Aztec Camera were a Scottish pop/new wave band founded by Roddy Frame, the group's singer, songwriter and only consistent member.

[1] Established in 1980,[2] Aztec Camera released a total of six studio albums: High Land, Hard Rain (1983), Knife (1984), Love (1987), Stray (1990), Dreamland (1993) and Frestonia (1995).

[3] The band garnered popular success for the songs "Oblivious", "Somewhere in My Heart" and "Good Morning Britain" (a duet with former Clash guitarist Mick Jones).

Aztec Camera were formed in East Kilbride in 1980 by Roddy Frame and drummer David Mulholland after they had left the punk-inspired band Neutral Blue.

[4] Aztec Camera first appeared on a Glasgow cassette-only compilation of local unsigned bands on the Pungent Records label, affiliated with the Fumes fanzine run by Danny Easson and John Gilhooly.

[citation needed] The band's first United Kingdom (UK) single release was sold in a 7" format by Postcard Records—a Glasgow-based independent record label cofounded by Edwyn Collins and Alan Horne—in 1981.

[6] At this point, the band were officially a quartet: Roddy Frame (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Bernie Clark (piano, organ), Campbell Owens (bass) and Dave Ruffy (drums, percussion).

Aztec Camera's debut album, High Land, Hard Rain was produced by John Brand and Bernie Clarke for the Rough Trade record label.

For the song "Orchid Girl", Frame explained in 2013—during the 30th anniversary tour—that he was attempting to merge the influences of his favorite guitarist at the time, Wes Montgomery, and punk rock icon Joe Strummer.

[10] After High Land Hard Rain, Bernie Clarke left the band, and was replaced by Malcolm Ross on second guitar and backing vocals.

[5] After High Land, Hard Rain, Frame spent a significant amount of time living in New Orleans, United States (US), listening to Bob Dylan's album Infidels.

Frame said that he moved even further away from the British "indie ethic" and was listening to the "pop end of hip hop", including artists such as Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Cherrelle, the Force MDs and Alexander O'Neal.

[16] Frame relocated to the US to record the album—"pretty much against the wishes of Warner Brothers", who were unsure of his decision-making at the time—and was primarily based in Boston, Massachusetts, and New York.

Frame recorded with American session musicians, like Marcus Miller and David Franke, and explained that his audience was "mystified" by the transformation of the band, but he was "too far gone" to care and just wanted to do his "own thing" by that stage.

"[16] Frame was asked during a television interview, following the release of Love, about the new sound of the album, and he referenced artists like Anita Baker and Luther Vandross.

Domino Recording Company is the label that Frame referred to, but only High Land, Hard Rain was reissued, rather than the entire Aztec Camera catalog.

Domino released an expanded second version of the 30th anniversary reissue of High Land, Hard Rain in 2014 for North America that consisted of two compact discs, 16 additional rarities and liner notes from American music journalist David Fricke (a vinyl version was also released and was sold with a digital download card that provided the additional songs).

[34] Following the August 2013 reissue of High Land, Hard Rain, Frame announced three corresponding live performances, at which the album was played in its entirety with a full band.

[12] At the Glasgow show, Frame and his band also played songs, such as "Green Jacket Grey", that were recorded for High Land, Hard Rain, but did not appear on the final track listing.

This development was throttled back for the group's fourth album Stray, which featured more streamlined rock singles and was described by AllMusic as a "loosely connected cycle mingling folk, soul, and pop in varying proportions".

[49] Following the release of the Love album, the band were invited to perform at a benefit concert for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) organisation in the late 1980s.

Following the release of the Stray album, "Good Morning Britain" was considered to be a comeback for Frame, as the preceding single "The Crying Scene" had only reached No.