An interesting choice this one and an album worthy of discussion. Very few dispute the greatness and importance of Orange Juice in the scheme of things nowadays. Not that they weren't divisive in their time and never more so than when this, their debut album, came out. The first line of the NME review of the record said it all. 'Some people find Orange Juice irritating...' Its writer Leila Sanai going on to emphasise its diversity, itemises what she thinks works well, what works less well, suggests Felicity as the song on the record most likely to achieve the single chart success they clearly craved and overall gives the record a cautious thumbs up.
It's a neat summation of what critics felt about the band and You Can't Hide Your Love Forever. In Sounds meanwhile, Betty Page gave it a thorough slagging, writing it off as contrived amateurism and tooth-rottingly cutesy. It needs saying that Orange Juice willingly put themselves up for such criticism. They came to the album after a string of utterly stunning singles and with their original line up fraying at the edges and just about to split which would lead to Edwyn Collins becoming their de facto leader for the rest of their existence. All in all, they were ripe for a backlash.
Things moved very fast in the world of pop music in those days. Bands were talk of the town one moment one day and yesterday's paper the next. No band illustrated this better than Orange Juice. They and Postcard Records heralded a decade of Indie but they themselves found the transition from minor to major on signing to Polydor painful.
You Can't Hide Your Love Forever and its mixed reception is telling. Were they first and foremost a singles act and does the magic dust they sprinkled so effortlessly and effectively in three minute bursts translate to the album format? Every song on here is good, but they are good in different ways. Do I really like the album in the way that I love Falling & Laughing, Blue Boy, Simply Thrilled Honey Flesh of My Flesh, Bridge and What Presence?! . Perhaps they should have signed to Motown.
Because Orange Juice were doing something that no-one around them was doing or even attempting. This was bound to confuse and annoy many. In interview with NME's Paul Morley just fifteen months earlier Collins had declared his love for the O'Jays Love Train. They covered Al Green for single release, it's also on here. But they loved John Fogerty and John Sebastian too. They had impeccable taste but would attempt to shoehorn everything into single songs through sheer bloody mindedness. They were visionaries, but regrettably historical perspective has often seen them in the John the Baptist rather than the Jesus role.
Ultimately other bands stole their inspiration and achieved the chart success that should rightfully have been theirs. Altered Images and Haircut 100 most obviously. Neither band are really fit to kiss Edwyn's brogues but having hits rarely have anything to do with justice. It's all about timing as much as anything.
Orange Juice did eventually end up on Top of the Pops and had a palpable chart success with Rip it Up from their second album. They put out further records, the excellent Texas Fever EP, ( hunt it down, it's wonderful), then a less excellent eponymous third album. Then they split. Collins went solo. He's an indie icon on a par with Jonathan Richman and Pete Shelley. Quite right too!
I've neglected Melody Maker and the book I'm basing this series around thus far. Paul Mather writes the article inside it on this. He starts by talking about being Scottish for a couple of pages, then about the greatness of Orange Juice for a page, the importance of Postcard, the other great bands on their roster and then You Can't Hide Your Love Forever for a paragraph each. Frankly it's all rather a mess. The album it's concerned about meanwhile could also be described as a mess. But in this case a glorious one. Orange Juice are one of those bands. Their importance cannot be measured.
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