Name: Stray
Brand: Edsel Records
SKU: 30010948
Price: 24.89 USD
Availability: InStock

Performer Notes

Aztec Camera: Roddy Frame (vocals, guitar); Gary Sanctuary (keyboards); Paul Powell (bass); Frank Tontoh (drums, vocals).
Additional personnel: Edwyn Collins, Mickey Gallagher, Steve Sidelnyk, Mick Jones, Paul Carrack.
All songs written by Roddy Frame.
Personnel: Roddy Frame (vocals, guitar); Gary Sanctuary (keyboards); Frank Tontoh (drums, background vocals).
Audio Mixer: Nick Davies.
Liner Note Author: Terry Staunton.
Recording information: Glasgow Barrowlands, Scotland (08/04/1990); Powerplant, London, UK (08/04/1990); Rockfield, Monmouth, Wales (08/04/1990).
Photographers: Richard Burns; Bob Berg.
A welcome comeback after the flaccid dance-pop of 1987's insipid Love, Stray is among Roddy Frame's most assured and diverse collections of songs. Unlike previous Aztec Camera albums, there's not one unifying style to the disc, and the variety makes Stray one of Frame's better collections. From the assured rocking pop of the singles "The Crying Scene" (the closest thing Aztec Camera ever got to an American hit single) and "Good Morning Britain" (a rousing collaboration with Mick Jones of the Clash and Big Audio Dynamite) to the cool, Chet Baker-ish cocktail jazz of "Over My Head," Frame covers the waterfront, but it's the quartet of songs that constitutes the second half of the album that impress the most. These four songs, "How It Is," "The Gentle Kind," "Notting Hill Blues," and the tender acoustic closer "Song For A Friend," are a loosely connected cycle mingling folk, soul, and pop in varying proportions. Starting with a bitterly cynical denunciation of modern society, the four songs move through sadness and resignation to a hopeful, sweet closure. Shorn of the pretentiousness that mars some of Frame's earlier lyrics -- written, to be fair, while he was still in his mid-teens -- the lyrics on Stray are the first that stand up to Frame's remarkable melodic sense. The simple, low-key production by Frame and Eric Calvi also retreats from the unfortunate excesses of both Love and its misbegotten Mark Knopfler-produced predecessor, Knife. With the exception of Aztec Camera's 1983 debut High Land Hard Rain, this is Roddy Frame's best album. ~ Stewart Mason

Professional Reviews

Q - 3 Stars - Good - Included in Q's list of the fifty best albums of 1990.

Goldmine - Recommended "...an odd mix of rock and jazz stylings."

Album: Stray
#	Song Title		Time
	Disc 1
1)	Stray	More Info...
2)	The Crying Scene	More Info...
3)	Get Outta London	More Info...
4)	Over the Head	More Info...
5)	Good Morning Britain	More Info...
6)	How It Is	More Info...
7)	The Gentle Kind	More Info...
8)	Notting Hill Blues	More Info...
9)	Song for a Friend	More Info...
10)	Good Morning Britain (Morning Acid Mix)	More Info...

Album: Stray
#	Song Title		Time
	Disc 1
1)	Stray	More Info...
2)	The Crying Scene	More Info...
3)	Get Outta London	More Info...
4)	Over the Head	More Info...
5)	Good Morning Britain	More Info...
6)	How It Is	More Info...
7)	The Gentle Kind	More Info...
8)	Notting Hill Blues	More Info...
9)	Song for a Friend	More Info...
10)	Good Morning Britain (Morning Acid Mix)	More Info...