1 Although it’s defiantly not an Aztec Camera reunion gig, Roddy Frame will be leading a band through his 1983 classic janglepop album, High Land, Hard Rain (yup, it’s 30 years old, maths buffs). It reached number 22 in the album charts, though the Oblivious EP ranked four spots higher in the singles chart at the end of that year.

2 It’s an indisputably Scottish album (you could walk 500 miles to the marching chorus of the title track), but the High Land, Hard Rain vibe is pitched nowhere near the guitar bagpipes of Big Country nor the electronica rain of the Blue Nile who were kicking about at the same time. And while Frame would acknowledge some influences d’Americana, he was never quite as obsessed with all things Stateside as Jim Kerr and Lloyd Cole so clearly were.

3 If anything, the closest comparison you could make with the Frame of that period would be a couple of northern English singer / songwriters, Elvis Costello and Paddy McAloon.

4 Hailed as the next big singer / songwriter thing (John Peel and the NME were fans), Frame was a mere 19 when the album came out. Among his other celebrity admirers were Bob Dylan (who had Frame as his support act in some early 90s shows) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (whom Roddy bumped into in a nightclub)

5 While you can absolutely hear the 1980s in those (bossa nova-esque) guitars, some of the songs are truly timeless: ‘Walk Out to Winter’ and ‘Lost Outside the Tunnel’ alone will be worth hearing in December.

Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Wed 4 Dec.

Aztec Camera - Walk Out to Winter

Aztec Camera - Lost Outside the Tunnel