Aztec Camera

And to close, a quote from a song I feel like I must have used before, but seems entirely too perfect to not use here.

Good Morning Britain by Aztec Camera and The Clash and Big Audio Dynamite's Mick Jones has this to say.

The past is steeped in shame, but tomorrow's fair game.

And tomorrow, my friends, is what we do.

Geoffrey mentions my favourite band, The Smiths, in his history, and aside from the Mancunian legends, my own record collection is full of albums released on the Rough Trade label.

Records by The Slits, Scritty Politty, The Fall, The Go-Betweens, Aztec Camera, The Wooden Tops, Young Marble Giants, Galaxy 500, The Sundays, Mazzy Star, Arthur Russell, The Decemberists, Bell and Sebastian, Anthony and the Johnsons, Anoni, Lowe, Life Without Buildings and many, many more.

The record shop and label became separate entities in 1982.

In 1987, Jeannette Lee joined Travis at Rough Trade.

Oh, I got it written down here.

Aztec Camera.

Yes.

And that came out like- 84.

Two more British bands now, or rather Scottish bands to be more specific, and both from the following decade, musically a rather gentler period.

In a few minutes, The Blue Bells with Young at Heart, but first a lovely song from Aztec Camera, which was of course the vehicle for singer-songwriter Roddy Frame.

a former wunderkind who recorded his first single under the name Aztec Camera when he was just 16 and subsequently became one of the most admired songwriters of the 80s.

His first two albums, Highland Hard Rain and Knife, were heaped with praise and their success and the pressure that came with it led to a period in which Frame, still only 20 years old, retreated from the music business for more than two years, struggling with mental health issues and living for part of that time in a wooden shack in Hollywood.

Gradually, he got himself together and he began writing again.

Silver splits the blue Love will see you

through And somewhere in my heart There is the will to set you free All you've got to be is true Somewhere in my heart There is a star that shines Love will see you through And somewhere in my heart there is the will to set you free All you've got to be is true Young and hard, hard, hard, hard Young and hard, yet what a smile Full of, full of time We married young Love at last, was it all in crime? How come I love them now? How come I love them more? Yeah, they're hard, yeah, not a chance To be a child at all They told us this, they told us that Nothing new, they shouldn't have told us at all How come I love them now? How come I love them more?

After Aztec Camera and Somewhere in My Heart, that was the Bluebells, with their biggest ever hit, Young at Heart, released in 1984.