High Land, Hard Rain

Product Information

Three Aztec Camera " Best of" compilations were eventually released: The Best of Aztec Camera was released in 1999 by Warner.ESP, a division of the Warner corporation that specialised in compilations; in 2005, Deep and Wide and Tall was released by the Warner Strategic Marketing United Kingdom label as part of the Warner Platinum series; and Walk Out To Winter: The Best of Aztec Camera, a two-disc collection that was released by the Music Club Deluxe label in 2011. With a new two-disc deluxe anniversary edition, High Land, Hard Rain is giving a gem of its period a reintroduction. As Frame relates below, the album was sadly not earmarked as a priority for its handlers at the time, even if its songs revealed that the man who wrote and sang them was entering the music scene at the top of his game. I think, really, what it was, and I think some people found this hard to understand, the choice of Mark Knopfler as producer. And we used AIR Studios, like George Martin’s studios in London. It was a real step in a different direction. It was definitely a step towards a different kind of music.

As you began work on (the 1984 follow-up album) Knife, was there anything from your experience with High Land, Hard Rain that you wanted to be different with that next album, whether with the songwriting or style of music or anything else? Roddy Frame – Live – Down The Dip, Ramsbottom Festival 16-09-12" (Video upload). k1rk1c on YouTube. Google Inc. 18 September 2012. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021 . Retrieved 5 July 2014. Frame explained in August 2014 that he contemplated the conception of Love during a three-year hiatus following the release of Knife. Frame said that he moved even further away from the British "indie ethic" and was listening to the "pop end of hip hop", including artists such as Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Cherrelle, the Force MDs and Alexander O'Neal. Frame wanted to make a record based on such influences and "Working in a Goldmine" was the first song to achieve this aspiration. [16] Emily Barker (24 October 2013). "The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time: 300-201". NME . Retrieved 23 March 2023. Frame relocated to the US to record the album—"pretty much against the wishes of Warner Brothers", who were unsure of his decision-making at the time—and was primarily based in Boston, Massachusetts, and New York. Frame recorded with American session musicians, like Marcus Miller and David Franke, and explained that his audience was "mystified" by the transformation of the band, but he was "too far gone" to care and just wanted to do his "own thing" by that stage. Due to the significant change of musical direction, the album's first three singles did not make a strong impression in the marketplace. [16]Well, there you go, man. That’s funny, because when I started Aztec Camera, most of the bands I was listening to weren’t mainstream bands, so it was never an ambition to be mainstream. I think it’s just, when you start to take part in the music business, then you have that hunger for recognition, don’t you? But, to be honest, most of my favorite bands at the times weren’t well known at all. It was formed in a town called East Kilbride [in Scotland]. It’s just about nine miles south of Glasgow. We formed there and made our first couple of singles there and then finally moved to London about two years later. Aztec Camera - High Land, Hard Rain (2012, Expanded Edition, CD)". Discogs . Retrieved 14 February 2020.

I had a kind of punky band called Neutral Blue, and I wanted to leave, and I took the drummer with me. I wanted us to be more like Joy Division or Magazine or something like that. And so, in 1979, I stole the drummer from Neutral Blue, whose name is David Mulholland, and then I left school at the end of that year and we formed Aztec Camera and started rehearsing. I suppose the inspiration was things like Joy Division and Magazine, but also the Liverpool bands like Echo and the Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes. And that’s how we started. We wanted an equally ridiculous name, and that’s why we chose Aztec Camera. Well, I think it’s being young, and all you want to do is write and wear a guitar, and that’s your priority. As you get older you have other priorities creep in, like where you’re going to sleep and what you’re going to eat. [ Laughs] When you’re 18 you don’t care.Roddy Frame – Live – Down The Dip, Paisley Abbey 27-10-12" (Video upload). k1rk1c on YouTube. Google Inc. 30 October 2012. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021 . Retrieved 5 July 2014. Frame changed the band's line-up numerous times over the course of its existence and, in a 1988 interview, Frame explained that the changes were underpinned by a desire to continually improve the quality of their music; however, he differentiated this desire from "blind ambition", whereby popular success is constantly sought after. [8] Early members included Owens ( bass) and Mulholland ( drums). [3] Gannon was a member from 1983 to 1984 before joining the Smiths, [50] while guitarist Malcolm Ross (formerly of Josef K and Orange Juice) joined the band in 1984 and played on the Knife album. [51] Other musicians [ edit ]