Track Of The Day: Edwyn Collins - Outside

The sturdy new single from Scottish indie legend Edwyn Collins has more than a touch of Iggy and The Stooges about it. The roaring 'Outside' is taken from his upcoming ninth solo album 'Badbea', out via AED Records on 29 March. 'Badbea' is his first release since moving both home and studio to Helmsdale on the North East coast of Scotland in 2014. Building a new studio from scratch, the impressive Clashnarrow Studios which sits on the hills overlooking Helmsdale, Collins completed work on Badbea with co-producer Sean Read (Dexys, The Rockingbirds) and long-term musical cohorts Carwyn Ellis (Colorama) and James Walbourne (The Pretenders / The Rails).

Following years of influential and unforgettable indie gems, Collins suffered a major setback in 2005 after two cerebral haemorrhages left him with aphasia and a fight back to rehabilitation. But it didn't take long for Collins to return to action, with 2007's 'Home Again' and 2010's 'Losing Sleep' becoming acclaimed albums. Then came 2013's 'Understated', described by RW/FF as "a fine record in its own right, and utterly life-affirming. It’s also perhaps the ultimate testament to the healing power of music... It will make you smile, it may even make you cry, and it's an album that reminds you how good it is to be alive." Read the album review HERE. It was Number 1 in Rewind/Fast Forward's Albums Of 2013 list, which can be seen HERE. A documentary film about the musician's life entitled The Possibilities Are Endless, directed by James Hall and Edward Lovelace, was released in November 2014.

In part inspired by his return to the village where his grandfather lived, and somewhere Edwyn spent time over the years, the album title itself, and title track, are taken from and inspired by Badbea (pronounced badbay), a dramatically located abandoned village on a cliff top five miles north of Helmsdale with a history defined by the Highland Clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Elsewhere on the album there are poignant moments of reflection, northern soul ‘stompers’ in the classic Edwyn Collins tradition, tracks remembering past times with Orange Juice and lyrics inspired by the discovery of over 30 old pre-illness lyric books unearthed while ‘de-cluttering’ before the move back to Scotland.

“It’s all about looking forward, I guess,” Edwyn reflects. “I’m happy. Content with life.”

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