Robyn Hitchcock/Soft Boys: Classic or Dud?

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.

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

As long as they include the one from last time. Let's not get into an Elvis Costello situation here where you need mutiple versions of the same album if you want all the bonus tracks!

As it is you need both versions of _Black Snake_ because the sax-version of "The Man Who Invented Himself" was replaced with the sax-less one and the original didn't show up on any of the Rhino reissues.

Let's not get into an Elvis Costello situation here where you need mutiple versions of the same album if you want all the bonus tracks!

That's for damn sure. As it stands I'm going to hold on to mine for the time being. Even Gravy Deco.

Well, the sax version of "Man..." needs to be on this new version, either as track 1 or a bonus, that much is clear.

I see what you guys are saying. But I didn't care for the extras on the Rhino I Often Dream Of Trains (by which I mean the home demos). They added nothing.

Plus...check this out!:

Wanna Go Backwards will also be released as an eight-record vinyl box set version complete with original LP artwork.

Now I have to start saving for this as well. Maybe this, unlike the Neil Young box set I am anticipating, will actually see the light of day.

You can pre-order the box from Yep Roc's site and stream it for free as well. Here's the analysis I did - bottom line, you still need your Rhino editions.

Black Snake Diamond Role
The Man Who Invented Himself [Sax-less version, the Sax version is still in limbo.]
Brenda's Iron Sledge
Do Policemen Sing?
The Lizard
Meat
Acid Bird
I Watch The Cars
Out Of The Picture
City Of Shame
Love

Bonus Tracks:
All I Wanna Do Is Fall In Love [from Invisible Hitchcock]
A Skull, A Suitcase & A Long Red Bottle Of Wine [from Invisible Hitchcock]
It Was The Night [from Rhino edition]
I Watch The Cars No. 2 [from Rhino edition]
Give Me A Spanner Ralph [from Invisible Hitchcock]
It's A Mystic Trip [from Invisible Hitchcock]
Grooving On A Inner Plane [from Rhino edition]
Happy The Golden Prince [from Rhino edition]

Missing:
Dancing On God's Thumb [from Rhino edition]

Note: Nothing previously unreleased.

I Often Dream Of Trains
Nocturne (prelude)
Sometimes I Wish I Was A Pretty Girl
Cathedral
Uncorrected Personality Traits
Sounds Great When You're Dead
Flavour Of Light
Ye Sleeping Knights Of Jesus
This Could Be The Day
Trams Of Old London
Furry Green Atom Bowl
Heart Full Of Leaves
Autumn Is Your Last Chance
I Often Dream Of Trains
Nocturne (Demise)
Winter Love
The Bones In The Ground
My Favourite Buildings
I Used To Say I Love You

Bonus Tracks:
Chant/Aether
Heart Full Of Leaves (alternate)
I Often Dream Of Trains (demo)
Not Even A Nurse
Slow Chant/That's Fantastic Mother Church
Traveller's Fare

Missing:
Mellow Together [from Rhino edition]
Sometimes I Wish I Was A Pretty Girl (demo) [from Rhino edition]
Cathedral (demo) [from Rhino edition]
Mellow Together (demo) [from Rhino edition]
The Bones In The Ground (demo) [from Rhino edition]

Note: Original LP running order restored with previous CD bonus tracks moved to the end.

Eye
Cynthia Mask
Certainly Cliquot
Queen Elvis
Flesh Cartoons
Chinese Water Python
Executioner
Linctus House
Sweet Ghost Of Light
Transparent Lover
Beautiful Girl
Clean Steve
Raining Twilight Coast
Agony Of Pleasure
Glass Hotel
Satellite
Aquarium
Queen Elvis II

Bonus Tracks:
Century
Shimmering Distant Love
Lovers Turn To Skulls
The Beauty Of Earl's Court

Missing:
Agony Of Pleasure (demo) [from Rhino edition]
Note: College Of Ice isn't listed here but is on the Thatcher set. Running order from original LP is slightly altered.

While Thatcher Mauled Britain
She Reached For A Light [from You & Oblivion]
August Hair [from You & Oblivion]
Take Your Knife Out Of My Back [from You & Oblivion]
Fiend Before The Shrine [from You & Oblivion]
Raymond Chandler Evening (demo) [from Rhino _Element Of Light_]
Birdshead [from You & Oblivion]
Victorian Squid [from You & Oblivion]
You've Got [from You & Oblivion]
Captain Dry [from You & Oblivion]
Raining Twilight Coast (Demo) [from Rhino _Eye_]
Point It At Gran [from Invisible Hitchcock]
Vegetable Friend [from Invisible Hitchcock]
Flesh Number 1 (demo)
Surgery [from You & Oblivion]
I Got A Message For You [from Invisible Hitchcock]
If I Could Look [from You & Oblivion]
Parachutes & Jellyfish
Queen Elvis (Demo) [from Rhino _Eye_]
Nothing [from You & Oblivion]
Stranded In The Future [from You & Oblivion]
Melting Arthur
The Abandoned Brain [from Invisible Hitchcock]
You're So Repulsive
Opiatrescence
September Cones [from You & Oblivion]
Lovely Golden Villains
Dr Sticky (live)
Toadboy
Trash [from Invisible Hitchcock]
Pit Of Souls (Country version) [from Invisible Hitchcock]
Mr Deadly [from Invisible Hitchcock]
Let There Be More Darkness [from Invisible Hitchcock]
Listening To The Higsons [from Invisible Hitchcock]
College Of Ice [from Rhino _Eye_]
My Favourite Buildings (Demo) [from Rhino _IODOT_]
Lightplug
Sleeping Knights Of Jesus (Demo) [from Rhino _IODOT_]
Insect Mother (demo) [from Rhino _Fegmania_]
I Wanna Go Backwards

Missing from _Invisible Hitchcock_:
My Favourite Buildings [Or is it the same as either version in box?]
Falling Leaves
Eaten By Her Own Dinner
Star Of Hairs
Messages Of Dark
Blues In A
Dr. Sticky

Missing From _You & Oblivion_:
Don't You
Mr. Rock 'N' Roll
The Dust
Polly On The Shore
Into It
Keeping Still
The Ghost Ship
You & Me
Aether

thanks for breaking all that down! on first glance, it doesn't appear quite as exciting as it seemed when they announced it, in terms of unreleased stuff ... but Robyn's gone through his demos/outtakes quite a bit over the years, so it's not too surprising there isn't all that much "new" stuff here. The "I Wanna Go Backwards" tune sounds good. But the A&M records (Globe of Frogs, Queen Elvis, Perspex Island and Respect) are the ones that really need the deluxe reissue treatment. Anyone know if that's in the works?

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