High Land, Hard Rain

    Aztec Camera was a vehicle for the songs of Roddy Frame. At one point he was the darling youngster of the Postcard Records scene in Scotland but with the release of High Land, Hard Rain, I feel like Roddy distanced himself a bit from his earlier singles.  Production value here obviously increased and Rod would continue this "distancing" by following up Hard Land with a slew of over-produced, mostly crappy albums well into the 90's.  This record, however, is a true gem from start to finish. Maybe you'll feel me, maybe you won't, but there's something about the way this record sounds (kind of like how Die Hard is a Christmas movie without exactly being Miracle on 34th Street) that makes it one of my favorite records to listen to during the holiday season.

     I popped this onto the platter this afternoon & was instantly reminded of how this time of year should feel. Having just moved to Los Angeles, far away from all of my friends in Chicago & the few left in Detroit, nostalgia has been a common theme around here. I'm gonna come right on out and say it, I actually sort-of miss the cold weather, the snow, & the miserable feeling of knowing that you have to get out of your warm bed only to step into a cold bathroom and out onto the freezing sidewalk. I miss the salt lines on my shoes. I miss having the excuse to drink as much as I want for as many days in a row as I want because it's too cold to do anything else. Most of all, I miss all of the lights & decorations (something you don't see a ton of in L.A.). I don't know, but I think the snow brings out the urge to want to dress your house up in bright lights in the freezing fucking cold just to let everybody know that even though it gets dark at 4 pm, you've got electricity and in your world everything is bright, warm, & fuzzy (even if it isn't- that's what the booze excuse is for). I am by no means a religious man, but, like Clark Griswold, I like to see everything covered in tons of lights and there's no better time to do it than now. 

Anyhow, covered in the lights & decorations of early 80's production, Aztec Camera's High Land, Hard Rain is dashing through yr snow.

High Land, Hard Rain

Postcard Singles