Scottish Bands/Artists Appreciation Thread

[Mirrorball95]

Alrite, seen as I appear to be the only Scot on here, I think it would be appropriate for me to do a thread dedicated to Scottish bands/artists.
(By the way I had actually spent about an hour doing this thread before & then it somehow got lost when I tried to post it....)
I used to hold a pretty negative/mediocre view of Scottish music when I was younger & first getting into music i.e I had only really clued up on the likes of Travis, Proclaimers & Del Amitri.

Big Country are my favourite Scottish band for this song alone (& many others). The riff on this song is just amazing.I love how they create this bagpipe like sound on their guitars.
Long Live Stuart Adamson & its such a shame he died the way he did.


John Martyn is truly a great artist & guitar player. I love how he combined Folk & Jazz music in a way that nobody else could. His music is so distinctive & so is his voice.
I only recentley got into John Martyn a few months ago (sadly he tragically died not long after..) when I purchased his 'Solid Air' album. I also have a lot of his other albums & out of the ones Ive bought I can honestly say Ive never heard a bad album from him yet. 'The Apprentice' & 'Grace & Danger' are my two favourite albums by him. Others I have include 'Inside Out', 'One World' & 'Well Kept Secret'.
This is the first song I ever heard from the first album I bought 'Solid Air'.
I have always found this song very moving & only recentley found out that he had written it for the late Nick Drake who was suffering from depression at the time. I couldnt limit it to one track alone so have tried to narrow it down to a couple.


Another track I simply couldnt leave out:


'A couple' becomes three!

R.I.P John.

I recentley came to appreciate Idlewild after someone gave me a copy of the 'Remote Part' album which i promptly went out and bought for myself.
The thing I love about this band is how you can tell their Scottish just by listening to them (which cant be said for all Scottish bands).
Heres a very good track of theirs:
This is the first song I ever heard from this band and I knew right away I had been missing out on a great band


I dont care what anybody says about them, to me they are national icons.
The Proclaimers, are a great band and musically personify Scotland for me.
This song has been the last track played at pretty much every birthday party/school dance I can just about remember. Also when I used to go see Scotland at Hampden, they play it about 20 times a match (including when we score). Its so lifting to hear 50,000 people singing this song simultaneously. Every time I hear this song it reminds me everything good about Scotland, being Scottish & also brings back a shiitload of memories.


Also heres an insight into what its like to hear this song at Hampden.
I was at this game!! Great atmosphere. Was an excellent game throughout (1-1) until that wee bastard scored right at the end on the 90 mark. Gutted, was still a great game though.

Another two classics I couldnt leave out:

They mention my name in this song! ('Lewis no more') Theyre referring to the Scottish island I was named after!


Another timeless classic I couldnt have left out. It took me a while before I found out they were Scottish though!:


I have always liked Travis but think that everything they did after 'Good Feeling' pales in comparison. I couldnt leave these tracks out though. No matter what they are now, they f*cking rocked in their early days!


F*ck man, I forgot just how good they used to be!




This is a true forgotten classic:

[Mirrorball95]

Mods: Sorry I had to double post as I was over the character limit & just simply couldnt leave Edwyn Collins out! P.S. If you are able to merge it for me then thats sound!.

Edwyn Collins is another of my favourite Scottish artists & very underrated outside his one hit 'A Girl Like You'. The albums 'Gorgeous George' & his recent comeback album 'Home Again' in particular are harshly overlooked.

I grew up listening to this song, I have never grown tired of it and never will.
He is massively underrated outside of this song & Im still to check out his previous group- Orange Juice.


This is a very good track of the album:


This is from his comeback album after recovering from a brain haemorrhage & caught my attention at time of release which prompted me to buy the album which is also very good.


So there you are, you may say I am missing out a lot of Scottish bands but that is either due to me just forgotting about them or not hearing them yet.

I didnt put Bay City Rollers in as I dont really like them & Boards Of Canada someone gave me a copy of all their albums on a usb but Ive not gotten round to listening to them yet. I have been looking on Wikipedia & Im surprised at just how many Scottish bands there are and plan on going on a Scottish bands binge soon!Category:Scottish musical groups - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So feel free ,if theres anyone Ive stupidly missed out ,to let me know.

[Comus]

Bodkin!



Awesome heavy prog, this blows most scottish bands out of the water. John Martyn is of course always great too.

[Neapolitan]

As hyphenated-American, I really don't want any one to know I'm part Scots & Scots-Irish et cetera.


I like differnet Scottish bands but only a few songs like Snow Patrol, Franz Ferdinand, Dire Straits, Eurythmics, Annie Lennox, The Average White Band, Tannahill Weavers, and of course Big Country, too bad they didn't become as big as U2.

My favorite band from Scotland is The Rezillos, actually the first time I heard them I was at Jazz store looking for Les Paul and Wes Montgomery, because Steve Howe was influenced by them. While I was in the basement of this store, that had non-Jazz albums, I heard this band I never heard before and it was the greatest bass playing I ever heard, I sheepishly asked the guy who worked their and said he was playing the Rezillos. Whenever I was in a music store, I would look for their CD, but could never find it. Every so often I'll ask someone about them and they never had a clue who they were. I found a store that could special ordered the CD. It finally arrive something like 6 months latter. It was well worth the wait.

YouTube - The Rezillos - (My Baby Does) Good Sculptures

YouTube - Average White Band - Pick up the pieces

YouTube - Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out

I want to say that The Rezillos + AWB = Franz Ferdinand (style-wise); but I won't becuase I don't want any criticism for saying so.

[Comus]

Dire Straits are from Newcastle...

[right-track]

Not strictly Scottish, but worthy of inclusion.

[Mirrorball95]

Originally Posted by GravitySlips

hey i'm scottish too!

scottish bands i like:

orange juice/edwyn collins
josef k
fire engines
urusei yatsura
belle & sebastian
mogwai
the jesus and mary chain
cocteau twins
franz ferdinand (to an extent)
teenage fanclub (my flatmate's uncle was in the band too!)
the pastels
idlewild
boards of canada
arab strap
the delgados
camera obscura (to an extent)

i've missed out loads too i'm sure... scottish music rules.

there's some class new ones as well, like Frightened Rabbit and Danananakroyd.

Mcf*ckity f*ck! I knew there was someone Id left out! Ill have to a bit for Primal Scream & Jesus & Mary Chain.
Ive heard of Mogwai, Arab Strap, Belle & Sebastian but I only know other people who are into them.

Originally Posted by Neapolitan

As hyphenated-American, I really don't want any one to know I'm part Scots & Scots-Irish et cetera.


I like differnet Scottish bands but only a few songs like Snow Patrol, Franz Ferdinand, Dire Straits, Eurythmics, Annie Lennox, The Average White Band, Tannahill Weavers, and of course Big Country, too bad they didn't become as big as U2.

My favorite band from Scotland is The Rezillos, actually the first time I heard them I was at Jazz store looking for Les Paul and Wes Montgomery, because Steve Howe was influenced by them. While I was in the basement of this store, that had non-Jazz albums, I heard this band I never heard before and it was the greatest bass playing I ever heard, I sheepishly asked the guy who worked their and said he was playing the Rezillos. Whenever I was in a music store, I would look for their CD, but could never find it. Every so often I'll ask someone about them and they never had a clue who they were. I found a store that could special ordered the CD. It finally arrive something like 6 months latter. It was well worth the wait.

YouTube - The Rezillos - (My Baby Does) Good Sculptures

YouTube - Average White Band - Pick up the pieces

YouTube - Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out

I want to say that The Rezillos + AWB = Franz Ferdinand (style-wise); but I won't becuase I don't want any criticism for saying so.

I didnt include Franz Ferdinand as I dont really rate them as a good Scottish as such- certainly not up beside the likes of these.
Also Snow Patrol (although they have a few Scottish members)- I would class as Irish as the lead singer is Irish, he has an irish accent & he sounds Irish. Annie Lennox & Eurthymics just dont match my tastes but I can respect here as an artist.
As for Big Country, I wouldnt want them to be as big as U2 as U2 are a bunch of *******s.
Somebody keeps badgering me about Frightened Rabbit, whom Ive not gotten round to checking out yet, good I suppose aye?

Originally Posted by Comus

Dire Straits are from Newcastle...

Yeah I wouldnt class a bunch of Jordies as a Scottish band. Although i think Mark Knopfler was born in Scotland.

Originally Posted by right-track

Not strictly Scottish, but worthy of inclusion.

Haha, thats just a rip off The Proclaimers.

Originally Posted by Comus

Bodkin!



Awesome heavy prog, this blows most scottish bands out of the water. John Martyn is of course always great too.

Cool man ive never heard of this band before, will need to check them out. Got any recommendations on where to start? Im glad you like John Martyn. Have you heard an album called The Apprentice? Ive included some tracks from it here.

Primal Scream:
I have been into this band for as long as I can remember. Screamadelica was one of the first albums I ever heard from them but Give Out But Dont Give Up was my favourite. It took me ages to appreciate the other songs on Screamadelica (apart from Loaded & Movin On Up) although I always loved 'Damaged'.

This song has one of the best intro riffs I have ever hear in my life- lost count of the times I used to listen to this full blast on the Ipod.
I also love the album, Give Out But Dont Give Up (1994) on which they collabarated with George Clinton- which was how I got into him in the first place.


Like Urban said in his review, one of the best album openers of all time, which I can only agree on.


Another good un


One I forgot about!


'Vanishing Point' is an extremely underrated album & I stupidly took a very long time to get it.




Jesus & Mary Chain- I got into them through Primal Scream when I heard that Bobby Gillespie was the drummer in them previously.
The early stuff is my favourite, especially the track 'Upside Down'. They are an example of when noise can be blissful.



Sorry about the sound quality, was the only one I could find apart from ****ey fan boy covers

[Comus]

Geordie* and Bodkin only have one album, I'll send you a link.

[lucifer_sam]

Originally Posted by Mirrorball95

Jesus & Mary Chain- I got into them through Primal Scream when I heard that Bobby Gillespie was the drummer in them previously.
The early stuff is my favourite, especially the track 'Upside Down'. They are an example of when noise can be blissful.

he was only with them for Psychocandy, then he went & did his own thing with the Scream. it's really always been just the Reid kids.

i can't even stand Psychocandy anymore (which is apparently a 'masterpiece' of the '80s), the production is terrible and it sounds grating after a while. Darklands and Honey's Dead are both superb albums though, much stronger songwriting too.

[Zer0]