Orange Juice pose in their Sunday best. Simon Goddard -9 years before the publication of his book: 'Simply Thrilled: The Preposterous Story of Postcard Records'- gives us the lowdown on The Sound of Young Scotland in and 8-page spread in UNCUT (Take 95) in April 2005. A "definitive guide to early '80s Scottish alternative music" no less.
Image: ©japanese forms
Original Orange Juice photo: ©Tom Sheehan
Other posts on this Uncut feature can be found at SoYS by clicking on 'Uncut' label in the sidebar.
Showing posts with label simon goddard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label simon goddard. Show all posts
Friday, 31 October 2014
Saturday, 7 June 2014
Altered Images : 3 singles
Three singles by Altered Images from the early 80s. Never really one of my favourite bands -I thought they were not that good compared to the bands on Postcard Records. Interesting to find out in Simon Goddard's book, 'Simply Thrilled: The Preposterous of Postcard Records,' that (Wee)Clare Grogan, band singer and, later, tv personality, was a big Orange Juice follower in the band's early days and that Alan Horne (Postcard supremo) wanted to sign them to Postcard Records.
Will have to post a photo of the band's 'Dead Pop Stars' cassette-single that I also have in my tape collection.
Monday, 2 June 2014
Aztec Camera : Mattress of Wire (label detail)
Aztec Camera : Mattress of Wire - Postcard 81-8 (label detail)
I'm currently working on a review of Simon Goddard's 'The Preposterous Story of Postcard Records'. About ½way finished so I expect to post it towards the end of this week.
Friday, 9 May 2014
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
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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
Thursday, 24 April 2014
Simply Thrilled...
Simply Thrilled : The Preposterous Story of Postcard Records*
Well, I was indeed "simply thrilled" when I found this review copy of Simon Goddard's Postcard Records book in my letter box this morning. Would like to thank Maria Hughes at Random House for sending it to me. Will be writing/posting a review of the book very soon. Stay tuned!
image ©japanese forms
*Available @ Amazon
Tuesday, 22 April 2014
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
Tuesday, 15 April 2014
Record Store Day
Simply Thrilled : The Preposterous Story of Postcard Records
Available @ Amazon
For those lucky enough to be in either Glasgow or Edinburgh on Saturday 19th of April (Record Store Day) or the 20th of April you can pick up a copy -and a free "Postcard Glasgow" map- at two Q&A events with the author, Simon Goddard.
Wednesday, 9 April 2014
The Sound of Young Scotland - Uncut, 2005
This week I posted a couple of shots from “Simply Thrilled : The Sound of Young Scotland” article that appeared in Uncut in 2005; I have the intention of posting more of my own shots but for those who want to see and read the full Simon Goddard article you can check it out at Lovesick/Blueboy.
You can even download all of it at the Postcard Records Of Scotland Fan Page.
(Visit Lovesick / Blueboy for link).
Monday, 7 April 2014
Uncut - Sound of Young Scotland #2
Simply Thrilled : The Sound of Young Scotland
#2 - from an 8-page spread in Uncut : Take 95 (April 2005)
©japanese forms
©Credits to original photographs used in Simon Goddard's article : Tom Sheehan, Robert Sharp, Andy Hanson, Franceso Mellina , Peter Anderson, David Corio, Harry Papadopoulos.
Sunday, 6 April 2014
Uncut - Sound of Young Scotland #1
Simply Thrilled : The Sound of Young Scotland
#1 - from an 8-page spread in Uncut : Take 95 (April 2005)
©japanese forms
©Credits to original photographs used in Simon Goddard's article : Tom Sheehan, Robert Sharp, Andy Hanson, Franceso Mellina , Peter Anderson, David Corio, Harry Papadopoulos.
Tuesday, 1 April 2014
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