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Rating: If you don't mind the fringe of that guy from the Babyshambles, if you're fond of the indie fathers, if you want something British but not overly commercialized, if your musical paradise is that middle ground in the '78-'82 five-year span, if you're charmed by Ian Curtis, David Byrne, and Morrissey, if you've even managed to hunt down Rupert Everett's record, then I think it's time you meet the (then) young Edwyn Collins and his smooth lock of hair over his eyes.
This album, as can be easily learned from the web, has been judged by Mojo magazine as the second-best album in the history of British independent music (with the Smiths at the top), ahead of folks like Jesus And Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, XTC, and the like. Yet, you haven't heard much about these Orange Juice around, have you? Not even in the vast debaserian landscapes.
The fact remains that, within that very recent ranking (for whatever it's worth, mind you), ahead of your favorite Anglo-Saxon band, whatever it may be - except one -, there are four guys from Glasgow who, at the dawn of the eighties, created "the sound of young Scotland", mixing roots of British post-punk, watery melodies worthy of the purest new wave, almost unfeasible disco, funky, and pop illusions of adolescence.
The Orange Juice are amusing, obviously, since the name they chose; nourishing and tasty, refreshing but tart. Their guitars are amusing, electric and post-punk, but patient and plucking, slow yet free, and still calm. Edwyn Collins is entertaining but not only, with a deep and warm voice that at first glance doesn’t seem to fit his effeminate figure; but then you start to enjoy the melodies, starting with "Falling And Laughing", and you feel it’s no less persuasive than the Manchester dandy. A pour of honey jam on a steaming already buttered bruschetta. Bread butter jam and orange juice.
What are you waiting for to listen? A calm sea of sweet but not foolish, not trivial notes awaits you. Awaiting you are four Scots with magical fingers who, despite their undeniable taste for melody, still prioritize making music together rather than making songs. And so the tracks veer, slightly deviate, giving you the sensation that Orange Juice could slip out of your hands at any moment, but in the end, they chose not to for reasons they’re not obliged to explain to you. Maybe they’re saying "we’re a real rock band, remember; it's just that we want to make beautiful songs, rather than a ruckus", and anyway Collins already had a punk band back in the day, called Nu Sonic.
In the end, you listen to this concoction in which you don't find an unworthy note, even if not all the pop styles in between are your favorites, so you reflect on the playfulness, the irony that overwhelms this album, and you recall a band that makes the young girls of Albion dance and go wild, called Franz Ferdinand: they're Scottish too, aren't they?
Byrds-like arpeggios, White Duke glam, Strummer punk, Talking Heads popwave, and a desire to take themselves lightly that has nothing of Morrissey and Marr. Moreover, the fact that they're not known to most makes it all the more endearing. Simple scribbles, relaxed airs, and jog-like dashes: "You Can't Hide Your Love Forever" slides as if it were pouring, note after note, an impression to which another hooks on, and so on, until the end of the album, incessantly.
Listening to it is like splashing around. And this is pop for dolphins. Enjoy.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Falling and Laughing (03:51)
You may think me very naive
Taken as true
I only see what I want to see
Avoid eye contact at all costs
What can I do
To see your fine teeth smiling at me
You might say
That we should build a city of tears
All I'm saying
Is I'm alone and consequently
Only my tears satisfy the real need of my heart
I resist
You say that there's a thousand like you
Maybe that's true
I fell or you and nobody else
So I'm standing here so lonely
What can i do
But learn to laugh at myself
You might say
That we should build a city of tears
All I'm saying
Is I'm alone and consequently
Only my tears satisfy the real need of my heart
I resist
Fall falling falling again
Cos I want to take the pleasure with the pa-in
Fall falling - falling again
Cos I wan to take
The pleasure with the pain pain pain pain pain pain pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-in
Falling and laughing
Falling and laughing
Falling and laughing
Falling and laugh - ing
04 Tender Object (04:25)
Here I go around and around
Sick inside and eyes to the ground
Looking for a sign to set me free
In my chic cold misery
Step we gaily, on we go
Heel to heel and toe to toe
Lock me away, I need to unwind
Did you ever hear anything so unkind
From your window?
Listen, remembering with deep regret
How we used to dance in a discoteque
Ask me why I say dance to forget
My fall from grace, my losing face
These are the tears, the tears I can't hide
The pride inside, I can't deny
The hurt, the pain, all thrown out
My window
I trusted you
Listen I step
Down to the arcade
And I see my relection in the window
And I feign affection for that window
I could be kidding you on
I could be kidding you on and on...
I step down to the arcade
And I see my reflection in the window
Come step down to the arcade
And we'll laugh at our reflections in the window-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa
11 Consolation Prize (02:53)
A thousand violins will play it for you
While you sit and roll your deep blue eyes
A thousand to win, a thousand you lose
But I'll be your consolation prize
All you do is sigh
I wore my frings like Roger McGuinn's
I was hoping to impress
So frightfully camp, it made you laugh
Tomorrow I'll buy myself a dress
How ludicrous
I don't mean to pry but didn't that guy
Crumple up your face a thousand times?
He made you cry
I'll be your consolation prize
Although I know
I'll never be man enough for you
13 In a Nutshell (04:16)
I looked deep within my pocket
For the note you sent to me
To put it in a nutshell
You're a heartless mercenary
Shoo-shoo-shoo-shoodoo, goodness gracious
Shoo-shoo-shoo-shoodoo, you're so audacious
Shoo-shoo-shoo-shoodoo
I looked behind the iron curtain
For a greater dignity
And now I'm more than certain
You're a heartless mercenary
Shoo-shoo-shoo-shoodoo, goodness gracious
Shoo-shoo-shoo-shoodoo, you're so audacious
Push me and pull me
The blind lead the blind
I don't have no money
Can I pay you in kind?
Shoo-shoo-shoo-shoodoo, goodness gracious
Shoo-shoo-shoo-shoodoo, you're so audacious
Shoo-shoo-shoo-shoodoo
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Other reviews
By Nevadagaz
The album was proof that alternative music could be played, but with a smile on the lips instead of a stick up the ass.
'Falling & Laughing' is a gem of playful lyricism that miraculously manages to combine vulnerability and toughness.
