Edwyn Collins I'm Not Following You

Edwyn Collins I'm Not Following You

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Having found himself back in the commercial limelight with Gorgeous George, Collins followed it up with the equally -- possibly even more -- delightful I'm Not Following You. Trademark wit blended with passion intact and with key sideplayers drummer Paul Cook and bassist Clare Kenny helping out among many others -- including a wonderfully scabrous vocal cameo by Mark E. Smith on the very disco "Seventies Night" -- Collins tries all sorts of different things and more often than not comes up with the goods. "The Magic Piper (Of Love)" was the understandable lead single, catchy and with more than a little bite to it, drawing from finger-snapping hep-lounge Vegas sources and his own fun lyrics: "My girlfriend she got blotto/Half cut in Santa's grotto/It turns out he's a dirty old man." Add to that some just right flute and a clever brass sample that suddenly turns into an orchestrated sample from the Velvet Underground, and the man still has it. It's one of many joys throughout, with Collins showing a musical heterodoxy that would probably stupefy most other bands or acts. "Seventies Night," for example, is followed up by the sweet orchestration and quick acoustic fingerpicking of "No One Waved Goodbye," a regretful look at a relationship in pieces. There's full-on feedback and pounding drums, there's sly, compressed production touching quirky keyboards and Euro/cabaret arrangements, and even the self-explanatory Hammond-tinged "Country Rock." The hint of wistful nostalgia is often matched by the lyrics, with asides like "I'm going back to my old school/Cause to tell you the truth/All those songs of my youth/Move this old fool." Not many musicians so readily and easily allow for the hints of the passage of time. Leave it to Collins to find a number of ways to do just that.

Edwyn Collins & Orange Juice A Casual Introduction 1981/2001

Edwyn Collins And Orange Juice A Casual Introduction 1981/2001

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Even for the relatively few listeners who are familiar with Edwyn Collins' career, there tends to be a rather large gap in their knowledge about the period between Orange Juice's 1982 career high point, Rip It Up, and his 1995 solo smash, "A Girl Like You." (To be fair, there was indeed a five-year break between 1984's The Orange Juice and 1989's solo debut, Hope and Despair.) Although those fans will find the collection instructional and entertaining, A Casual Introduction 1981 to 2001 is geared more toward the newcomer, including all of Collins' best-known solo songs (the sardonic Marvin Gaye homage "The Magic Piper [Of Love]," "Johnny Teardrop") as well as many of the high points of the pioneering Scottish post-punks' career, including their biggest hit, "Rip It Up," in its truncated single form and earlier twee pop landmarks like "Felicity" and "Falling and Laughing" (both in the re-recorded takes from the full-length debut, You Can't Hide Your Love Forever, and not the original single sides, generally considered superior by most fans). Having the album's 18 songs presented in non-chronological order goes a long way toward dispelling the myth that Collins' soul- and R&B-inflected solo work is a massive stylistic shift from his former band; late-era Orange Juice songs like 1984's "What Presence?!" prove that Collins was heading in this direction even before the band split. This is by no means all the Edwyn Collins one would ever need; his highly underrated 1997 solo album, I'm Not Following You, is drastically underrepresented. Furthermore, a full appreciation of Orange Juice requires hearing the scrappy early singles collected on compilations like The Glasgow School. But, just as the title says, this is a worthwhile casual introduction