#14: Pale Blue Eyes : Paul Quinn & Edwyn Collins (Swamplands, SWP1, 1984)
I mentioned last time out that Edwyn Collins likely knew the contract with Polydor wouldn’t be renewed, and I speculated that he was likely to receive offers from elsewhere. My speculation was, based on events in 1984, fairly well-founded as Alan Horne, the man behind Postcard Records was very much back on the scene.
The first suggestion of them working together again can be gleaned from the sleeve of the Orange Juice single What Presence?!, released in March 1984, as the images of Edwyn and Zeke which adorned the sleeve are credited to Alan Horne. Around the same time, Horne had been approached by London Records to ‘come out of retirement’ and run a new independent style label as an offshoot, with no strings attached as to who he could sign. His first move was to name his label Swamplands and his second was to approach Paul Quinn, the vocalist who had quit Bourgie Bourgie just as that band were preparing to begin work on a debut album for MCA Records.
It has often been said, but I’m not sure if it’s true or not, that Alan Horne’s favourite song of all time was Pale Blue Eyes by The Velvet Underground. If so, the fact that he was able to have a cover version released as the very first single on Swamplands, and that the two musicians involved were, in August 1984, technically, still the property of two other major record labels, is something of a coup. Indeed, the credits on the single indicate that Paul Quinn appears courtesy of MCA Records and Edwyn Collins appears courtesy of Polydor Records.
mp3: Paul Quinn & Edwyn Collins – Pale Blue Eyes (7″ edit)
The single was produced by Edwyn but there is also a line within the centre labels stating ‘Original Sound Recording by Alan Horne from the soundtrack of Punk Rock Hotel’. Said soundtrack was, more than likely, the intended debut album from the duo.
mp3: Paul Quinn & Edwyn Collins – Burro
This was the b-side. It’s less than a minute and a half in length, and is an instrumental credited solely to Edwyn Collins, and again it has been lifted from the soundtrack to the Punk Rock Hotel.
The 12″ version of the single included Burro as well as a fuller-length take on Pale Blue Eyes along with an alternative mix.
mp3: Paul Quinn & Edwyn Collins – Pale Blue Eyes
mp3: Paul Quinn & Edwyn Collins – Pale Blue Eyes (Western)
It’s a stunning cover version that should have been a huge hit. But 1984 was a year when Lou Reed‘s stock was low and the ‘rediscovery’ of The Velvet Underground was still a few years away. It reached #72. Just typing those three words make me want to weep.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 