THE TESTIMONIAL TOUR OF 45s (aka The Singular Adventures of Edwyn Collins)

#7:Two Hearts Together/Hokoyo : Orange Juice (Polydor, POSP 470, 1982)

I really don’t want to spend any more time than I need to on this one as it’s quite simply the worst 45 ever released by Orange Juice, and quite possibly the worst ever by Edwyn Collins including his solo career.

Malcolm Ross had joined the band and after a number of auditions, Zeke Manyika, a Zimbabwean who had lived in the UK for most of his life, was recruited as the new drummer.  Edwyn, in press interviews, was indicating that the band would be moving in a different direction, and that all four members, including David McClymont, would be involved in the songwriting process.

In April 1982, fans and the wider listening public were given the opportunity to hear this new brand of Orange Juice, with four songs debuted in a BBC Radio 1 session for the mid-evening David ‘Kid’ Jensen show.  One of the new songs was this:-

mp3: Orange Juice – In Spite Of It All

Fast-forward four months and the release of the band’s seventh single, their third on Polydor and their first without James Kirk or Steven Daly.

mp3: Orange Juice – Two Hearts Together

Turns out, In Spite Of It All had undergone a name change between the Jensen session and its recording as what turned out to be a stand-alone single as it was subsequently left off the sophomore album.   The photo of Edwyn and David, with Malcolm and Zeke in shadow, on the front of the sleeve, is perhaps as good an indication as any that this was very much aimed at the pop market and not the indie kids who had been the band’s mainstay up until now.  Indeed, it was very much a sign of the band jumping on the bandwagon of what would, in time, be called ‘sophisti-pop’ which was all the rage.

I hated it. Really, really hated it.  And feared that Orange Juice were a busted flush.  Turns out that Edwyn also accepts it was a misstep:-

“Two Hearts Together’ is the worst thing we’ve ever done. I really regret that now. We thought we were missing out on all this New Pop, we’d better get in on this.  It was staying in the same hotels as a lot of other rock groups like ABC.  You get to thinking, ‘well, maybe Orange Juice are reactionary old has-beens. We ought to get hip.’ So you start trying to do something that’s really current. I regret that.”

There were enough sales to take it into the UK charts at #60.

The double-A side on this occasion was a track written by all four members of the band, along with Zop Cormorant (someone whose name would later be credited as drumming on one of Edwyn’s solo albums but of whom I know nothing!).

mp3: Orange Juice – Hokoyo

If Two Hearts Together was in the vein of sophisti-pop, Hokoyo is bang in the middle of a world music track, with Zeke taking the lead vocal in his native Shona language prior to Edwyn joining in a bit later on.  It was very unexpected.  I’ll leave it at that.

The single was released on 7″ and 10″ vinyl, with both songs being extended a bit on the larger format.

mp3: Orange Juice – Two Hearts Together (10″ version)
mp3: Orange Juice – Hokoyo (10″ version)

Next week sees the lead-off single for the second album.

JC