Josek K • The Scottish Affair (Pt 2)

 Josef K • The Scottish Affair (Pt 2) • Les Disques du Crépuscule

Crepuscule presents The Scottish Affair (Part 2), a vibrant live album by iconic Scottish guitar group Josef K recorded at the historic Beursschouwburg arts centre in Brussels on 8th April 1981.

Best known for their association with Postcard Records, Josef K also recorded two singles for Belgian indie Les Disques du Crepuscule (Sorry For Laughing; The Missionary), and also taped studio album The Only Fun In Town in downtown Brussels. The group first performed in the city on New Year's Eve 1980, playing a riotous show with Orange Juice and Marine at legendary warehouse venue Plan K, and resumed their 'Scottish affair' with Crepuscule the following April, cutting their album in a matter of days and performing at the Beursschouwburg as well as a small youth club in Lier three nights later.
At the Beurs show Jokay rattled off 10 songs in just half an hour, with journalist Bert Bertrand noting "several good reasons to get excited" about the visiting quartet. Adds guitarist Malcolm Ross: "We played four dates in Holland on our way to Brussels and then recorded the album in about five days. So we were pretty tight and Paul was in good voice."

Recorded from the mixing desk, all 10 songs have now been newly re-mastered for issue as a vinyl only album, The Scottish Affair (Part 2). Pressed in a limited edition of 1000 copies in clear vinyl, the sleeve features original 1981 poster artwork by designer Jean-Francois Octave printed in black overlaid with metallic gold pantone. The inner bag includes period flyers and images, as well as quotes by Paul Haig, Malcolm Ross, Alan Horne, Michel Duval, Annik Honore, Allan Campbell and Bert Bertrand.*


*Text courtesy of Les Disques du Crépuscule


LP tracklist:
A1. Fun 'N' Frenzy
A2. 16 YearsesE
A3. It's Kinda Funny
A4. Crazy To Exist
A5. Forever Drone
B1. Revelation
B2. Citizens
B3. Chance Meeting
B4. Sorry For Laughing
B5. Final Request

Available as a clear vinyl album (with digital download) or digital copy (MP3).
Release date November 2019. Cat. N° TWI 019

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Big Gold Dream - Saturday 15th April, BBC2 Scotland

When the late, great, American journalist Hunter S Thompson wrote: “The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs.” It fast became an overused sentence to describe the music industry because its sentiments in brevity (exactly 140 characters, coincidently) describe pretty succinctly what the music biz represents for many indignant musicians around the globe, current and past. It’s almost become a bit of a clichéd phrase, but it’s also important to note - and let’s chime with one of the points made in Michael Hann’s departing piece as Guardian music editor; yes, musicians don’t make fortunes from their endeavours - but neither do producers of feature length music documentaries. Malcolm Ross of Josef K, Orange Juice and Aztec Camera: “It’s art, not commerce. We always wanted to be independent.”

Punk changed all that. No longer enthralled to the major corporations, Independent labels were sprouting up all over Scotland and then The White Riot Tour arrived May 7^th, 1977: “It was a real year zero moment.” Davy Henderson, singer, arch agitator with Fire Engines, muses in Big Gold Dream: Scottish Post-Punk & Infiltrating the Mainstream. The feature length documentary that finally sees a public broadcast on BBC2 Scotland come Saturday night almost 40 years to the day when The Clash, The Jam, Buzzcocks, The Slits and The Subway Sect crammed into Edinburgh’s Playhouse.

 Directed by Grant McPhee, Big Gold Dream centres on Edinburgh’s greatest record label of all time, Fast Product: A precursor to Manchester’s Factory, a curious influence and competitor to Alan Horne’s Postcard across in Glasgow, Fast Product’s short life time spanned two glorious years as it released records by some of the period’s most enduring groups.

 Almost 40 years since its inception, founders Bob Last and Hilary Morrison’s label Fast paved the way for “indie” music, as we know it now. Such was the popularity of Fast they were knocking back tapes from the Cramps and Joy Division (the latter appearing on one of the Earcom compilations, Morrison rightfully uncomfortable with Curtis’ band name of choice). It brought us The Mekons, Gang of Four, The Scars and The Human League. For too long Fast has lived in the shadow of the rather flamboyant, west-coast timbres of Orange Juice and Postcard Records – Daly, Kirk, McClymont, Collins, and the hermetic Horne et al – still an absolute obsession of mine. Big Gold Dream corrects this and in doing so puts to bed the 2008 documentary Caledonia Dreamin’ which sadly ended up as a promotional film for Scottish Independence.

Albeit parallels in spirit and philosophies what Big Gold Dream documents is the antitheses of Postcard and Fast. Innes Reekie rightly points out that The Glasgow School were listening to the Byrds, The Velvet Underground et al. The Edinburgh cognoscenti: Television and Pere Ubu.

It was the Buzzcocks’ Spiral Scratch single that really started it all for Fast Product. Hillary Morrsion, co-founder of Fast bought the 7” for her then boyfriend Bob Last, who were both at the time working on tour with The Rezillos. The aspiring impresario, Last, immediately acquired a £400 bank loan, whilst drawing on “Mao’s military strategy” to push his vision forward and as the Australian narrator on Big Gold Dream describes - Robert Forster, singer with The Go-Betweens and Postcard alumni: Fast Product was born.

What Big Gold Dream achieves with its national broadcast is finally what Fast Product, Morrison and Last deserve: mainstream recognition. Consolidating on the relative success of Fast – Last finally gets the hits he’s been craving with The Human League - managing them, signing them to Virgin - Dare selling 9m records in the process and Don’t You Want Me topping the charts on Christmas day, 1981. Orange Juice hadn’t even released their debut album yet.

©Erik Sandberg

Big Gold Dream, Saturday 15^th April, 9pm on BBC2 Scotland.

Watch the trailer here.

Many thanks to Erik Sandberg @Kiltr for giving me permission to publish his article here at SoYS.

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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 : Birmingham, 1982

Some exciting photographs of early Orange Juice courtesy of Andy at Birmingham_81. Here we have three pics of the band on stage at the Imperial Cinema, Birmingham, 19th Feb. 1982, and a wee peek at Edwyn and Dave backstage. This would be shortly before the release of the You Can't Hide Your Love Forever album which was released the following month in march '82. Edwyn sporting a snazzy cravat and his usual top class quiff whereas Malcolm looks like he's off to a wedding.

Photographs courtesy of & ©Andy@Birmingham_81

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Orange Juice : Haçienda, Manchester

Some fine, vintage shots of Orange Juice (Malcolm Ross -left- Edwyn Collins -right top & bottom), bought on Ebay and of which copies were kindly sent to me by Scots Post-Punk. According to the eBay seller the photos were taken by David Cawley or Graham Stirling at The Hacienda, Manchester in either June 1982, or on 4 April 1983. The previous owner is not sure of the date when the pics were taken but as he was at both shows he thinks either or both of the two photographers were present at the same gigs.

The seller also has a tape of the 1983 gig which he intends to sell on eBay one of these days. Scots Post-Punk informed me that the tape hasn't showed up on eBay for the time being so keep your eyes peeled.

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Aztec Camera talk about doing a bit of rehearsing.

Excellent document from Smash Hits, August 30th 1984. Features several band shots and a run down on their time in Manchester recording the 'Knife' album. An article also in which Roddy Frame reckons that Aztec Camera "don't really fit in with anything" and that he "can't be bothered with the pop star life-style."
Smashing stuff indeed.

Words: Kimberley Leston
Images : ©uncredited

Documents courtesy of & ©Brian McCloskey

Click right & view image
to see XL version















Images ©Brian McCloskey

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"Josef K should never ever get back together."

Update on this previous post on the Paul Haig / Josef K feature in Mojo 249 / August 2014.
If you want to read the article; buy the magazine.
Post title refers to Malcolm Ross's opinion on the possibility of the band ever reforming.

Image: ©japanese forms
Original images : ©Tom Sheehan

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Josef K implode!

There's a Paul Haig and Josef K article in Mojo 249 / August 2014. All about how, after their unfortunately too short career (1979-1982), the band fell apart.
I don't have this issue yet as it's not available at my local stores at the moment but I'll post more on this later when I do get my hands on a copy.

Image courtesy of & ©Paul Haig

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Josef K : NME / Rough Trade C81 Owner’s Manual

Josef K: Endless Soul
NME / Rough Trade C81 Owner’s Manual (page 9)
NME/Rough Trade Cassette, 1981.

First release by NME / Rough Trade Tapes 1981. To get this you had to order it through the New Musical Express. 30,000 copies were sent out. As well as the tape, I still have the original 32-page Owner's Manual; which you had to put together by cutting out various pages over a number of weeks from the NME and then folding and assembling them. You had to be patient in those days. Home computers and internet weren't around then. Looking at these pages one can see how much the Velvet Underground was important to Alan Horne and the whole conception of what he wanted Postcard to be.
This is the second of three posts featuring the Postcard Records illustrations to be found in NME / Rough Trade C81 Owner’s Manual. Next one will feature Aztec Camera.

Photo : ©japanese forms

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The Sound of Orange Juice (poster)

The Sound of Orange Juice (poster)
Poster sleeve with the double 7" 'Rip It Up" pack.
Polydor POSP 547 (1983)
Artwork/Design : Edwyn Collins & Pete Watson
Photography : Eric Watson

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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

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Funky Glasgow Then - Postcard Map

'Funky Glasgow Then' - Postcard Map

Free when buying a copy of: Simon Goddard's 'Simply Thrilled : The Preposterous Story of Postcard Records' in Scotland on Record Store Day

Available @ Amazon

Read Andrew R, Hill's (Dora Maar) review of it @ Blasted

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Rip it Up (artwork)

Orange Juice - 'Rip It Up'  (1982)

Cover photograph by & © Eric Watson

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Josef K : Heaven Sent 12" ep (back)

Josef J
Heaven Sent :12” ep [front cover]
Supreme International Editions
Edition 87-7 (1987)
(see previous post for more details)

Image ©japanese forms

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Josef K : Heaven Sent 12" ep (front)

Josef K
Heaven Sent : 12” ep [front cover] 
Supreme International Editions 
Edition 87-7 (1987)

Bit of a rarity this one I suppose. I’ve no idea how many copies of this release were ever pressed or sold. Features one track ‘Heaven Sent’, from a John Peel Session recorded in 1981; a demo version of ‘Radio Drill Time’ as well as two tracks from Josef K’s then unreleased ‘Sorry For Laughing’ album which should have been issued by Postcard Records way back in 1980. Supreme International Editions was a label which was run by former Josef K manager, Alan Cambell -who also handled Paul Haig’s solo career for a couple of years in the 80s. The label also released the band’s ‘Young & Stupid’ album. Frankly, I don’t know much about this label or any of the other stuff released on it. A quick search on the web didn’t bring up much information I’m afraid. A wee look at the official Josef K site is worthwhile and has been recently updated. Anyhow, if you want to know what Paul Haig’s up to nowadays you can check out his Twitter or his Paul Haig Music website. He has some exciting new releases on the agenda.

Image ©japanese forms

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orange juice : two hearts together 7"

orange juice
two hearts together / hokoyo
polydor records (1982)
posp 470

7" single version

As promised in the previous post here's a photo of the 7" version of Orange Juice's "Two Hearts Together" single.

Image : ©japanese forms

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