THE TESTIMONIAL TOUR OF 45s (aka The Singular Adventures of Edwyn Collins)

#15:Ain’t That Always The Way : Paul Quinn (Swamplands, SWP6, 1985)

March 1985.  The latest single to come out on Swamplands Records.

mp3: Paul Quinn – Ain’t That Always The Way

It’s a song written by Edwyn Collins.  It’s a song co-produced by Edwyn Collins.  It’s a song on which Edwyn Collins definitely plays guitar, but isn’t credited as doing so.  It should be a song attributed to Paul Quinn & Edwyn Collins but couldn’t be for contractual reasons.

Last time out, I mentioned that the sleeve notes attached to Pale Blue Eyes advised that Paul Quinn appeared courtesy of MCA Records and Edwyn Collins appeared courtesy of Polydor Records. This time round, MCA isn’t mentioned at all, which would suggest Paul had extricated himself from the contract.  Edwyn was still attached to Polydor, and while there was no indication that funding was going to be given for any new recordings, there was an insistence that he couldn’t be on anything Alan Horne was issuing via Swamplands.

But let’s not worry too much about the legalities – this may well be a 45 on which Edwyn Collins’ name might not appear, but I’m firmly of the view that it belongs in this particular series. Besides, it’s again an ‘Original Sound Recording by Alan Horne from the soundtrack of Punk Rock Hotel’ which really does give the game away, as does the b-side:-

mp3: Paul Quinn – Punk Rock Hotel (closing time)

An instrumental on which Paul Quinn doesn’t appear. An instrumental written by Edwyn Collins and Paul Heard, who you may recall was part of the final live line-up of Orange Juice.

There was a 12″ version issued, but in this instance there is no difference in the length or mixes of the A-side and b-side of the 7″.  The bonus track was this:-

mp3: Paul Quinn – Corrina Corinna

A song first recorded in 1928 by Bo Carter, an American blues musician, but had earlier roots going back to 1918.  Like so many songs of that era, no writer is given clear acknowledgement, and so the credit on this single goes to ‘Trad’, just as it did when Bob Dylan recorded it in 1963 for The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan LP.

Ain’t That Always The Way failed to chart.  Indeed, none of the six of the singles released on Swamplands became hits, and unsurprisingly, in the cut-throat music industry, London Records stopped its funding and closed it down.  It’s more than likely that Edwyn thought he might end up on Swamplands after eventually freeing himself from Polydor, but kind of ironically, he instead would end up on a label whose arrangements weren’t too dissimilar to the way Swamplands had been set up.

 

JC