The career of Glasgow indie pop pioneers Orange Juice is set to be surveyed on a massive new seven disc box set.
Formed in the aftermath of the punk explosion, Orange Juice were determined to do things differently. Immune to punk rock’s blatant machismo, the band began mixing The Velvet Underground with Chic.
Singer Edwyn Collins’ lilting voice was as confrontational as The Sex Pistols but with a wit and warmth that was alien to the London scene. After a handful of seminal singles on Postcard the band were snapped up by major label Polydor.
However the union was not to be a happy one. An almost continually fluctuating line up hampered Orange Juice, but despite this the almost perfect funk-influenced single ‘Rip It Up’ still rose into the Top Ten.
Stumbling to a halt in 1985, the band left behind them a total of four studio albums. Now Domino have announced plans for an enormous seven disc box set surveying the band’s entire career.
‘Coals To Newcastle’ is due to be released on November 8th, and contains a raft of rarities. Moving from the band’s demos as The Nu Sonics the box set charts their passage through Postcard, onto pop fame and beyond.
With bands such as The Drums citing the group as an influence and Edwyn Collins enjoying a remarkable career renaissance there has never been a better time to toast the success of Orange Juice.
The new box set contains their studio albums, rare and unreleased recordings and a disc of live material recorded at the BBC. In total, ‘Coals To Newcastle’ contains 16 previously unreleased tracks with another 23 tracks previously unavailable digitally on earlier re-issues.
Undoubtedly the final word on this seminal band, ‘Coals To Newcastle’ is a worthy document for the career of Orange Juice.
‘Coals To Newcastle’ is set to be released on November 8th.
