News

Orange Juice Release Definitive Seven Disc Box Set

• 20th Oct 2010

Domino are very honoured to announce the upcoming release of a comprehensive seven-disc anthology of one of the finest groups of all time, Orange Juice. Coals To Newcastle will be released on November 8th in the UK and Europe and the following day in North America.

The release will comprise of six audio compact discs and one DVD that will contain the band’s complete discography and other studio recordings as well as a collection of their BBC sessions. The DVD will contain the band’s two promotional clips for “Rip It Up” and “What Presence?!” (the latter directed by Derek Jarman), their four performances on The Old Grey Whistle Test and the rare posthumous concert video Dada With (The) Juice. In total, Coals To Newcastle contains 16 previously unreleased tracks with another 23 tracks previously unavailable digitally on earlier re-issues.

In six tumultuous years, Orange Juice, led by Edwyn Collins, blazed a trail of self-reliance with the legendary Postcard label, ran in conjunction with then-manager Alan Horne, and greatly expanded the palette of independent music at the start of the ‘80s with their brand of literate pop songwriting that both pre-saged the coming of The Smiths and kickstarted a renaissance in Scottish pop music that continues to this day.

After an embryonic start as the punk-influenced Nu-Sonics, Orange Juice came into being in 1979 as unfashionable pre-Year Zero punk influences such as The Byrds, Chic, Motown and The Velvet Underground began to make their presence known in the band’s developing sound. Over the next year, the group recorded four landmark 7” singles on Postcard (as well as putting out early releases from Aztec Camera, The Go-Betweens and Josef K). Though each single proved more successful than its predecessor, greater commercial aspirations led the band to sign to Polydor in the midst of making their first album in a prescient deal in which the band retained ownership of their material.

The original lineup abruptly fell apart shortly after the release of the debut album, You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever, and, as quickly, the band’s future was decidedly unassured. However, with the addition of Malcolm Ross, formerly of Postcard labelmates Josef K, and Zimbabwe-by-way-of-Glasgow drummer Zeke Manyika, the group proceeded to make their commercial mark with the timeless funk and soul-inflected Rip It Up, whose title track was to be the group’s biggest UK hit, peaking at #8 in February of 1983.

During the recording of a follow-up, the group had decided to head in a more rock direction, but creative tensions arose again and the group fell apart during the recording sessions from which the Texas Fever mini-LP was culled. With Polydor’s support of the group withdrawing, Collins, joined in the studio by Manyika, persevered to make the bittersweet swan song album, The Orange Juice, a collection that telegraphed the group’s impending demise amidst some of their finest recordings. Collins made it official in March of 1985 announcing mid-performance at a miner’s benefit at the Brixton Academy that it would be Orange Juice’s last performance.

For a complete tracklist, please visit the following::
UK pre-order release page: link
US pre-order release page: link

The video for “Rip It Up” is on our Youtube channel – link

Here's what Edwyn Collins has to say about Coals to Newcastle:
“Would you look at all this? I can't wait to get my mitts on it. Finally, Orange Juice, the whole kit and caboodle in one sexy box. I'm thrilled to bits.” – Edwyn Collins, October 15, 2010