Aztec Camera
 Formed
by 15 year old Roddy Frame in East Kilbride in Scotland in 1980,
Aztec Camera hit the top of the Independent Charts in the UK in
1983 with their debut album High Land, Hard Rain. The
album was a largely acoustic affair, combining folk, Latin/jazz
rhythms and an incisive lyrical flair with stunning results.
The records breezy lead track, Oblivious, was
re-issued by their new label, Warners, later that year on the back
of the albums success and became one of the few Aztec Camera
singles to break the Top 20. While supporting Elvis Costello in
the USA later that year, the young Roddy had to lie about his age
to get into the country.
He brought in a new cast of musicians for the 1984 album Knife
(produced by Mark Knopfler), including seasoned Scottish
musicians Craig Gannon (from The
Bluebells) and Malcolm Ross (ex-Orange
Juice). A more commercial offering, the album featured All
I Need Is Everything.
After a world tour, Frame laid low for over two years, penning
material for Love (1987), the most successful album of
his career, featuring the brilliant tracks Deep And Wide And
Tall and Killermont Street.
Initially something of a
non-starter, this over-produced but lovely album eventually made
the Top 10 almost a year after its release, following the massive
Top 5 success of the plaintive Somewhere In My Heart
single.
Despite skirting the pop mainstream, Roddy's subsequent effort Stray
(1990) veered off into more eclectic territory. The Top 20
hit, Good Morning Britain, featured a duet with Mick
Jones from The Clash and Big Audio
Dynamite.
Frame then delivered the albums that fans and critics had
waited for. Dreamland , recorded with composer Ryuichi
Sakamoto, and Frestonia proved to be strong collections
of emotionally direct, honest songs that rivalled Aztec Camera's
sparkling debut a decade earlier.
The band disintegrated in 1996 as Frame worked on a solo
recording project, The North Star, which was eventually
released in late 1998 on the Independiente label.
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