Robyn Hitchcock/Soft Boys: Classic or Dud?

i'd say that the best way to experience robyn these days is to see him live--he's got such a wealth of great songs at this stage in his career. And usually, the more recent songs sound better in person than they do on record. there are a few live shows on archive.org's live music database if you're curious.

also worth seeking out is the soft boys' live at portland arms LP (some of which is on the ryko overview). hilarious and unplugged.

and ned, it sounds as though we were probably at the same mccabes show in 1995--i think my friend and i were the only teenagers in the house. if you ever digitize your tape, i'd love to relive it.

He's one of two people I ever asked for an autograph. Philip Glass was not in a good mood when I walked up, 15 years old & nervous, having spotted him in the lobby during the intermission to the Knee Plays... can't blame him for scowling at me. Robyn on the other hand was impossibly cool about the awkward situation, saying while signing my copy of Trains "well y'know it's no good having heroes, especially once you get to know them and realize they have all the same problems..." I assured him that was the point.

http://s25.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1VM7K048PQ0GF268VGEO0NXEHR

As for Robyn Hitchcock, his first album, Black Snake Diamond Role continued the Soft Boys course honorably - "Acid Bird" especially is classic. Also, his third, I Often Dreamt of Trains is excellent too. Hilarious (and very British) songs like "Uncorrected Personality Traits" and "Sometimes I Wish I Were a Pretty Girl" (..so I could ---- myself in the shower..) sit next to absolutely gorgeous quiet and sad songs. His 80s and 90s stuff gets a bit too slick for my tastes, losing its classic edge - some good moments though. Haven't heard his most recent stuff...mixed bag, as other said.

anyway: classic. i heard solo hitchcock first, and have always had a preference for the early stuff, though i did snag a copy of "spooked" and found it quite entertaining. the 90's stuff often bores me, though certainly "moss elixir" has it moments. but "trains" and "fegmania!" are my favorites.

soft boys, also classic. picked up the matador rerelease of "underwater moonlight" when it came out and loved it. played that this evening in lieu of "i often dream of trains".

He played at Oberlin when I was there to a small crowd and encored with Autumn is Your Last Chance.

I also have a severe soft-spot for Queen Elvis.

Soft Boys: Of course Underwater, and I really liked Nextdoorland, but their earliest stuff is too raw for me.

I'm not the first one to mention it...I think Trouser Press says this too, but Respect is kind of a great lost RH album and a great comeback after the overproduced Perspex Island. (Recently downloaded the Perspex demos, and am finally enjoying these songs stripped of some of the gloss.)

I was just going to ask you where you found the Perspex demos. I saw him in LA a couple times when he was still working on the Perspex material and I've always like the original versions better than what turned up on the album.

Two words: Paul Fox.

Well I got word he's to have a new album out with a new band. It's called Ole Tarantula I think, something like that.

I blathered on and on (without saying much at all) about it here. Normally I don't self-promote, but I didn't feel like rehashing it all in condensed form.

Cause you're just an old pervert and you hang around "under the bridge".

I won't do you no harm I just wanna show you what's in my fridge...

All I know by Robyn Hitchcock solo is his cover of Kung Fu Fighting! Which does rule.

Love the Soft Boys, love solo Hitchcock, though both are frustratingly hit or miss. Understand the objections to Hitch's stereotypically Engwish brand of teapot psychedelia, but his best tunes are organic, moving and catchy as hell - and he's got a TON of best tunes. He's similar to Robert Pollard in that the superficial non-sequiters conceal/reveal a core of real longing and alienation that'll draw blood if you let it. He can be cute 'n' funny without being cloying, too, which is a rare trick.

Recent stuff is patchy, but Invisible Hitchcock, Queen Elvis, I Often Dream of Trains, Eye and Mossy Liquor are (relatively) solid. Lots of great stuff buried elsewhere, too.

Yep Roc is starting to reissue Robyn's back catalogue. The first box will include _Black Snake_, _I Often Dream Of Trains_, _Eye_ and a 2 disc set of odds and sods. _Groovy Decay_ will be available as a digital download (Robyn always hated it, I guess that's why no physical reissue).

Next year brings another box containing _Fegmania_, _Gotta Let This Hen Out_, _Element Of Light_ and another odds and sods disc.

I, for one, am totally looking forward to the barrel scrapings. Seriously. I mean, _Invisible Hitchcock_ and _You & Oblivions_ are b-sides and outtakes and are packed with gems.

They're saying the 2-disc oddities part will have a lot of unheard stuff. Also:

"All of the individual albums feature bonus tracks and enhanced liner notes, including Hitchcock's personal reminiscences on Black Snake and While Thatcher, an extract from a novel in progress on Trains and several pieces of original poetry on Eye, along with previously unpublished photos and Hitchcock cartoons."

Hopefully the bonus tracks for Black Snake et al will be different from the ones on the last editions.

at long last — https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2022/11/07/robyn-hitchcock-the-aquarium-drunkard-interview-2/

I think it turned out OK!

how's the new album? I guess I could listen to it.

when is someone gonna reissue the Soft Boys "Live At The Portland Arms" record? I love that thing and it's never even been on CD.

thought the new one was pretty middling tbh

Tyler - great interview, particularly liked the question and his answer about singing songs written 40 years ago. I've had other songwriters say basically the same thing to me, that the best songs reveal different aspects as the years go by.

Thanks! Love talking to Robyn, he's definitely a thoughtful guy.

I think his new one is a grower maybe — a handful of duds, but that's sort of par for the course. Really love "The Man Who Loves The Rain" and "Feathery Serpent God" ...

Maisie, Robyn’s only child, has passed away four years after a stage 4 ovarian cancer diagnosis; she was 47. He wrote something beautiful and devastating on Instagram.

Awfully tragic -- did see note indicates she had a brother.

I read that, it was very sweet and sad. Don't know anything about his personal life beyond his current relationship with Emma Swift, but I like to imagine he was a fun dad.

Oh how sad, I was hoping she could beat it.

I remember some strange interview way back when between Robyn and a teenage Maisie, it was in Spin Magazine or something similar, they seemed to have a lovely mutual appreciation of the surreal.

yeah, nickn pasted from facebook to Rolling Obits, where there was no response so far, deserves to be preserved here:

From his fb post:

Maisie Hitchcock 1976 - 2023
My daughter Maisie Emerald Hitchcock passed gently out of this life on the evening of Wednesday August 9th. She was born on the first warm day of the year, April 17th, in Cambridge, and died as night fell in Sussex last week. She had Peritoneal Cancer, a rare form of Ovarian.
Maisie was vital. From the perspective of only three days, I can feel how unique she was: very much her own person with her own take on life. There was no filter between her feelings and the outside world. Her undiluted Maisie-ness and her deep dark eyes gave her a magical charisma which attracted her many friends. She was fiery at times, almost combustible: she didn’t just smoulder - she was an ingot of crimson heat, and so she loved to douse herself in water, swimming in lakes and pools and oceans. Maisie fed on art, music, thought and the wild open air. And comedy: she and I spent many hours together in Python Land, and she introduced me to the Mighty Boosh. I have lost, too, my fellow Ferry connoisseur - we did a *lot* of Bryan Ferry over the decades.

But Maisie also fed on food (she loved her food, so she did), and one of the sad and terrible effects of the cancer that she held at bay for nearly three years (despite being diagnosed with Stage 4 in autumn 2020) was that she could eat less and less. She remained feisty and optimistic for the longest time, until this summer she bravely faced up to the inevitable and discontinued her chemotherapy treatment. I was glad to be able to visit her most days in her final two months. We had some laughs, some arguments and a lot of philosophy: Mais and I could both wander the labyrinths of the mind for hours.

Almost the last word she said to me was “Pangolin” before she curled away and sank back into her morphine cocoon. My phone revealed this to be an endangered species of anteater, with a scaly dragon tail. Pangolin! I mean - jeez, what an utterance - what way to go…Tears are back in my eyes. Thank you for being my daughter, Mais. You were special, vibrant and lovely.

I’m sending out love to all who loved and cared for Maisie, especially her mum Rosalind and brother Jack. Also the nurses and doctors at the Wiltshaw Ward in the Marsden Hospital in Chelsea and then at St. Peter & St. James Hospice in Sussex.

“Is there a heaven? I’d like to think so.”

Brutal, so sad.

Yeah--in part because of the beauty, his most expressive writing that I've seen---didn't know anything about her, but I feel like I do now. Rock on Maisie, pangolin and all!

that is so beautiful

Ach, I'm crying. So sad. Thanks for posting.

What a remarkable tribute

Good lord, what an awful year for the family.

My lovely wife has been through hell this summer. Please read this thread. https://t.co/DtGMqmWsux

— Robyn Hitchcock (@RobynHitchcock) September 28, 2023