Frame Out of Focus But In Top Form

After 10 years of blogging, I'm beginning to run out of pieces in my collection of Aztec Camera that haven't been featured. This stellar 10" EP seems to have slipped through the cracks. "The Crying Scene" was the walk-up single to the 1990 album 'Stray,' and it found a place on this side of the pond, peaking at No. 3 on Billboard's Alternative Chart. The chorus was so damn catchy and the guitar solo so mesmerizing that I didn't mind the guitar during the verses sounding kind of hard rock and not very Roddy to these ears. This version was mixed by Julian Mendelsohn.

"Salvation" is a five-plus minute song from the 'Stray' sessions that didn't make the album. It is probably my favorite B-side outside of the Postcard and 'High Land Hard Rain' eras. If you are wondering about the female vocals, she was not credited and was recalled by Frame years later only as a French intern whose name escaped him. He did, however, say he thought her singing was perfect. The EP concludes with two well-known covers, and the Dylan song was performed live with just Roddy and his guitar. Many of us have grown to almost prefer him on stage this way. After repeated listens, I believe this is the same take found on the 1988 12" of "Working in a Goldmine," recorded at Colston Hall, Bristol, but it isn't credited as such on this record.

As you can see from the photo above, there was a huge poster that came with some editions of the 10", and here is what that looks like. I have never hung up this one, and before today I don't think I had unfolded it in almost 30 years.

The Crying Scene EP
The Crying Scene
Salvation
True Colors
I Threw It All Away (Live)