Orange Juice: Three Cheers for Our Side

Edwyn Collins' Orange Juice are often credited with defining what it meant to be an 'indie' band. Founding (along with then-manager Alan Horne) their very own label, the legendary Postcard, the band's literate yet wryly humorous take on music paved the way for the likes of The Smiths to take that concept into the stratosphere. On 8 Nov, Domino Records are to release a comprehensive seven-disc Orange Juice box set called Coals To Newcastle.

About as definitive an Orange Juice collection as it's likely to get, the six CDs include the band's four studio albums, You Can't Hide Your Love Forever, Rip it Up, Texas Fever and The Orange Juice along with rarer b-sides, including the 12" version of Rip It Up and recordings from the band's numerous BBC sessions. An accompanying DVD includes the band's appearances on The Old Grey Whistle Test and a live performance called Dada With The Orange Juice.

Typically, Collins himself is quite circumspect and self-effacing when it comes to discussing his own legacy and that of the band. "It's not my place to sit here and discuss that, as it's really for the fans to interpret. To me, when I see someone like Tony Blair asking 'What will my legacy be?' I just think, 'Shut up!'. Is there anything more pompous?"

Although he now considers it a significant milestone in his career, for years Collins refused to play the band's biggest hit, the top-ten bothering pop classic Rip It Up. His rationale for this is disarmingly humble. "I couldn't go out there and play just one hit, but when I had two (solo smash A Girl Like You) I felt I had enough confidence to play them both." Partner Grace Maxwell isn't buying any of it, laughing out loud before saying: "Oh dear. That's one of the idiotic things you read people say in the NME or something like that."

If Collins does have any regrets about his time in Orange Juice it lies in the fact that each successive release seemed to garner less critical acclaim than its predecessor, even though Collins was convinced that they were improving all the time. In advance of the Coals To Newcastle release he and Grace have been going through old press cuttings, particularly negative reviews from the likes of NME and Melody Maker which he admits did affect him quite personally.

Now, well he's much more sanguine, taking great delight in skewering to so-called music industry bibles. "'Hmm, he promised much and delivered little, didn't he, Edwyn Collins?'. I was 24 with four albums already and had formed a label. What was that? Behave yourselves."