamplands label. Like Postcard, the label would have a feline motif for a logo. Also, like the Louis Wain, drumming kitten label, it wouldn't survive very long.

Set up by money from London Records with the promise of his own label plus an office at Polydor in London, Horne came out of "retirement" to put Swamplands together. This would be a label "not full of 50yr-old farts" Horne would say.

Sizable funds for marketing and recording were provided to launch the label. Alas, despite the quality of the recordings -particularly by WIN- sales were poor. Diminishing returns led to Horne leaving Swamplands in 1985 and the eventual demise of the label.

In his opinion, Horne considered the groups on Swamplands all better than those on Postcard. Something which can be disputed; but that's all down to subjectivity. From my own viewpoint, the only really good band was WIN. Then again, I never really got into any of the other discs besides the Paul Quinn / Edwyn Collins joint Velvet Underground cover. Like Fire Engines, WIN should have been huge. But that's another story.

Swamplands bands:
• WIN (featuring a couple of former Fire Engines including Davey Henderson)
• Paul Quinn (backing singer in Jazzateers, frontman for Bourgie Bourgie)
• James King And The Lonewolves
• Memphis (James Kirk, formerly of Orange Juice)

Only 6 singles were released on the label and 2, despite getting catalogue numbers, one of them featuring Johnny Thunders (gulp!), never saw the light of day:  

SWP 1 • Paul Quinn and Edwyn Collins – "Pale Blue Eyes" (1984)
SWP 2 • Patti Palladin and Johnny Thunders – "Crawfish" (1984) (unreleased)
SWP 3 • James King and The Lonewolves - "The Angels Know" (1985)
SWP 4 • Memphis – "You Supply The Roses" (1985)
SWP 5 • Win – "Unamerican Broadcasting" (1985)
SWP 6 • Paul Quinn – "Ain't That Always The Way" (1985)
SWP 7 • James King and The Lonewolves – "Flyaway" (1985) (unreleased)
SWP 8 • Win – "You've Got The Power" (1985)

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Tap Your Winklepicker To This!

The recent, exciting exhibition tracing the history of Scottish pop music from the 60s to the present day organized by Kevin Buckle of Avalanche Records at the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh appears to have been quite succesful. Kevin put on show lots of original artefacts (like the one pictured here) that had been kindly donated / loaned by various collectors such as Glenn Gibson, Scottish Post-Punk, and collectionneuse extraordinaire, Caroline Binnie among others.

Pictured left is an original postcard for Postcard Records, featuring the iconic Louis Wain drumming kitten, done by James Kirk (Orange Juice) in the early days of the record label.

Photo : Courtesy of & ©Graham Purnell


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The Psychedelic Etchings of the Smooth

 

 One of the many documents and original pieces of memorabilia you'll be able to see at the upcoming exhibition, organized The Scottish Music Centre, at the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh on the 16th to 18th of June this year. 

So, if any of you are in Edinburgh, on those dates, take time to check out the exhibition.

One of the items on show is this nifty little 'Postcard Communique'. Something that James Kirk (Orange Juice) put together in the early days of Postcard Records in 1979. Features the wee 'Drumming Kitten' from an original Louis Wain drawing that was used as the Postcard logo. 

Document source: @HistoryofSMC

From the Glenn Gibson collection. ©GlennGibson

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Just Pure Orange Juice

"Segment by segment..."  *Groan*

An interesting snippet on Orange Juice from 1981 by way of Rob Waters' Twitter timeline. Timeline full of wonderful documents -press clippings- from the golden era of The Sound of Young Scotland. This one features Edwyn reminiscing on his schoolboy days; the addition to the band of Malcolm Ross (formerly of Josef K); how the band are "very popular in Leeds" and the release of their single 'Warm Light' (sic).
It's also briefly mentioned at the end of the article that Stephen Daly and James Kirk have left the band since the interview took place.

Document from Jackie magazine (1981) courtesy of & ©Rob Waters


Rob provided me with date this was published on but couldn't tell from which publication he got it. Apparently he's working on it. If anyone has any idea, details, please let me know.

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Orange Juice : I wish I was a Postcard

Orange Juice's 'Felicity' flexidisc.

One-sided flexidisc originally given away with the first 1000 copies of the debut Orange Juice single ("Falling and Laughing" Postcard 80-1) but also available separately from Postcard. Some copies were also given away with the Ten Commandments fanzine. Plain white sleeve hand-stamped with Postcard's drumming kitten logo.
Recorded, like the 'The Felicity' Flexi Session tape, by Malcolm Ross on a cassette at one of the band's early shows at Teviot Row Edinburgh on April 21st 1979.

From the Steve McNamee collection. Image courtesy of & ©Steve McNamee

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Falling & Laughing (Original cover photograph)

I really can't thank enough @Scots Post-Punk for all the amazing photos and documents that turn up on his Twitter timeline -and which he always makes sure to post to me as well. This time we have the original photo of
Edwyn Collins, James Kirk and David McClymont that was used for the cover of Orange Juice's debut single, 'Falling and Laughing' on Postcard Records in 1980.

The photograph is by Peter McArthur and I believe, though I'm not really sure, that it's part of David McClymont's personal collection of Orange Juice artefacts.

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Europe's Only Avant Garde Recording Company

Orange Juice
Ostrich Churchyard (inner sleeve)
Postcard Records (1992)
DUBH 922 CD
Sleeve designed by Alan Horne & Edwyn Collins

Tracks 1-11 Recorded 17th of May 1981, at the Hellfire Club, Glasgow
Tracks 12-15 Recorded 23rd of October 1980, at the BBC Maida Vale, London
for a John Peel Session

When Alan Horne revived Postcard Records around 1990 I wasn't very interested in what the label had to offer. As I said in my previous post, I'd moved on to other things but when I learnt that they were releasing some Orange Juice recordings I couldn't resist getting my grubby hands on them. This was one of them -the others being the 'The Heather's On Fire' singles compilation and the reissues of 'Love Sick / Blue Boy" on vinyl and CD single formats. 

More images here

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orange juice (4 EPs)

image ©japanese forms

Well, as promised in the previous post, I've been going through my vinyl storage boxes and have managed to dig out some of my Orange Juice vinyls. Haven't found, so far, all of the OJ discs that I possess but this will do as a start. Here we have 4 of the bands 12" EPs released on Polydor (except for the 'Felicity' ep which was a Postcard / Polydor release - it carries the Postcard "drumming kitten" logo on both the sleeve and labels). Sleeves are still in excellent condition and the vinyl is mint on all four. I really like the artwork on the 'Bridge' and particularly the Alwyn Clayden & Paul White artwork on 'Felicity' - looks so much better than portraits used on the other two. Mind you, Edwyn's quiff on 'What Presence' is a gold medal winner in the World Class Hair category. More up soon. japanese forms

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