Some artists gain early success and then live off it for the rest of their career. Edwyn Collins, by contrast, has never stopped pushing the boundaries, and the former Orange Juice frontman was perhaps at his peak more than a decade after his 80s band fame with this 60s northern soul-style hit of 1995. Its lyrics are wonderfully dry, hitting an exquisite crossroads of hope and cynicism, tenderness and cruelty ("my hands are bleeding and my knees are raw"), witty referential lyrics about song genres, and with a fuzz guitar and crunchy refrain that remains fresh and timeless. The black humour here also foreshadows his bravery to continue working after a near-fatal cerebral haemorrhage in 2005. A true talent and original who will always rip it up and start again.
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