#39: Too Right (It’s Christmas) : Frankie & The Heartstrings feat. Edwyn Collins (Wichita Recordings, Promo CD, 2015)
Last time out, we had reached July 2013 and the release/non-release of the single Too Bad (That’s Sad), one of the outstanding upbeat numbers on the album, Understated.
The next few years Edwyn would keep busy with AED Records as well as being the subject of the documentary film The Possibilities Are Endless, which was released in November 2014. The film was the work of James Hall and Edward Lovelace and is described as ‘an immersive documentary’ about Edwyn’s recovery from his stroke. As one reviewer, in awarding the film 5-stars said:-
Hall and Lovelace have skirted the temptation to make a conventional documentary; instead they immerse us in the experience, as confusing and frightening as it is. They dig beauty out of tragedy without being too neat about it and have made a remarkable film.
It’s one I watched at the time and have since bought a copy on CD, and have to say that it is a really moving piece of work, but not the most comfortable of watches given how much viewers are asked to consider just how difficult the recovery process is….but at least, all along, we knew it would have a happy-ish ending.
The film was accompanied by the release of a soundtrack album, on AED Records, and credited to Edwyn, Carwyn Elllis and Sebastian Lewsley. There weren’t any singles lifted from the album, but I thought I’d share one of its songs:-
mp3: Don’t Shilly Shally (2014 Version)
The next actual single on which Edwyn featured was as the guest on the 2015 festive offering by an indie band from Sunderland in the north-east of England:-
mp3: Frankie and The Heartstrings feat. Edwyn Collins – Too Right (It’s Christmas)
The band had been around since 2009, initially self-releasing some singles before signing to London-based Wichita Recordings, for whom there would be three albums, Hunger (2011), The Days Run Away (2013) and Decency (2015), with the debut album, which had been produced by Edwyn at the West Heath Studios, proving to be the most successful, reaching #32 in the charts.
I’m sorry to say that this particular single isn’t worth much attention; Edwyn’s contribution is actually very limited, consisting of some spoken words just after the two-minute mark, and I did seriously consider not featuring it today, but for the sake of completeness……..
There will be a return to some sort of normality next week.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 