#31: Home Again : Edwyn Collins (Heavenly Records, HVN 180, 2008)
June 2008 saw the release of the title track from the sixth studio album.
mp3: Edwyn Collins – Home Again
As songs go, it’s nice and pleasant, but it really wasn’t one you would normally think of as being ‘single-material’. The real joy with this release comes in other ways.
Firstly, the artwork/packaging. What you can see above is a brown envelope to which a sticker has been attached, of a drawing of a grey heron. The drawing is dated 10 October 2007, and it’s the handiwork of Edywn Collins, thus offering further evidence of his recovery from the near-death illnesses back in 2005.
Inside the envelope, those who bought the single would find the 7″ single inside a PVC sleeve – I know, not exactly environmentally sustainable, but there was a reason, as the sleeve contained the actual record inside a black and white fold-over paper sleeve. However, 25 copies would contain a one-off hand-drawn sleeve courtesy of some very well known people – musicians, artists, authors and the likes. Not only would these be one-offs, but potentially quite valuable given that the original works by some of those participating sold for large sums of money. Oh, and it was also a nod back to the work that was done to the sleeves of Blue Boy back in 1980, albeit these were done by folk who were not famous at the time!!!
The Guardian newspaper ran a feature on the idea and showed 21 of the finished sleeves, which begs the question whether four people who were asked to artwork were unable to do so. Here’s an alphabetical run through of who was involved:-
Norman Blake (musician)
Tim Burgess (musician)
Billy Childish (musician)
Jarvis Cocker (musician)
Paul Cook (musician)
Graham Coxon (musician)
The Cribs (musicians)
Jeremy Deller (Turner Prize winning artist)
Pete Fowler (illustrator – arguably best known for his work with Super Furry Animals)
Harry Hill (comedian)
Pam Hogg (fashion designer)
Alex Kapranos (musician)
Sebastian Lewsley (musician)
Bob London (artist)
Samantha Morton (actor)
David Shrigley (Turner Prize nominated artist)
John Squire (musician and painter)
Tracey Thorn (musician)
Andrew Weatherall (DJ and musician)
Irvine Welsh (author)
Nicky Wire (musician)
Of even more significance was the b-side:-
mp3: Edwyn Collins – Searching For The Truth
Less than two minutes long, but it was the first new song Edwyn had written and recorded since his illnesses. And with Edwyn now no longer able to play guitar, it was very poignant that one of his oldest friends, Roddy Frame, did the honours. Indeed, Roddy was to be at Edwyn’s side for much of 2008, being part of the band that went out on tour.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 