(Roddy Frame - Aztec Camera - made the 80s worth listening to)
Getting into a 1980s frame of mind tonight - Aztec Camera from their first album High Land, Hard Rain - the opening track, and a favorite, Oblivious. Strangely, Aztec Camera really never caught on in the States. Only doing modest sales and occasional airplay. The only reason I can think of is the flood of albums and new bands coming out of the UK at the time caused a lot of worthy music to get lost in the shuffle. The early 80s saw a gradual shift from Punk to New Wave with Indie coming in through the back door. Once again, radio stations were also going through the shift, with less independent stations on the air and the growth of the corporate mergers - loosely translated: less experimenting and breaking of new acts and more concentration on the tried and true and the highly commercial acts (i.e. Madonna). Not to mention the introduction of MTV nationwide.
It was an interesting period of transition for the music business. But as is often the case, a lot of good music went unnoticed and it was frustrating not only for the bands, but for the audience as well.
Seems to still be that way.
