Robyn Hitchcock/Soft Boys: Classic or Dud?

"The Man Upstairs" is definitely growing on me. I still sort of like the older version of "Ghost In You" but it's such an outstanding song in the first place and Robyn's take reveals the underlying emotional depth. His other covers are great except I'm not thrilled with "Crystal Ship". "San Francisco Patrol" is utterly gorgeous, in both sound and sentiment. The other originals are solid. Overall I think it's far better than "Love From London" and "Tromso Kaptain". He certainly set the bar high with the Venus 3 stuff!

His best non-Venus 3 album since Moss Elixir.

A Star for Bram still holds that title for me. But this is damn good.

Twenty years ago "So You Think You're In Love" topped the U.S. modern rock chart.

In 1994?

Aye. "So You Think You're In Love" was 1991

Twenty-three. Autocorrect.

ok

that's the first place i learned the phrase "silent majority"!

same!

"Lysander" off that album is a lost gem. It hurts me that I can't put those A&M deep cuts on Spotify mixes for people.

My feelings about Perspex Island overall will never settle. I've loved and hated that record so many different ways over the years. And I can't separate it from what a hard confused dark place I was in when it came out and when I played the shit out of it. I get the sense RH was in a dark place when he made it, too.

"Perspex" is underrated, and a bit of a victim of the time it came out and the production choices (even more so with "Respect"). Those tracks are better heard outside the studio:
"The Kershaw Sessions" has great versions of "Oceanside", "So You Think You're In Love" and "Birds In Perspex".
"Bad Case Of History" has live versions of "Vegetation And Dimes" and "Child Of The Universe".
"Ride" was released in demo form on a promo. It was also performed for the BBC but uncollected officially.
I have a nifty version of "She Doesn't Exist" from a 1995 Rhino reissue tour bootleg. I'm sure live versions of the rest are out in the aether as well.

I loved it at the time. I said elsewhere yesterday that the mix is a mess: as he’d prove on XTC’s Nonesuch released the following year, Paul Fox had no clue how to record trad rock. "Lysander," "If You Go Away," "Ultra Unbelievable Love," and "Ride" work though. I'd go so far as to say it's his best A&M album.

I think Respect is the best A&M record but they're all good to great.

Queen Elvis for me. It's the only one of the a&m that totally coheres. The great songs on Globe of Frogs are greater than anything on QE but after all these years balloon man still annoys me so deeply that I can't give GoF the laurel. Plus the sound world of GoF lacks something where QE is mouthwatering. Would loooove for GoF to get a remastering some day.

Almost every tune from GoF has been amazing in live Venus 3 arrangements (esp when Morris available as a Beatle Dennis harmonies walk-on)

Hitchcock was living/hanging out in LA for a bit during the lead up to Perspex Island so I got a chance to see him with/without the Egyptians several times before the album came out. Was hugely disappointed when the album came out - thought that his strongest songs were completely undermined by Paul Fox's production choices. Not the first or last time Fox has done that.

Ok then, any recommended boots from the A&M era?

Robyn does Neil with Emma Swift:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHojyetAoRo

Amazon sent me "I often dream" by mistake - was gonna send it back to get my initial order but curiosity got the best of me so I decided to play it. Some beautiful music mixed in with stuff which I guess can grow on you. "I used to say I love you" is a standout for now

Eventually those tracks that seem like frivolous scraps will come to feel like totally essential pieces of its spell.

(This is not true of the novelty bits on all RH albums tho)

Hadn't listened to Underwater Moonlight in quite a few years and this time around "Old Pervert" really caught me as having a very Magic Band groove.

It definitely does, this influence really stood out when they played it on the soft boys reunion tours a decade-n-change ago. Old pervert slaaaaaayed at those shows (rew is a monster)

God fucking dammit Robyn is performing all of Black Snake Diamond Role with Yo La Tengo on March 1 at Bowery Ballroom and it's already sold out :(

yow, that was fast. i would totally go to that, maybe there'll be some more tix made available. or they'll add another night?
haven't listened yet, but this podcast is generally good: http://www.sodajerker.com/episode-96-robyn-hitchcock/

enjoying that podcast a lot.

yeah i think they do a nice job with it

robyn should probably have his own podcast

hey hey jon -- http://ohmyrockness.com/shows/299096-robyn-hitchcock-yo-la-tengo-rough-trade

Lucky ducks. But I'll see him on 3/3 in the Boston area.

Ha yessss

I'm leaving this bookmark open hopefully I won't forget to get one tmrw

Perfectly happy with rough trade as a venue tbh

From Brooklyn Vegan:

They’ve just added a second NYC show, happening at Rough Trade on February 28. Tickets for Rough Trade go on sale Wednesday, December 21 at noon.

Read More: Robyn Hitchcock & Yo La Tengo playing ‘Black Snake Diamond Role’ at Rough Trade before Bowery Ballroom | http://www.brooklynvegan.com/robyn-hitchcock-yo-la-tengo-playing-black-snake-diamond-role-at-rough-trade-before-bowery-ballroom/?trackback=tsmclip

Sorry now that I am going to the March 1st show at Bowery Ballroom. Rough Trade is a great place to see a show.

Yeah I saw television there twice and totally agree. Bowery ballroom is not terrible though.

I finally got around to putting together an anthology of Robyn's 1995-2015 work. It was hard! Some albums are a real slog and other times I had to cut some good stuff. I limited it to 20 tracks each from three periods: 1995-2000, 2001-2015 and The Venus 3 albums. My overall feelings on this period:

I'm a big fan of the Warner's era, the Mossy Liquor/Elixir and the Jewels/Bram sessions produced a glut of great material. Overall, I think these are consistently excellent albums.

The Venus 3 albums are mostly great as well though I find some rough/dull patches on "Goodnight Oslo" (particularly "Saturday Groovers") and "Propellor Time" (first 3 tracks). I'm especially excited to have cherry-picked all the best stuff to listen to in one go.

His 21st century work aside from the Venus 3 has been prolific and a decidedly mixed bag:
Robyn Sings - disc 1 is damn good, disc 2 is fun despite bootleg quality, I like these songs more with Robyn's voice than Bob's
Nextdoorland / Side Three - half great, half forgettable
Luxor - unredeemable due to it's boringness, it was a struggle to pick even one worthy track
Spooked - also half-great and overall better than I remembered, but it gets a bit dull towards the end
Obliteration Pie - an interesting curiosity with one of his best tracks from this period ("City Of Women") but not a critical entry into his catalog
Shadow Cat - not even close to the quality of "Invisible Hitchcock" and "You & Oblivion" in terms of barrel scraping, mostly forgettable aside from the title track
I Often Dream Of Trains In New York - another fun record with some fascinating new interpretations, of course the source material is one of his best ever
Tromso Kaptein - mostly bad
Love From London - mostly bad
There Goes The Ice - full of good-but-not-great material, this was also hard to pick from simply because nothing truly stands out so I chose a couple of uptempo tracks
The Man Upstairs - very nice, I dig the covers and the originals are mostly solid

Aside from the Venus 3 albums, I'd take "Nextdoorland" and "Spooked" as far as original material and "Robyn Sings" and "The Man Upstairs" for covers and that's about it since 2001. Even with those, it's really just the Venus 3 stuff that's keeping my esteem for him so high.

1995-2000:
Sinister But She Was Happy (Moss Elixir)
Heliotrope (Moss Elixir)
You And Oblivion (Moss Elixir)
Beautiful Queen (alt) (Mossy Liquor)
Cool Bug Rumble (Mossy Liquor)
Wide Open Star (Mossy Liquor)
Each Of Her Silver Wands (Mossy Liquor)
Trilobite (Mossy Liquor)
Where Do You Go When You Die (live) (Storefront Hitchcock)
Mexican God (Jewels For Sophia)
Viva Sea-Tac (Jewels For Sophia)
I Feel Beautiful (Jewels For Sophia)
Dark Princess (Jewels For Sophia)
Jewels For Sophia (Jewels For Sophia)
Daisy Bomb (A Star For Bram)
The Philosophers Stone (A Star For Bram)
The Green Boy (A Star For Bram)
The Underneath (A Star For Bram)
Take This In Remembrance (non-lp)
Eerie Green Storm Lantern (non-lp)

2001-2015:
Not Dark Yet (Robyn Sings)
Pulse Of My Heart (Nextdoorland)
Mr. Kennedy (Nextdoorland)
Sudden Town (Nextdoorland)
Evil Guy (Side Three)
Keep Finding Me (Luxor)
Television (Spooked)
If You Know Time (Spooked)
Everybody Needs Love (Spooked)
Creeped Out (Spooked)
City Of Women (Obliteration Pie)
Shadow Cat (Shadow Cat)
Winter Love (live) (I Often Dream Of Trains In New York)
Old Man Weather (Tromso Kaptein)
Be Still (Love From London)
Fix You (Love From London)
Halo Mary (There Goes The Ice)
Belly Full Of Arms And Legs (There Goes The Ice)
San Francisco Patrol (The Man Upstairs)
Follow Your Money (non-lp)

The Venus 3 (2006-2010):
Adventure Rocket Ship (Ole Tarantula)
Underground Sun (Ole Tarantula)
Ole Tarantula (Ole Tarantula)
Cause It's Love (Ole Tarantula)
The Authority Box (Ole Tarantula)
NY Doll (Ole Tarantula)
Embryo Twirl (Ole Tarantula bonus disc)
What You Is (Goodnight Oslo)
Your Head Here (Goodnight Oslo)
I’m Falling (Goodnight Oslo)
Hurry For The Sky (Goodnight Oslo)
Up To Our Nex (Goodnight Oslo)
Goodnight Oslo (Goodnight Oslo)
I Just Wanna Be Loved (Goodnight Oslo bonus disc)
Ordinary Millionaire (Propellor Time)
John In The Air (Propellor Time)
Propeller Time (Propellor Time)
Primitive (Propellor Time)
Sickie Boy (single version) (non-lp)
Evolove (Propellor Time)

that looks great! don't even think i ever heard Obliteration Pie. agree that Love From London might be his weakest record. Might have a handful of decent songs, but something about the production is just so dull.

and hey, new album coming out soon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHlR_yeXz9M

Different strokes for different fegs... I can't CONCIEVE of how you could not pick "narcissus", "no i don't remember guildford", "sometimes a blonde" or "star of Venus", each the strongest song from their respective sessions imo

And "trilobite" instead of "as lemons chop"? For shame!!!

Also "sound of sound" off Luxor is all time

Those were all the on the list but cut in favor of something else:

We'll have to agree to disagree regarding "Star Of Venus", that one never grabbed me.

And I adore "Trilobite"; "Lemons Chopped" was the last track cut.

I'll revisit "Sound Of Sound", it's just so hard to bother with "Luxor" at all.

I like the sound of that new song though I don't think I like the song itself very much. But I'm excited to have a new album of electric RH!

think I'll go see him on this tour, I haven't seen Robyn Hitchcock in almost 30 years.

yeah, kind of agree -- the song itself doesn't seem amazing, but I like the overall sound. weirdly it's grunge-man brendan o'brien producing

this is odd to say but it sounds like one of the lame songs from an otherwise good Robyn album? Hence I am psyched

haha, that sounds about right. i like the line about the cat dynasty.

there's definitely bits i like but i had to take a break when he exclaimed 'if ya got no heart!'

chorus seemed to scan so awkwardly at first but by its third appearance i kind of liked it

I'd add:

1974
I saw Nick Drake
Sometimes a Blonde
We're Gonna Live in the Trees
Solpadeine

Brendan Benson producing right?

oh ha, you're right! brendans!

1974 is my favorite Star for Bram song. Star for Bram is really strong though, I consider it the equal of Jewels for Sophia barring a couple of throwaways

Daisy Bomb is my Star For Bram tune. The studio version of 1974 irks me.

nietzsche's way is great, too ... was always a little let down by the studio "nick drake" -- i saw him do it at one point w/ Jon Brion on keys and it was incredible.

Yes I liked I saw nick drake better live, especially a very slow solo acoustic one