Download: Orange Juice, ‘Felicity’

Keith Shackleton on
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They were different, Orange Juice. They drew their energy from punk, but little else. As Edwyn Collins explained, “… it was to bring back a ’60s sensibility. To have the freneticism and tempo of punk rock but to have rhythm guitars that were influenced by Live 1969 and … Nile Rodgers.” Their music, infused with wry wit and a sense of humor, was a reaction against the bleak angst of profoundly serious post-punk bands like Joy Division and Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Touted as “The Sound Of Young Scotland,” the first Postcard Records single was Orange Juice’s debut “Falling And Laughing,” released in April 1980. Its naive sound and homespun charm set down an early blueprint for indie music, and Postcard artists influenced much of the independent British scene that was to follow – C86, Sarah, Creation, et al.

Nov. 22 sees the release of “Coals to Newcastle,” a seven-disc anthology comprising all the Orange Juice studio albums plus a collection of radio sessions, B-sides, videos and live performances. The box commences with “The Glasgow School,” a re-arranged version of the charming 2005 set documenting the band’s time at Postcard.

The stylistic shifts of the Polydor years begin with Orange Juice’s debut, “You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever.” The lead single from it was a cover (of Al Green’s “L.O.V.E”) – criminal, really, when several earlier Postcard gems (and the download above) were present and correct alongside Collins and James Kirk’s sparkling new offerings.

Band upheaval marred the remainder of the band’s career. In an attempt to shrug off an association with the fluffy, optimistic New Pop sound they spawned (think Haircut 100 and Altered Images), Collins often “took up his pen, and felt obliged to start again” – a line from their single solitary Top 40 hit  “Rip It Up.”

With Zeke Manyika’s help, a sleeker, more funky band emerged, but the moment was lost and Orange Juice imploded in 1985. Their influence on indie rock, however, was immediate and continues today: from Belle and Sebastian and the Smiths to Franz Ferdinand and, lately, Magic Bullets.