Edwyn Collins
Edwyn Collins will be playing at End Of The Road Festival 2010. Buy your tickets now!
The first the world heard of Edwyn Collins was in February 1980 with the release of Falling And Laughing. The debut single by his band, Orange Juice, it was also the first offering from Postcard Records, the independent label Edwyn co-founded with Alan Horne, run from the latter’s sock drawer in a former Red Light district in Glasgow’s West End. As a record, Falling And Laughing was a hopeless cacophony of shrill guitars and an inexplicably loud bass drum pedal. But as a song, it was a sublime celebration of unfulfilled ardour to a tune that aimed to bridge the chasm between The Velvet Underground and Chic. In the age of New Romantics, Edwyn arrived as a Real Romantic, one unafraid to simultaneously embrace "the pleasure with the pain".
After ten more records, including three increasingly inventive Orange Juice singles, Postcard closed its sock drawer in late 1981. It would be another two decades before Edwyn and Horne’s endeavours would be belatedly recognised as a key foundation stone for indie music, particularly in Scotland where Primal Scream, Belle And Sebastian and Franz Ferdinand would all follow, and acknowledge, Orange Juice’s trailblazing example.
In the interim, Edwyn took Orange Juice into the Top 10 with 1983’s Rip It Up, perhaps the epitome of their Velvets/Chic punk-funk hybrid, complete with Buzzcocks-homage guitar solo. Alas, the pleasure of performing the song on Top Of The Pops was neutered by the pain of Legs & Co ripping up tissue paper whilst dancing on an adjoining stage. Jinxed thereafter, Orange Juice would later close their proverbial sock drawer in 1985.
Edwyn immediately embarked on a solo career, though it would be ten years before he found himself back on Top Of The Pops with 1995’s A Girl Like You. Life, suddenly, was all pleasure.
Fast-forward another decade to February 2005, when Edwyn had just finished recording songs for his sixth solo album. Among the rough mixes in the can was a track called One Is A Lonely Number. Exactly 25 years after Falling And Laughing, it saw the Old Romantic still embracing life’s pleasure with its pain: "If life breaks your heart, you needn’t fall apart." Little could he have realised how profoundly prophetic these words would become in the months that followed.
On Sunday, February 20, 2005, Edwyn was admitted to hospital after collapsing at home. He was later diagnosed with having suffered two cerebral haemorrhages and underwent a precarious neurological operation. Incredibly, through a combination of surgical brilliance, the heroic support of his family and his own seemingly invincible will- power, Edwyn pulled through. Six months after his stroke, he was back at home. But more phenomenal still was his determination to overcome the physical after-effects hindering his movement and speech so he could return to the studio and finish the album he’d already begun.
The result was Home Again, a testament not only to Edwyn Collins the songwriter, but Edwyn the man and his resolute spirit. "This is hard for me," admits Edwyn. "I’m learning to live again after my stroke. But I am happy and contented also. I’m very pleased with the album and with the songs. I’m getting there and I feel grateful at last."
Since the release of Home Again, Edwyn has continued to renew himself, one step at a time. In November 2007, he took to the stage again, having painstakingly relearned the lyrics to his songs. Our hearts were in our mouths, but of course, he pulled the performance off with aplomb. He has continued to tour ever since, increasing in confidence with each show.
In May 2009, Edwyn was honoured by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, when he was awarded the Ivor Novello Inspiration Award. At the London ceremony, Edwyn was terribly moved to receive a standing ovation and accepted his award with an elegant speech.
In November 2008, he quite suddenly reconnected with the songwriter inside him, and has since recorded a brand new studio album. Losing Sleep will be released through Heavenly Recordings on September 13th 2010.
It features tracks co-written with Johnny Marr, Roddy Frame, Alex Kapranos & Nick McCarthy of Franz Ferdinand, Romeo Stodart of The Magic Numbers, Ryan Jarman of The Cribs and The Drums. Losing Sleep is the first album Edwyn has written and recorded since his serious illness in 2005.
The 12-track album was recorded at Edwyn’s own West Heath Studios between November 2008 and May 2010 and produced by Edwyn and Sebastian Lewsley. The pair have worked together since 1993 and more recently stood shoulder to shoulder as Edwyn has regained his studio skills.
A 7-cd Orange Juice box set will also released on the same day via Domino. The set includes the 4 original studio albums, which have been un-available for a number of years.
Listen to Edwyn Collins:
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