Search - Orange Juice :: You Can't Hide Your Love Forever

"This is what life is all about"

Boxodreams | district of columbia | 07/02/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"oh, dear. All these references to Talking Heads and Smiths and Television. The wee devoted children of Orange Juice are sending out a very wrong message to the explorers that come upon our cave. Good vagabonds, hear me: Orange Juice, in a single song, is happier than all the happy moments of those three named bands put together! The Smiths aren't the spawn of Orange Juice, Heavenly is!

For the somewhat initiated: I'm not going to do a whole history thing here, but those who know . . know "Ostrich Churchyard" was recorded by OJ as their first proper full-length. It got shelved when they signed to Polydor, which assigned producer Adam Kidron to work with the shambling band. Thank God. Ostrich Churchyard -- released eventually and coming around again in August as part of the Orange Juice compilation package "The Glasgow School" stinks. Kidron made "You Can't Hide Your Love Forever" into an immediate and blissful joy. The drums have a wonderful sound. The guitars a strummed buzzy crackle unlike ever heard at the time. It was schoolboyish and endearing and exciting and set indie -- this I agree -- spinning. From Heavenly and Tiger Trap and all that onward, this is home. Incidently, "The Glasgow School" will be a must purchase for those who don't have the early OJ singles, because they all will be compiled here and -- from Blue Boy, Simply Thrilled Honey, Poor Old Soul, Breakfast time and on -- they are heartbreakingly good. Get it if you can't find the rare old "The Heathers on Fire." By the way, Edwyn Collins is recovering slowly but surely from massive brain hemorrages. Go to EdwynCollins.com and wish him well on the bulletin boards. When asked if he had a message for his adoring fans, he wrote through his wife "Disaster Area." Upwards and onwards, indeed. L-O-V-E."

Credit where credit is due

Roy Pearl | Vancouver, BC | 03/28/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Make no mistake, without Orange Juice the very existence of the Smiths would have been in serious jeopardy. Edwyn Collins' fey vocals and the band's earnest jangle were the foundation upon which Morrisey's career was built. As such, it's especially difficult to separate the influence of the band from the actual quality of their recordings. "You Can't Hide Your Love Forever", from its title on down, was a direct challenge to the post-punk nihilism so fashionable in the early 80's underground. At the time the sweet pop of Orange Juice sounded like a revolutionary gesture. 20 years later that gesture has long since lost its significance, but we're gratefully left with the sweet pop. Pleasant listening for anyone who secretly wished the Smiths were a little less about mopey white boy angst and a little more about the funk."

Forgotten Beauty

Tezcatlipoca | Espinho,Portugal | 01/12/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Preceding the similar sounding Smiths by a couple of years, Orange Juice had no problem in operating deliberately outside the mainstream and creating a highly original sound that took punk's intensity and DIY work ethos and fused it with a romantic lyrical sensibility and some soul for good measure.



Truth that it all only worked out as swimmingly as it did because they had in their ranks a worldclass songwriter called Edwyn Collins(best known for his worldwide solo hit "A Girl Like You") that composed for their debut a handful of classics with the excellence of "Felicity","Satellite City","Consolation Prize","Tender Object" or "Falling and Laughing".



Absolutely worth checking out under any pretenses."