The Face: Postcard Defunct

Following the piece from Emma Warren on the Edwyn Collins and Postcard documentaries here’s a quick post of a piece from The Face in November 1981 with interviews with Collins and Alan Horne of Postcard regarding the closure of Postcard as was.

[Apiento]

TV: Edwyn Collins ‘Home Again’ BBC3

In music documentary terms, triumph over adversity usually refers to someone getting over a drink or drug problem of their own making. For Edwyn Collins, much loved for songs like ‘Falling And Laughing’ and ‘Rip It Up’ with Orange Juice and for his standalone 1994 hit ‘Girl Like You’, his triumph was a real one. This documentary, first screened last year by Artworks Scotland and voiced by Alex Kapranos follows Edwyn as he recovers from a brain hemorrahage and stroke in 2005, learning to read walk, and talk again – and incredibly to write new songs and eventually to make his way back onstage. The film culminates with his performance at the BBC Electric Proms in 2007 and if you can watch him perform ‘Home Again’ without welling up then you’re made of stone. But it’s the final shot that’s the real killer. Asked what he misses about his old life (which incidentally, he doesn’t really remember), Collins pauses for a long time. “Nothing,” he says eventually. “Nothing at all.”

‘Home Again’ is available on the BBC iPlayer until Friday 25th September 2009. Watch it. Also available is the Caledonia Dreamin’ documentary covering the history of Scottish pop music and in particular Postcard Records.

[Emma Warren]