Even before they hear a track, for some, Home Again will probably be a contender for album of the year. We’re used to bands exposing their war wounds with the release of every new record, detailing the traumas and crack-ups that attended the recording of their latest magnum opus – when in truth the closest they come to calamity is when their taxis turn up late. Or when Pete Doherty offers to read them some of his poetry.
Home Again is different. It really is lucky to be here.
Two years ago, Collins suffered a near fatal aneurysm (and, while in hospital, contracted MRSA into the bargain), and has spent the time since slowly recovering his basic motor functions.
Most poignantly, for such a consistently brilliant lyricist (let’s go back 20 odd years and bow before the magnificence of: “I wore my fringe like Roger McGuinn’s”), Collins was also afflicted by aphasia – a condition that impinges on the brain’s ability to produce speech.
Recent interviews suggest he is slowly improving. But it’s important to note that, by and large, Home Again was written and recorded before the onset of his health problems. It’s not, therefore, a meditation on his near-death experience, or a document of his recovery. It’s simply an Edwyn Collins’ record. And a fine, thoughtful and reflective one at that.
The Northern Soul pearls of previous years are absent, but in their place are any number of lovely, low-lit ballads (‘Written In Stone’, ‘It’s In Your Heart’) and skiffle-flavoured hoe-downs (‘Then I Cried’) which make you think that Collins – with his yen for rootsy classicism, no-bullshit sentiments, and omnipresent quiff – is a Hiberno soul brother to Richard Hawley.
The over-all mood is rich, regretful and unbearably poignant (especially in the eerily prescient – "my memory, it's shot and full of holes" - ‘Written In Stone’), and in ‘You’ll Never Know (My Love)’, it contains a candidate for most graceful single of the year.
But Home Again’s value lies in more than the 12 tracks it contains.
It’s an album that celebrates the continued presence of one of the UK’s most valuable and (in more ways than one) durable musicians.
Welcome back.