The Closest thing To Heaven (31/3/13)

There's not enough beauty in the world and far too much banality that masquerades as magic so let me point you in the direction of some wonder; one man and one album in particular.

If you know the name Roddy Frame at all then the majority of you are currently thinking of Aztec Camera's "Somewhere in My Heart" - a top 5 single in 1988 and flogged to death on radio both then and since. That this is his best known work is as criminal as Paddy McAloon being most noted for Prefab Sprout's "King of Rock'n'Roll" - two of the most naturally gifted songwriters of their era known as one hit wonders for their least representative works.

Roddy Frame was 16 when he released his first singles on Glasgow's Postcard label. 18 when his band, Aztec Camera, released their debut "High Land, Hard Rain". A ridiculously good guitarist and stupidly accomplished songwriter for such a young man. 'New Dylan' comparisons were thrown round, acoustic, poetic, clearly happy to lie about his influences in early interviews purely to wind up his new major label bosses. "High Land.." Is one of the albums of the eighties and one of the greatest debuts of all time. Nobody mentions it anymore.

For the second album 'Knife' he pulled in Mark Knopfler (pre Brothers in Arms mega fame here) to produce. More polished than his debut, lacking the freshness and vigour of its predecessor it was something of a disappointment but still held small gems like 'Backwards & Forwards' and the title track.

And this became the path for his career; embracing current production, often at the expense of his material when the beauty of his writing demanded a clean approach. 1988's "Love" was his commercial peak but sounded so 'now' that it quickly became stuck in time and left him emblematic of the eighties, replete with leather jacket, quiff, black and white video and guitar solo. Even in the gloss though there was the breathtaking "Killermont Street" - a slice of gentle and sweet reminiscence.

The 90s saw a waning in commercial fortune. By the end of the decade the band had ceased. Frame had been a solo artist in all but name since "Love". Now he became it in name as well. The world didnt notice.

And in 2002 the world continued not to notice when he released "Surf", an album that entirely fulfilled his early promise in the simplest manner possible - putting him in front of a microphone with an acoustic guitar. It's a small thing, perfect and intimate. Personal, beautifully sung and played, it's his solo masterpiece.

And you may even know something from it; Craig Cash used "Small World" as the closing music to his wonderful 'Early Doors' in the way that he and Caroline Aherne had used Oasis' 'Half The World Away' in The Royle Family. And in the way that everybody wanted 'Half The World..' nobody ever went into a record shop hd asked for the vastly superior 'Small World'.

And that was basically it. There was another album in 2006. It was good but not as good as 'Surf'. Roddy gigs occasionally but hs generally fallen off the general public's radar.

Roddy Frame's absence is criminal.

Seek out "Surf" realise what you're missing.