A few days ago, I implored you all to watch a TV programme called Caledonia Dreaming on BBC 4 this evening. I did so because all the previews suggested that it was an in-depth look at Postcard Records. Well, it turned out that it wasn't.But it's not that fact that's making me angry as I type these words some five minutes after the programme has ended.
The first fifteen minutes or so were amazing - clips of Orange Juice and Josef K interspersed with some old footage of the legendary Alan Horne. Then a little bit about the bands that were directly inspired by Postcard but who instead signed for major labels and enjoyed chart success - Altered Images, The Bluebells and Associates.
Then the programme, as far as I'm concerned, lost it.
On the one hand we were informed that the mid-80s pop acts such as Hue & Cry, Deacon Blue, Del Amitri and Wet Wet Wet were symbolic of a new emerging confident Scotland - on the other it was said that The Proclaimers being so popular was the result of the fact that Scotland never had it so bad in the 80s and early 90s.
Then we were told that the reason Hue & Cry and Deacon Blue went out of fashion was down to their singers taking high-profile roles in pro-nationalist political movements.
This part of the programme lasted longer than the Postcard segment on which so much of the pre-show hype has been about. It was dull, it was patronising, it was contradictory and it was a real fucking re-write of history. It was like a 15 minute party political broadcast for the SNP dating back to 1992.
And it was obvious where it was leading to - an assessment that it was the footsoldiers of Scottish pop from that dull era who gave us so much pride and self-belief in our Scottishness that nearly 10 years later we voted for devolution in a referendum and a further 8 years later we elected our first minority nationalist government.
I hung-on till the end to see who the writer of the programme was. We got details of where the archive clips came from, of who the researchers were, who was responsible for the cameras, lighting, production and writing - but not one single credit for a writer or team of writers. Strange that....
So.....I feel I must apologise to those of you who tuned in on the recommendation of this blog. The old clips from the early 80s were great...but it was kind of revealing that Alan Horne himself didn't take part, nor was there any sign of Roddy Frame/Aztec Camera who got passed over in a micro-second in Edith Bowman's voiceover, while Pat Kane got at least 10 minutes worth in one way or another.
Caledonia Dreaming - an opportunity missed. And a real bitter disappointment.
mp3 : Aerogramme - Shitty Lies
mp3 : Teenage Fanclub - Dumb Dumb Dumb
16 comments:
Hi JC,
Like you i was raging, I had forgot about it and missed the first 10 minutes but where was the recognition of Roddy Frame and the Jesus and Mary Chain. I could not contain my anger as the programme went on, no mention of the BMX Bandits, Vaselines and Pastels to name but 3, the better half asking why I was getting so upset. What we got was feckin Ricky Ross and that arsehole Kane talking about themselves. Not even a mention of Primal Scream and how loaded got everybody even students on the dancefloor. To sum it up pure pish.
Agreed it was a bit shite re the hated Hue & Cry/Del Amitri/Deacon Blue axis - but then I guess there probably ain't that much decent footage of the Postcard era around. There were a few clips I hadn't seen before ....but no chance of them tracking Mr A Horne down it seems - the recluse.
Cheers
Rich
Shame that. I was going to try and hunt the programme down on UK Nova, but I might not bother now.
Interesting what you write about the lack of credit for writers or researchers, 'cos when I started reading your post that was the thought that immediately sprang to mind: find out who scripted it and that will explain the narrative.
I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that Pat Kane had his fingerprints over the script. That incestuous sort of shite happens all the time in pop culture programmes.
Hue & Cry and Deacon Blue were the victims of their political activism? Nah, they were guilty of making piss poor follow up albums.
It happens in life.
Definitely a missed opportunity.
Still it was nice to find out that Teenage Fanclub led to the Pixies. Shoot the researcher !!
Matt
'Teenage Fanclub led to the Pixies' -bloody hell!
Missed the programme and less sure I want to track it down, now. Whilst I think that Del Amitri/Deacon Blue/Hue & Cry did some good songs, they were also responsible for some utter, utter rubbish, and as for no mention of the vaselines either, whose influence on Kurt Cobain...well, we all know how that sentence ends.
Oh, and as for the Proclaimers, whatever some people might think of their music, one of the things the Proclaimers did -which they were mocked for, then - was that they sung in their own, scottish accents, which as someone who grew up in England (oh, God, yeah, whatever) was unusual at the time. Big Country sang in American accents even though they were from Fife.
Independence for Scotland? Yes, please. Independents for Scotland? Definitely. With Pat Kane's involvement? I bloody hope not, he is an utter media tart north of the border.
And the less said about fucking Runrig the better...
The first five minutes set the tone with what was essentially a SNP revision of the Scottish 80s pop scene and it went downhill from there. Some great Postcard footage but whoever wrote the script needs his haggis boiling. I'm so annoyed I feel like writing "fuck" but I'll resist the temptation.
Onto something more enervating though, and the Edwyn Collins documentary that followed, charting his post illness battles. I found the first fifteen minutes almost unbearable as I love the guy so much, and to see him like that was heartrending.
As he fought to get back walking, talking, reading, writing and back to the music the show became inspirational on many levels. Anyone who does not believe in the adage "the love of a good woman" should be forced to watch that show. Grace Collins couldn't have been better by her parents. What an extraordinary woman. If you can find one half as good as her boys grab her and don't let go.
Edwyn will be back, with Grace the driving force. God bless them both.
Augustus
I rarely come back in on the back of my own postings.....but I am so happy and relieved to find that I was not alone in my reaction last night.
I was so pissed-off and angry while I was typing away and trying not just to get into a rant mode, that I had forgotten there was the line about Teenage Fanclub leading to The Pixies. That just about sums up the quality of the thing....
Re the Edwyn documentary afterwards. I wrote about this a while back. It was originally shown last summer while I was in Toronto, but Mike from 'Manic Pop Thrills' sent over a DVD copy for me to watch. But I didn't do so on the advice of the wife who said I would be too upset by it and probably get a real bout of homesickness and loneliness.
So I waited until my return home last November....and I was glad I did. Really harrowing and heart-breaking stuff that had me weeping my eyes out. But Augustus, thanks for paying long-overdue credit to Grace....more tributes coming her way here quite soon.
caledonian dreamin
total shite the postcard footage was a direct lift from a half hour bbc scotland programme shown 1980. I remember tapng it on a c60 no vcr I was 15
the rest was like a daily record one page history of eigthies pop written the same shite way
and then the wheelout of the same old cronies stuart " never off the airwaves" cosgrove and the rest
the only half decent bit was clare grogan alking about the guy too embaressed to reunite for jim'll fixit and the alan rankine bits
the programme was a total embaress ment in terms of scottish music
BBC4 and Scotland must be pishin themselves laughin at gettin away with this fairy tale using a programme from 1980 some stock footage and writting a load of shite about scottish music minus any half descent bands you know the ones the ones they missed
i'll say again total shite pish kak
A wasted opportunity. The programme didn't know what it was supposed to be. Was it about Postcard Records or was it about Scottish music? Either way it failed miserably and ended up a mess.
The lack of Aztec Camera, even in terms of archive footage, was unforgiveable for a programme supposedly about Postcard. The idea that the Artists For Independence (or whatever it was called) was in any way influential was nothing more than revisionism. My wife was very politically active and she remembers it completely differently. The very idea that anyone should follow the political ramblings of Elanie C Smith and Ricky Ross is laughable.
Was the programme written by A. Salmond?
I like The Proclaimers but there was too much of them. It could and should have been a 4 part series covering post punk, 80s, 90s and 00s to do the subject anything near justice.
Who wants to write to the BBC?
Shame Duglas T. Stewart no longer works at the BBC in Glasgow; whilst it's way too easy to assume that he would have had an involvement working on it as he was a researcher there five years ago, I bet he would have seen them right.
The irony is, I was five when Postcard was releasing these records, and growing up south of the border -and I still feel like I'm better informed about it than them.
I would feel like writing if I had watched the programme and I've read so much abnout it on here now that I'm not sure I could bear to(though i suppose I could try Catch Up TV or YouTube if I wanted to annoy myself any more).
*Sigh*
Is it really worth writing to the BBC???
I imagine all we would get is 'We are so sorry you were disappointed in the show, but we have received only 15 adverse comments from an audience of 250,000. Indeed, we have had 7359 letters of congratulations about it...'
(all no doubt fron card-carrying gnats...)
I've actually been in a bad mood all weekend thinking about Caledonia Dreaming. As a friend said in a phone call yesterday, there's at least half-a-dozen of us who do this thing for a hobby who could have done a better job than those professionally involved.
I imagined it beforehand as the 'Jock'n'Roll' blog coming to life in sound and pictures. At least the folk behind that blog feel as let down as me...
The programme is available on BBC iPlayer for the next 5 days, for those who can bear to watch it again. I'd rather eat my own feet!
Does anyone know if the rest of the programme from which Falling and Laughing was taken is available anywhere? Was it a whole OJ concert or just the one song? It was fantastic!
Bob
I was kicking myself for having missed it.
I don't feel so bad now.
Until Alan Horne sanctions or co-operates on such a programme or film, we are hardly likely to get a credible documentary are we? I recall Edwyn suggesting that Alan is the archivist amongst them and he therefore holds all the cards.
A decent independent film a la 'How To Draw A Bunny' would do me fine.
Cheerio
For those looking for the Orange Juice footage in this doc, check here:
http://daze-of-independent.blogspot.fi/2012/07/falling-and-laughing.html
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