Roddy Frame: The North Star 1998 + Surf 2002

This post is dedicated to my friend Andy Swapp and his beautiful Blog "The Blog Nobody Reads".

Roddy Frame (born 29 January 1964) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician. He was the founder of the 1980s new wave band Aztec Camera and has undertaken a solo career since the group's dissolution. In November 2013, journalist Brian Donaldson described Frame as: "Aztec Camera

wunderkind-turned-elder statesman of intelligent, melodic, wistful Scotpop." Since the end of the Aztec Camera project, Frame has released four solo albums, the last of which is 2014's Seven Dials. Best known as the leader of Scottish pop group Aztec Camera, Roddy Frame burst onto the U.K. pop scene as a songwriting wunderkind who became a critical favorite while still in his teens. If the stardom expected of him never quite stuck, Frame has earned a reputation as a gifted, literate tunesmith who has enjoyed a long-running and uncompromising career. 
                     

Released in 1998, The North Star became Roddy Frame's first official solo effort, and his first record as part of a new deal with Sony. Dominated by acoustic pop sounds and jangling guitars, The North Star was a critical success but a commercial disappointment, and when Frame re-emerged with the low-key

voice-and-guitar effort Surf in 2002, he'd partnered with the independent Cooking Vinyl label. Frame's third album, Western Skies, was released in 2006, and except for a pair of live discs, little was heard from Frame over the next several years, though he did occasional live shows and appeared on Edwyn Collins' 2010 comeback album, Losing Sleep.  In 2013 began working on his first solo album in over a decade. The resulting Seven Dials was a sunny, pop-focused record -- in comparison to the stark, stripped-back Western Skies -- and was released by AED in May of 2014. 

                                        

RODDY FRAME - THE NORTH STAR 1998

                 

If The North Star isn't this artist at his best, then he must have purely transcendental songs up his sleeve for future releases. With this confident solo debut, as strong or stronger than any Aztec Camera release, Roddy Frame confirms his status as a first-rate emotional balladeer. 
                      

Roddy Frame – 1998 - The North Star
Label: Independiente – ISOM 7CD
Format: CD, Album
Country: UK
Released: 1998
Genre: Rock
Style: Folk Rock

TRACKS

                      

01. Back To The One    4:01
02. The North Star    4:04
03. Here Comes The Ocean    3:23
04. River Of Brightness    4:22
05. Strings    4:10
06. Bigger Brighter Better    3:27
07. Autumn Flower    4:17
08. Reason For Living    3:16
09. Sister Shadow    3:38
10. Hymn To Grace    2:54

LINE - UP

Backing Vocals – Andy Caine
Bass – Clare Kenny, Yolanda Charles
Drums – Jeremy Stacey
Percussion – Barrie Barlow, Luis Jardim
Piano, Organ, Keyboards – Mark Edwards 
Producer – Roddy Frame, Simon Dawson

Flac Size: 254 MB

RODDY FRAME - SURF 2002

                   

Roddy Frame's 2002 album Surf is a slow-burning masterpiece that everyone should hear. (Philip Cummins: A Dublin-born academic and writer living in rural County Kildare. ) 
                  

Roddy Frame – 2002 - Surf
Label: Cooking Vinyl – COOKCD 225
Format: CD, Album
Country: Europe
Released: Oct 8, 2002
Genre: Rock, Pop
Style: Folk Rock, Indie Pop

TRACKS

                  

01. Over You    3:05
02. Surf    4:15
03. Small World    3:52
04. I Can't Start Now    3:41
05. Abloom    2:17
06. Tough    2:18
07. Big Ben    3:37
08. High Class Music    3:09
09. Turning The World Around    3:16
10. Mixed Up Love    3:14
11. For What It Was    3:02

U.S BONUS TRACKS        

    
12. Crossing Newbury Street    4:22
13. Your Smile Stops The Hands Of Time    4:23

NOTES

Producer – Roddy Frame
Written-By, Performer [Performed By] – Roddy Frame

Flac Size: 246 MB

Aztec Camera On Urban Aspirines HERE