Robyn Hitchcock?

I refuse to revisit Luxor to find out if you're right.

xp really? I'm a big fan of Solpadeine.

I've always loved his version of "The Ghost In You". I think he's an excellent interpreter of his favorite songs.

@RobynHitchcock
Mount Rainier - Haile Selassie - The Smurfs: the parade goes on. Is there anything that has no name?

what is with this guy

(he replied to my answer!)

Nice!

mmm

the man enjoys conversation. i once elicited a look of slight dissapointment on his face when, after a sonic youth show, i stupidly did a "hey, you're robyn hitchcock!" and kept right on walking rather than strike up a polite chit-chat. i was super young but there's no excuse really.

I once saw him outside the Virgin Megastore talking to a friend of his, "Well, maybe it's in the Soul section" he said. Cool dude, quite tall.

I don't have any stories about encounters with Robyn Hitchcock but I used to see him play in London in the '90s and there was this superfan who would always be at the front at every gig. One time at the Jazz Café I overheard two other people discussing this bloke. One turned and said to the other, "He thinks he's Robyn Hitchcock's best mate but in fact Robyn Hitchcock wouldn't piss on him if he was on fire."

I never spoke to him but I saw him play an intimate acoustic set accompanied only by violin at my college (Oberlin) and as an encore he pulled out the electric guitar and played Autumn is Your Last Chance, one of my favorites of his and one of the saddest songs ever, and something you would've assumed he'd just use the acoustic for.

always seemed super nice -- though i do remember a look of slight terror when a superfan approached him after a show with a huge stack of vinyl and memorabilia for him to sign.

since the announcement of the new album i've been on hitchcock kick -- always good to be reminded how great fegmania! is. production is so odd (in a good way) -- at times it sounds like there's a really noisy rock record lurking somewhere beneath the glossy surfaces.

There is! I saw him on that guitar and violin tour in 95 and when he played Fegmania / Element songs with just an electric guitar he rawked!

he is one hell of a guitar player. this is sometimes overlooked.

yeah i think in a lot of ways he's my favorite guitar player.

i think of Fegmania as a sibling of The Top, Fried and Purple Rain, just these giddy weird 84-85 paisley pop records with a phosporescent burn to them.

robyn is such a unique guitarist, especially when he plays unaccompanied Tele.

what album does "Fried" refer to?

Julian Cope's album, Fried.

Robyn is to guitar as Victor Borge was to piano - brilliant masters of their instruments who preferred to play off-beat material which hid their proficiency. But when they each played standards, you could see their talent.

http://diffuser.fm/johnny-marr-robyn-hitchcock/

Robyn doesn't seem to know the Morrissey part too well…

http://danecdotes.com/post/100810120299/the-soft-boys-only-the-stones-remain-live

Great post, Dan. The Soft Boys material seems to have gotten better with age and musical experience for me. Hearing the source material I didn't know at the time only enhances their psych-punk fusion.

Yeah, I just can't believe the Beefeartiness of so much of it. I had never heard Beefheart at the time. Same with the Byrds, I mean I knew the two hits but I wasn't the scholar I am now (ok, I have that 5000 page book but I haven't read it yet). I would say I hear More John Lennon, Beefheart and the Byrds than I do Syd in most of that material.

saw robyn for the first time in over a decade last week, and he remains an amazing performer. bunch of songs i'd never heard him do before, too -- "luminous rose," "one long pair of eyes," "52 Stations" ... crazy that he could've done a completely different setlist and i would've gone home just as happy. the guy has a deep catalogue of fantastic songs at this point.

to say the least

I should see him again so he doesn't have to act in more Demme films

ha, does he still keep popping up in those? i remember him in the manchurian candidate and the wedding one ...

He did not appear in the Streep rockstar one or A Master Builder -- but in non-Demme thesping he played "Mad Reg" in this US indie I have not seen:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1754786/combined

Did he have his new squeeze with him? Not too keen on the single they put out.

she came out and sang on a few songs -- not exactly the right combo on some of it, but there were some parts that worked pretty nicely.

So the irregular Robyn/Yo La Tengo perform Black Snake Diamond Role show hit SF last night -- very good indeed! I shouldn't be surprised. Standout from the album songs itself was probably "Acid Bird" thanks to Robyn's astonishingly great solo -- really something remarkable. The second half/encore selections were good fun too -- a cover of "Going Down to Liverpool" among them, as was an encore including Pink Floyd's "Lucifer Sam" and a concluding "Element of Light." (Also did VU's "Run Run Run" earlier.)

Yeah the RHYLT show I saw in Brooklyn a little while ago was super super great. Robyn's frenzied wah pedal work - the soberly excellent ylt choir on do policemen sing - Georgia harmonies and ira faux-backward solo on Airscape (it's like baba o'riley ned - not titled the way you think it should be)