Orange Juice

Orange Juice was a Scottish post-punk band founded in the Glasgow suburb of Bearsden as the Nu-Sonics in 1976. Edwyn Collins formed the Nu-Sonics (named after a cheap brand of guitar) with his school-mate Alan Duncan and was subsequently joined by James Kirk and Steven Daly, who left a band called The Machetes. The band became Orange Juice in 1979. They are best known for the hit 'Rip It Up', which reached number 8 on the UK Singles Chart in February 1983, the band's only UK Top 40 hit.

The band released their first singles during 1980 and 1981 on the independent Postcard Records label founded by Alan Horne, along with fellow Scottish bands Josef K and Aztec Camera.These included "Blue Boy" and "Simply Thrilled Honey". Shortly afterwards this line-up signed to Polydor Records and recorded their first album, You Can't Hide Your Love Forever.

(Read more at Wikipedia.)

Links to Peel
Peel regularly played the band's early singles on the Postcard label, which used the slogan “The Sound Of Young Scotland”. According to Simon Goddard's book Simply Thrilled, Peel was accosted outside the BBC by Postcard boss Alan Horne with a copy of the band's debut 45, 'Falling and Laughing', telling the DJ:

"”This is the future. Get wise to it now or you're going to look really stupid.'"

Peels confirmed the outline of the story a few days later, on 21 February 1980, when he played the single for the first time. The DJ also saw Orange Juice live, at a John Peel Roadshow event at with the Fall at Manchester Polytechnic at the start of November 1980.

On 25 March 1981, the DJ interviewed singer Edwin Collins at length during a week of BBC shows from Scotland. As noted by writer David Cavanagh in Good Night and Good Riddance (pg 283-4), Peel appeared nonplussed that Collins was already looking to seek higher production values and commercial success. In the same interview, the Orange Juice singer was also forthright in his criticisms of Peel's shows, suggesting that they should include more vintage material. In the event, the band soon signed for major label Epic and largely dropped off Peel's playlists. Both of the band's Peel sessions were recorded before the switch.

Nevertheless, Orange Juice subsequently came to be seen as pioneers for a generation of indie-pop outfits. In 1986, the first Wedding Present session included a cover of the Orange Juice song 'Felicity'.

Festive Fifty Entries

 * None

Sessions
Two sessions. Both available in full on 6CD + DVD collection Coals To Newcastle (Domino, 2010). 1. Recorded 1980-10-21. First broadcast 30 October 1980. Repeated 26 November 1980. 2. Recorded 1981-08-03. First broadcast 10 August 1981. Repeated 06 October 1981, 21 October 1986.
 * Poor Old Soul / You Old Eccentric You / Falling And Laughing / Lovesick
 * Dying Day / Holiday Hymn / Three Cheers For Our Side / Blokes On 45

Other Shows Played
- Falling and Laughing (7") Postcard
 * 1980
 * 21 February 1980: (JP: "On Monday night I met a couple of people from a band called Orange Juice who brought me a copy of their single and I played it and said I would play it on Wednesday's programme, which I failed to do, so they probably thought, "Well, we won't listen to him again, in which case they'll have missed hearing the record, which is in tonight's programme and is called 'Falling And Laughing'.")
 * 03 September 1980: Blue Boy (7" - Blue Boy / Love Sick) Postcard
 * 09 September 1980: Love Sick (7" - Blue Boy / Love Sick) Postcard
 * 15 September 1980: Love Sick (7" b-side Blue Boy) Postcard
 * 25 September 1980: Love Sick (single b-side Blue Boy) Postcard
 * 01 December 1980: Simply Thrilled Honey
 * 11 December 1980: Simply Thrilled Honey (7") Postcard


 * 1981
 * 05 January 1981: Falling And Laughing (7") Postcard
 * 08 January 1981: Simply Thrilled Honey (7") Postcard
 * 25 March 1981: Poor Old Soul (7") Postcard (show features extended interview with Edwyn Collins)
 * 07 September 1981: Simply Thrilled Honey (7") Postcard


 * 1982
 * 23 February 1982: Falling And Laughing (LP - You Can't Hide Your Love Forever) Polydor
 * 19 July 1982: Two Hearts Together (10" - Two Hearts Together / Hokoyo) Polydor


 * 1983
 * 09 March 1983: The Day I Went Down To Texas (7" flexi-disc) Polydor
 * 30 May 1983: Flesh Of My Flesh (7") Polydor (JP: "Produced by Dennis Bovell)
 * Peel Late Nov 1983: Bridge (album - Texas Fever) Polydor


 * 1984
 * 17 October 1984: Lean Period (Extended Version) (12” single) Polydor
 * 28 November 1984: Out For The Count (LP - The Orange Juice) Polydor


 * Edwyn Collins
 * 17 December 1986: Kindred Spirit (v/a LP - Fruitcakes & Furry Collars) Record Mirror
 * 11 September 1997 (BFBS): Seventies Night (CD-I'm Not Following You) Setanta (features Mark E. Smith on vocals.)
 * 18 September 1997 (BFBS) (repeat from previous week): Seventies Night (CD-I'm Not Following You) Setanta (features Mark E. Smith on vocals.)