FORGET ME NOTS
Aztec Camera - Love
DEVOTED TO THAT CRAZY LITTLE THING WHICH MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND, AZTEC CAMERA’S THIRD STUDIO ALBUM FOUND RODDY FRAME GOING IT ALONE AND AIMING FOR THE VERY TOP WITH A BLUE-EYED SOUL STYLE THAT OWED MORE TO AMERICA THAN SCOTLAND’S EAST KILBRIDE
WYNDHAM WALLACE
As someone who’d told The Face in 1983 that “all I ever wanted to do as far back as I can remember was to leave school, get on the dole and form a band”, a great deal seemed to have changed for Roddy Frame by the time Aztec Camera’s third album, Love, was released in 1987.
Crucially, they were no longer a band: original keyboard player Bernie Clarke had departed following their first album, 1983’s High Land, Hard Rain, and Malcolm Ross, his replacement on 1984’s Knife – and also a veteran of Josef K and Orange Juice – was gone, too, along with bassist Campbell Owens and drummer Dave Ruffy.
Instead, Aztec Camera were now exclusively a vehicle for Frame, who’d still barely reached his mid-20s, to do as he wanted, and from Love’s first single, Deep & Wide & Tall, it was clear he wanted hits.
FRAME NEVER MADE A GREAT SECRET OF HIS COMMERCIAL AMBITIONS, HAVING TOLD NME IN EARLY 1984, “I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A POP STAR”