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(This page is about the Scottish band. For the English band of the same name, see Camera Obscura(2)).
Camera Obscura

Camera Obscura (Latin; camera for "vaulted chamber/room", obscura for "dark") are a Scottish indie band from Glasgow. The band were formed in 1996 by Tracyanne Campbell, John Henderson, and Gavin Dunbar. Several other members performed with the band before David Skirving joined as a permanent guitarist. The band's line-up changed in 2000 and 2001 when Lee Thompson joined as its permanent drummer, Lindsay Boyd joined as a keyboard player, and Skirving left and was replaced by Kenny McKeeve. The band have been compared musically to Belle And Sebastian, whose singer Stuart Murdoch, produced Camera Obscura's debut album Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi in 2001. The band still continues to play and their last album Desire Lines was released in 2013. (Read more on Wikipedia)

Links To Peel[]

The band did five sessions for Peel's show, including three from Peel Acres. In an interview with Pitchfork in 2006, Tracyanne Campbell, the singer was asked about John Peel and how influential he was. The following questions and answers came from Pitchfork's site: [1]

  • Pitchfork: How important was John Peel in raising your band's profile?
  • Tracyanne Campbell: I think he was paramount in terms of people in Britain hearing about us, since he was pretty much the only guy who played our records for years. We always sent him stuff and did several Peel sessions. He was a fantastic person.
  • Pitchfork: You played at his birthday party once, right?
  • Tracyanne Campbell: We played at his birthday party roughly three months before he died, which is kind of strange.
  • Pitchfork: He was such an iconic figure; what was he like?
  • Tracyanne Campbell: Just a nice guy. People say that and it's like, "right," but he really was. You could tell he and his wife had no airs and graces, no pretensions at all. What you saw was what you got. He was quite shy actually, and I think that's one of the reasons why I liked him, because we were also quite shy and awkward. We were sitting at his house watching a bit of TV waiting for him to come home from work, and he came in, and everybody just sat there, because we were all too shy and repressed to say, "Hello, John Peel!"

​Festive Fifty Entries[]

​Post-Peel

Sessions[]

None of their sessions are commercially available.

1. Recorded: 2001-08-06. Broadcast: 14 August 2001. Repeated: None

  • Number One Son / Sun On His Back / Antiwestern / Before You Cry

2. Live and Broadcast at Peel Acres: 20 December 2001. Repeated: None

  • Happy New Year / Little Donkey

3. Live and Broadcast at Peel Acres: 07 March 2002. Repeated: None

  • Park N Ride / Eighties Fan / Pen & Notebook / Sugartown / Let Me Go Home

4. Recorded: 2003-09-25. Broadcast: 07 October 2003. Repeated: 18 December 2003

  • Greyhound Going Somewhere / Return To Send Her / Phil And Don / San Francisco Song

5. Live and Broadcast at Peel Acres: 22 January 2004. Repeated: None

  • Love My Jean / O' That Were Where Helen Lies / A Fond Kiss / Red Red Rose / Cock Up You're Beaver

Other Shows Played[]

CAMERA_OBSCURA_-_Eighties_Fan_Official

CAMERA OBSCURA - Eighties Fan Official

Camera Obscura's 'Eighties Fan' reached number 8 on the 2001 Festive Fifty

(The following list was compiled only from the database of this site and Lorcan's Tracklistings Archive and is certainly incomplete. Please add further details if known.)

1998
1999
2001
  • 04 July 2001: Eighties Fan (7") Andmoresound (JP: 'Well effectively I had three choices there, either to play it at the wrong speed, and it didn't sound too bad at the wrong speed, the bit we heard. Or to do what I did do, which is move backwards and correct the speed and start it again; or to fling it across the room, but that would have been petulance and really rather unattractive I think.')
  • 19 July 2001: Eighties Fan (7") Andmoresound Records (JP: 'The more I hear that, the more I want to hear it.')
  • 31 July 2001: Eighties Fan (7") Andmoresound
  • August 2001 (FSK): Eighties Fan (7") Andmoresound
  • 30 August 2001 (Radio Eins): Eighties Fan (7") Andmoresound
  • 27 September 2001: Eighties Fan (EP) Andmoresound
  • 24 October 2001: Happy New Year (LP – Biggest Blue Hi-Fi) Andmoresound 
  • 08 November 2001 (Radio Eins): Happy New Year (album - Biggest Blues Hi-Fi) Andmoresound 
  • 27 November 2001: Eighties Fan (LP - Biggest Blue Hi-Fi) Andmoresound 
  • 29 November 2001: 'Pen And Notebook (CD-Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi)' (Andmoresound)
  • 05 December 2001: I Don’t Do Crowds (LP – Biggest Blue Hi-Fi) Andmoresound 
  • 06 December 2001 (Radio Eins): I Don't Do Crowds (album - Biggest Blues Hi-Fi) Andmoresound 
  • 11 December 2001: 'Arrangements Of Shape And Space (CD - Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi)' (Andmoresound Records)
  • 19 December 2001: Pen And Notebook (LP - Biggest Blue Hi-Fi) Antmoresound
  • 27 December 2001: 'Eighties Fan (7 inch)' (Andmoresound) FF #08 (JP: 'Well, I think my blood pressure probably just hit its 2001 high.')
2002
2003
2004

See Also[]

External Links[]

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