Aztec Camera - Oblivious

Aztec Camera is another in a long line of interesting pop bands who never broke through.  While they were generally well-regarded by critics, their acoustic pop sound may have been seen as out of step with the musical trends of the time.  This resulted in very little success in the U.S., where none of their singles charted on the main charts, and none of their albums broke the top 100.  Fortunately, they did better in their native Britain, where they had 15 charting songs, including six that broke the top 40.

The band was led by Scottish singer-songwriter Roddy Frame; in fact, for all practical purposes he was Aztec Camera.  He began recording indy demos at the age of 16, and caught the ear of legendary BBC DJ John Peel, which led to radio play and a recording contract.

"Oblivious" comes off the group's first album, 1983's High Land, Hard Rain.  This album is now generally regarded as the group's best effort, made all the more amazing by the fact that Roddy Frame was all of 19 when it was released.  It is a great example of their work -- a well-crafted pop song with catchy hooks and clever lyrics.

It appears that Aztec Camera made two videos for the song, so we will include both here.

By the by, Aztec Camera did a very cool cover of Van Halen's "Jump" (yes, really) that is up on the ERV Facebook page.