What avenue is On the Avenue about?
"... And it shines like the sun inside of everyone, like the neon that I see in the rain, On the
avenue..."
Roddy said on Later With Jules Holland that 'On the
Avenue' is "where Madison Avenue meets Holland Park Avenue." I'm not so sure that helps to
clarify things. He also said it was based on a song called "Triangle of Hair" by Ivor Cutler,
a Scottish poet of sorts. I'm told he's an elderly man who writes slightly surreal tales of
normal life, a lot of which are extremely amusing in a downbeat, sardonic kind of way. John
Peel is a big fan. His most famous collection is 'Life in a Scotch Sitting Room'. You can get
his work on CD or in books.
What is the 'Old Grey Whistle Test' CD?
In 1982, Aztec Camera played ten songs on a UK television show called The Old Grey Whistle Test.
In 1993, the audio portion of the broadcast was to be released on compact disc (aka, Aztec
Camera Live at the Test). However, according to legend, the company that was to
release the CD jumped the gun - they went ahead and printed them up before they ever got Aztec
Camera's permission. Subsequently, they were told to destroy all 10,000 copies.
Many of us have seen this CD "for sale" at online record shops and most of us have even ordered
copies. Apparently this item is listed in many music catalogs, but is always "out of stock". In
other words, if there were copies out there at some point - and I know of a few people that
managed to pick one up - they're all gone now. I guess Live at the Test would
officially be considered a bootleg. If you have a copy, don't lend it out to anyone. :)
What are the Japanese compilations
New, Live and Rare, Spanish
Horses, Dream Sweet Dreams, Covers and Rare and Reason for Living?
Over the years, much (if not most) of Roddy's b-side material has been gathered up and
re-released as new import compilations by a Japanese sister-label. Such is the case with all of the
above titles.
New, Live and Rare contains b-sides, remixes and live performances of tracks from the Love album.
Spanish Horses is made up of all the live tracks featured on the first two CDs of the Roddy Frame
Live Collection (the Ronnie Scott's Club show).
Dreams Sweet Dreams contains all the live tracks featured on CDs three and four of the Live
Collection.
Covers and Rare is made up of all Aztec Camera remixes, b-sides and a couple of live
tracks.
Reason for Living was originally released in England as a two part single with four b-sides.
The Japanese import combined both U.K. singles onto one CD and used both of the original sleeves (one
on the front, the other on the back). Strangely, the Japanese import left off the "Biba Nova" b-side
and instead included it on the import release of The North Star as a bonus track.
Detailed track listings for all of these CDs can be found in the Discography section.