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

#9: Rip It Up : Orange Juice (Polydor, POSP 547, 1983)

There’s still a part of me in disbelief that Orange Juice actually enjoyed a Top 10 single back in the early months of 1983.

The second album, Rip It Up, had been released in November 1982, a mere eight months after the debut.  The weekly music papers more or less gave it an absolute pasting, with many writers expressing sorrow that the once darlings, and indeed possible founders, of post-punk indie-pop had released such a hotchpotch of tunes, all of which had been subject to the production styles and values of the day.  There was one exception….Neil Tennant, a writer with Smash Hits (whose aim was very much at the pop side of music and a younger audience) awarded the 8 out of 10 and said “no one can accuse them of being twee anymore … a big step forward which they can be proud of and you can enjoy.”

While I wasn’t overly impressed with it on first hearings, there were a few moments worth listening to, including the opening track, after which the album had taken its name.  Rip It Up, certainly in the eyes of a major label, been a commercial failure, spending just two weeks in the chart and doing no better than its first week showing of #39.  Probably more in hope than expectation, the lead track was chosen to be the band’s new single, and given a release in the first week of February 1983.

mp3: Orange Juice – Rip It Up

There was probably some minor celebration in Polydor HQ when the single was listed for daytime play by Radio 1 which helped it enter the chart at #50.  When it climbed the following week to #42, the same position as that when I Can’t Help Myself hit its peak, everyone probably expected it to then fall away.  But the listening public had taken to the song, and by now it was being heard not just on Radio 1 but on the local BBC stations as well as the many commercial stations across the UK. It made its way up to #31.  And still it continued to sell….#22 the following week, which led to a Top of The Pops appearance in which Edwyn, David, Malcolm and Zeke did their best to enjoy their miming experience.

There were many viewers who, having just had their introduction to Orange Juice, went out and the 45 as it climbed to #10 the following week, and then up to #9.  This led to a second invite to Top of The Pops, one in which they would be introduced by none other than John Peel who had championed them in the Postcard days but had no love for the current music.  This appearance would subsequently go down in legend. Partly because Edwyn managed to get his good friend Jim Thirwell, who recorded under the name of Foetus, and was never a candidate to have a chart single, on to the show to mime the sax solo, but mainly for David’s antics.   The bass player had got shit-faced in the Green Room beforehand, upset and angered by the fact the producers were going to have dancers alongside the band tearing up bits of paper as they mimed away.

It might have been a performance that had the middle-classes tut-tutting in their living rooms, but it did lead to the single going up the charts yet again, just the one place to #8 which is where it peaked.  The story goes that the TOTP producers were so annoyed by the antics of the band that Polydor Records were called up and told Orange Juice were never be invited back onto the show.  Without giving away any spoilers, the chart performances of all their future singles never threatened to call anyone’s bluff.

Rip It Up was released in the usual 7″ and 12″ formats.  The 7″ version (which is near the top of this post) was an edited version of that which opened the album, about 1:40 shorter all told.  The annoying thing is that the single fades out much quicker than the album version, meaning the Paul Quinn backing vocal is very truncated.

The 12″ didn’t simply offer up the album version, however, being a different mix altogether:-

mp3: Orange Juice – Rip It Up (Punk Club Version)

The b-side to the 7″ was written by Malcolm Ross who also took the lead vocal:-

mp3: Orange Juice – Snake Charmer

The b-side to the 12″ was an Edwyn Collins song:-

mp3: Orange Juice – A Sad Lament

Neither track has the pop majesty of the A-side, and were so different from the polished sounds of the songs on the album that their inevitable fates were as b-sides, although A Sad Lament would later be one of the nine tracks to appear on the mini-album Texas Fever (which I’ll come back to in due course).

As part of the marketing efforts by Polydor as the single made its way up the charts, a ‘limited edition’ 2 x 7″ version was pressed up, complete with a glossy poster.  The bonus disc offered a shorter version of A Sad Lament, along with what was described as a live version of earlier Postcard era single Lovesick:-

mp3: Orange Juice – A Sad Lament (edited version)
mp3: Orange Juice – Lovesick (live version)

There was nothing live about Lovesick – it was simply a newly recorded and far more polished version featuring the current Orange Juice line-up. But it’s a decent enough listen and on its own made the purchase of the 2 x 7″ offering worthwhile.

The dilemma for the record label was how best to follow up the hit single and seek to maintain the momentum.

 

JC