Time for one from the upstairs drawer now. I don't know what Edwyn Collins has done to deserve being relegated to here, but this 'quid in a charity shop' purchase hasn't seen too much CD drawer action.
I'd enjoyed Orange Juice without really exploring too deeply and was pleased to see the affable Collins enjoy some success with this album.
Since his illness he's become a National Treasure, and the radio programme he does with his wife, Grace Maxwell, is always a joy. So, what of this album?
It starts off with a bang - the fantastic The Campaign For Real Rock is a slow, but powerful song, which opens well, then the top ten hit Girl Like You, which still sounds fresh and simultaneously exciting and slightly menacing. Oh, that fuzz guitar! And "too many protest singers, not enough protest songs..."!
Low Expectations is much more low key, an acoustic number with a sting in the tail, and a fine listen. However, this quality doesn't seem to be maintained, and there's a lull in the middle. Nothing is bad, or anything less than pleasant (If You Could Love Me is lively and bouncy, and Gorgeous George rolls along nicely) but it's not until Make Me Feel Again that there's the feeling of brightness that the album started with. It's followed by two slower songs, including the penultimate Subsistence, an acoustic ballad, taking us (via an annoying two minutes of silence) into the album closer, Moron, a jolly, yet bitter singalong number, which tries to make a point about music, but to me just sound a little cruel.
But it's been a jolly listen, with a few really good high spots. Certainly one to visit again.
3* - Some great stuff here, certainly worth a listen.
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