At nineteen I went to a record fair with a young lady. She bought Denise LaSalle My Toot Toot, and I bought a BAD bootleg of a concert I had been at. I slagged her purchase, got home and found I had bought a blank cassette, just static on the tape. No romance blossomed you will be shocked to know.
Is there a point to the above, sort of. Not every nineteen-year-old male from Scotland is an arse, Roddy Frame was releasing his debut album with his band, Aztec Camera, at this age.
Opener Oblivious is simply gorgeous, instantly recognisable as the guitar comes in, he admitted he wrote this as a Top of the Pop’s song, well it worked as it was a hit, that’s the talent on display here.
The Boy Wonders bounces along with solid guitars and an upbeat drum beat with the band shouting back the title track of the album to Frame, a highlight for me.
Walk out to Winter was also a single, he mentions Strummer so that’s a tick in my book, but the chorus is energetic and simple, and Roddy knows how to employ a backing singer, magical.
Pillar to Post opens with a great riff and Roddy and the band are straight in, and the chorus is just uplifting and upbeat. This is a man who could write a chorus.
Lost Outside the Tunnel needs to be heard for the beautiful guitar solo at the end of the song , a Spanish guitar that fits perfectly.
Ten songs in thirty-five minutes all of the highest quality ending with the beautiful acoustic Down the Dip.
Scotland had a major talent here and remember some men just mature quicker than others.
9/10
GIVE IT A STREAM: The Boy Wonders