Recent Vinyl Acquisitions #2 (Part I)
After a trip to the Rock n Roll Yard Sale, it’s time for another installment of Recent Vinyl Acquisitions. While this blog is mainly meant to focus on more contemporary little-known artists, these posts are a chance to brag about recent crate-digging scores with bigger-name acts and releases that don’t meet the 7”/single-of-some-sort requirements laid out for the majority of entries. Let’s start with a couple 12” singles:
Soup Dragons - Head Gone Astray 12” Single
I’d first heard of Scottish indie poppers The Soup Dragons via their inclusion on the C86 comp and a few other mixes floating around, but didn’t own anything on vinyl until this weekend when I stopped into Somerville Grooves. There I picked up Hang-Ten!, a US-only collection of their first three singles well-worth the few dollars I spent. The Head Gone Astray single is one of those featured on the LP and it’s fucking great. Starting with a low-volume 12-string jangle riff, the A-side launches into a catchy, punky pop number that features a healthy dose of the band’s lingering early Buzzcocks influence (for example, the nearly ever-present 1-note piano solo in this song which mirrors the monotone key(s) of “Something’s Gone Wrong Again”). It’s a great tune with a pretty developed structure: an extended intro, a few syncopated stops and dropouts, and a weird little legato vocal line in the prechorus which suggests, but never delivers a key change really add to the experience. B-sides “Girl in the World” and “So Sad I Feel” are also gems. I can only assume the former is an update on their debut flexi (drool) “If You Were the Only Girl in the World,” its snotty poppunk lyrics (“If you were the only girl in the world/I’d have second thoughts”) and petulant backing vocals (“What (what!) you (you!) said last night…”) recalling the amateurish charm that the Soup Dragons would mostly outgrown by their first proper full-length. “So Sad I Feel” waxes nostalgic, slowing things down while keeping the shamble intact. Though it lets the tension go slack with its lilting basslines and tom/crash-heavy pulse, it’s a fitting end to an otherwise high-strung single. Below is the video for “Hang-Ten!” from the collection of the same name.
Aztec Camera - Oblivious 12” Single
It should be glaringly apparent by now that Scotland has produced a disproportionate amount of great pop acts since the late 70s/early 80s. But if you didn’t catch on to The Rezillos, Josef K, or The Pastels the first time around, grow up on Teenage Fanclub or Nirvana covers of The Vaselines, get through high school or college with the help of Belle & Sebastian, grab the recent ultra-comprehensive Orange Juice box set, or buy your tickets for Veronica Falls’ current tour (yeah, they’re “based in London now,” but still), you may also have missed out on Aztec Camera. This 12” single is a showcase for the excellent opening track off their seminal 1983 album High Land, Hard Rain. It’s a joyful-sounding, bouncey anthem with acoustic funk licks, claves, and soulful backing harmonies that never get quite as cloying as some elements of the saccharine jazz-pop that follow on High Land. The song’s standout qualities make it a great candidate for a single, so I can’t say I was surprised to come across this Rough Trade 12” version. The B-side features “Orchid Girl” and “Haywire,” two tracks included on the CD version of the album since its reissue, but not found on the original Sire LP in my collection. The first is a lovelorn ode to someone who seems to both allure and terrify songwriter Roddy Frame, who can only manage to get so wound up on the track before his excitement ebbs out to a final sigh of a chorus. “Haywire” brings up the rear with an even sparser arrangement of acoustic jazz strummed over tambourine, each chorus suddenly brimming with group vocals insistently echoing the song’s title. The last two tracks fall a little flat for me for the same reasons the remainder of this single’s full album does: weak-kneed, heart-on-your-sleeve romances buoyed by well-crafted pop songs with 80s production inspire a sense of embarrassment in me that I can’t explain. “Oblivious” offers a moment of transcendence that probably wasn’t ever recreated the band. Scope Roddy and co. tearing it up in leather fringe jackets and bolo ties (???) on the BBC circa ‘83 below—babe alert!
Total Spent: $4
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