Edwyn Collins- Hope and Despair (1989) MP3 & FLAC -For Dave-

"Well he's speaking in riddles, he's speaking in tongues, whilst he plays through a fuzz-box to an audience of one."

Following the rapid demise of his influential Scottish Post-Punk band Orange Juice, Edwyn Collins struggled mightily, as he became something of an outcast garnering no record label interest due to his prevailing (and fairly accurate) reputation for being difficult to work with and having little or no inclination to chase commercial success. Despite a brief stay at a subsidiary of Creation Records, which produced two forgettable singles, Collins' real chance to launch his solo career only came with the help of Roddy Frame of Aztec Camera and some fans of Orange Juice who ran a small studio; the resulting LP, Hope and Despair, while not the masterpiece many believed Collins had in him, is a worthy, if not understated, successor to Collins' legendary earlier work. What becomes immediately clear while listening to Collins' solo debut is that his penchant for exploring the dark side of love is still very much intact; in other words, in terms of lyrical themes, there is more despair on tap than hope (something that was never a natural fit for Collins' brand of clever pessimism). What is also intact is Collins' unique (and sometimes quirky) song-writing ability as evidenced by "50 Shades of Blue," which contains one of the more upbeat arrangements on the album, though lyrically, it is full of Collins' trademark dourness. Backing his unsteady croon with flanged guitars (with help from Frame) and a cheesy Casio melody, in a different universe, the song might have given Collins a taste of the chart success that would continue to elude him until "A Girl Like You" five years later. Perhaps the album's best moment, "Ghost of a Chance," is one quite reminiscent of later-period Orange Juice, as Collins dresses the song in the raiment of sixties-era Soul and delivers one of the album's best vocal performances. Hope and Despair was ultimately a successful venture for Collins, becoming, at the time, Demon Records' best-selling release; however, after Collins' follow-up, the decidedly less impressive Hellbent on Compromise, he was dropped from the label and wallowed in obscurity until his biggest brush with commercial success arrived four years later.

The Lotus Eaters- First Picture of You: BBC Recordings (1998) MP3 & FLAC

"She is the hunger artist, alone of all her sex."

Liverpool's The Lotus Eaters were a band who did not fit comfortably into any of the various subdivisions of the Post-Punk movement. Their roots lay in lead singer Peter Coyle's earlier band Jass Babies, whose sound had much in common with the raw melodic approach of Joy Division, and guitarist Jem Kelly's The Wild Swans, a Jangle-Pop band he formed with ex-Teardrop Explodes keyboardist Paul Simpson. While The Lotus Eaters were typically grouped with New Romantics such as Visage and Japan, their sound, if not their image, suggested they were very much out of step with the trendy theatricality of the genre; rather, their music combined romantically-obsessed lyrics with more organic, Folk-inspired guitar-based textures, which, in some ways, prefigured the Sarah Records sound that bloomed at the close of the eighties. First Picture of You: BBC Recordings collects several John Peel sessions and few other radio recordings that predate the band's debut long-player, the brilliant and under-appreciated No Sense of Sin. While these albums have a number of songs in common, with a few exceptions (such as the title track), the earlier BBC versions employ sparer arrangements, thus allowing Coyle's fragile, unaffected vocals more space in the mix. However, the true star here is Kelly's luminous guitar-work, which ranges from lovely Felt-like arpeggios to some fine, dynamic acoustic strumming. A gorgeous example of this is "When You Look at Boys," which begins as a wistful ballad, but halfway through, Kelly dials up the dynamics several notches, and in doing so, makes it one of the most memorable tracks on the album. Another standout is "German Girl," a catchy sophisto-pop gem that again features some lovely contributions from Kelly. The Lotus Eaters' taste for sixties baroque-pop and its ornate instrumental tendencies certainly set them at odds with the prevailing trends of Post-Punk in the early eighties, and as a result, they quickly disintegrated after releasing the one album. Nevertheless, they are well-deserving of rediscovery.

Orange Juice- Coals to Newcastle (2010) Box Set (6 Discs) MP3 & FLAC -For pixiesfan-

"The difference between you and me is that the world owes you a living, and you always tow the party line in your loving and your giving."

It is hard to overestimate the influence of the Scottish Post-Punk band Orange Juice on what we refer to now, thirty years, later as "indie music." Progenitors of a sound firmly grounded in the Punk and Post-Punk movements of the late seventies, Orange Juice also turned many of the conventions of these genres on their heads with their off-kilter melodic tendencies and Edwyn Collins' twee vocal style (which laid the groundwork for everything from Haircut 100 to Belle and Sebastian). This was a band equally inspired by The Velvet Underground, Al Green, The Buzzcocks, and Lee "Scratch" Perry, which should give some indication of just how singular they sounded. In general, Orange Juice's early Postcard singles are held in highest esteem in terms of the band's legacy, and one listen to a song such as "Blue Boy" on the first disc, The Glasgow School, should leave no doubt as to why. With the runaway train percussion, chiming guitars, and Collins' fractured vocals all wedded to a great melodic hook, the song, in one way or another, anticipates every major trope of today's indie music scene. Orange Juice didn't issue a proper LP until 1982's You Can't Hide Your Love Forever, and by this time, many of the rough edges of their sound had been polished away, allowing Collins' love for Soul and Reggae to weigh in more insistently. Despite this, flashes of the same dark, shambolic brilliance of the earlier sides can be found in the later work; for example, one of the album's singles, Al Green's "L.O.V.E. Love," sounds like a Soul song that has wandered its way onto The Velvet Underground's Loaded. Perhaps Orange Juice's most commercial moment is found on their second LP, Rip It Up, with its infectious title track (Orange Juice's sole hit) that stands as a nearly perfect example of early-eighties Brit-Pop; however, digging a little further into the album reveals a pronounced Reggae and Afro-Beat influence, which ranges from awkward ("Hokoyo") to thoroughly compelling ("Breakfast Time"). Simply put, there just isn't another band that sounds remotely like Orange Juice; nevertheless, as is the case with one of their guiding influences, The Velvet Underground, one can hear their influence everywhere. Soulful, quirky and privilegers of randomness over polish, Orange Juice's relative obscurity betrays their uncompromising brilliance.

Orange Juice- "Rip It Up" Video (1982)

just a taster in advance of an avalanche

Various Artists- Sarah Records: Glass Arcade (1991) MP3 & FLAC -For Ranxerox-

"It's not the way I want to be, but don't give in 'cause that's just me."

Sarah Records was one of the most distinctive and homogeneous labels to emerge out of the ashes of the original Post-Punk movement. Dealing primarily in a wispy brand of Jangle-Pop later referred to as Twee-Pop, on a cursory listen, the Sarah stable of artists can sound a bit samey, but for those with ears fine-tuned for subtleties, the label offers a diverse array of what might be best described as shoegazer-folk. While Sarah bands such as The Field Mice and Heavenly issued some fine LPs, many feel the true legacy of this now-defunct label are the compilations due to the fact that many of the bands associated with Sarah were primarily, if not exclusively, singles bands. One of the best of these compilations is Glass Arcade, which features a number of tracks from some short-lived, but no less aesthetically pleasing, bands. For example, "Sleep" and "Breathe" by Eternal, a band whose lifespan appears to have lasted the duration of a lone single, offer a darker, grittier take on the Sarah sound, which begs the question, why no more? Of course, Glass Arcade is also stocked with standout tracks from more prolific bands such as The Field Mice, but the album's finest moment is Another Sunny Day's "Rio," a shimmering jewel of a song that likely taught Belle and Sebastian a thing or two.