Robyn Hitchcock/Soft Boys: Classic or Dud?

Finally got this last night, listened on the bus this morning ... sounds good -- and different? I dunno, just doesn't seem quite as by-the-numbers Hitchcock as some of his more recent output. (Don't get me wrong, I like by-the-numbers Hitchcock). I guess there were just a few curveballs ... I'll have to listen more.

Hey-

have more people listened to Goodnight Oslo? One of the best albums of his career, and a high point in a mediocre year.

yeah, i agree, this album is killer, a lot of great songs, and the Venus 3 sounds wonderful, up there with the Soft Boys and Egyptians now, but supporting Robyn in a different way than those other groups. apparently, there's an all-acoustic Venus 3 record already in the can? Peter Buck mentioned it in an interview recently ....

There is a live I Often Dream OF Trains coming out this fall, recorded on the tour he did last year. Truly hitting on all cylinders these days.

Wonder if the novel he wrote in the late 90s/early 00s will ever get published?

Is the Trains release a DVD, or is it coming out on CD too? Dunno about the novel -- if it's anything like the liner note short story things that crop up occasionally, I can't imagine that publishers would be leaping to get it in print. Not that they're bad or anything -- I think they're fun! -- just not a ton of commercial appeal ...

His website is saying DVD and CD. Wonder if it'll be different tracks on different formats like Storefront was.

I Often Dream Of Trains In New York is out today - CD & DVD for the price of a CD. Sounds great so far, look forward to seeing the show. One track different between the two, I'm guessing encores. "America" is on the CD and "I'm Falling" is on the DVD.

seeing two of these threads bumped made me think he died. glad he didn't.

ha, sorry about that! alive and well and busy!

glad that the Trains cd/dvd is so cheap! thought it would be pricier.

I was at that show-- it was wonderful and brought a wee tear to my eye. Arrangements interestingly unfaithful to the album ('Winter Love' became wayyyy out psych), and he deleted some tracks and replaced them with contemporary oddments like 'That's Fantastic Mother Church'.

There were serious technical glitches b/c of bad cables in a couple of songs and he performed 'patches' of those verses after the songs ended-- i'll be curious to see how the editing works out with those.

Thought this was going to be a repost of Robyn/Grant Lee banter.

There were serious technical glitches b/c of bad cables in a couple of songs and he performed 'patches' of those verses after the songs ended-- i'll be curious to see how the editing works out with those.

― Durian Durian (Jon Lewis)

ha! interesting ... he should have used the Chicago show! ours went off without hitch (and definitely one of my favorite shows of last year)

Ditto the Boston show - I guess it was almost exactly a year ago. Indeed there I am posting about it upthread. Really looking forward to hearing/seeing this.

Interesting Michael Azerrad bit about one of the DVD extras:

http://www.rocksbackpagesblogs.com/2009/11/robyn-hitchcock-in-nowhere-land/

Azerrad underrates the concert itself btw.

finally got the Trains Live in NY cd/dvd -- sounds great! Maybe better than I expected, a really wonderful recording/performance. Nice, subtle rearrangements of the songs. And I like that it's a different running order, rather than the standard "Don't Look Back" practice of playing the album in exactly the way it originally appeared. Makes sense with Trains, since it's been released in so many different versions. Haven't watched the DVD yet ...

also, his website has been revamped and has some prev. unreleased downloads up for free. New album in March! robynhitchcock.com

There's a couple of dramatic reworkings on "Trains in NY" - "Winter Love" being particularly different.

yeah, was just listening to that one -- really beautiful version! That's one I've never heard him do live in the past ...

Just hearing Ole Tarantula for the first time, totally sublime. The Arthur Kane tribute is lovely...

Probably better than more of his recent albums in terms of consistency. I still haven't heard Propellor Time yet though...

Propeller time is probably better, so you're in for a treat

A Can of Bees and Underwater Moonlight reissues from Yep Roc next month. Looks to be just the original albums, with all the bonus stuff as digital downloads that are free with purchase. All the tracks from the Matador version of Moonlight, and it looks like most of Invisible Hits is broken up between the two records by proper era. However, once again stuff is lost from prior releases - for example, the alternate side 2 of A Can of Bees is now written off. "Fatman's Son" is history. Is it that hard not to fuck this up?

"Airscape" is one of the great morning songs.

very true. It sounds almost milky.

dud/classic

yeah, sort of disappointed by the yep roc news! thought it'd be a comprehensive overview, with live stuff, other outtakes, etc. and the phasing out of invisible hits is kind of unforgivable imo. on some days that's my fave soft boys album, even if it's not a proper "album".

Sadly, I don't think the Hitchcock box sets did as well as they hoped, scuttling any chance for a comprehensive Soft Boys collection. I've never been a huge Invisible Hits fan (nor a fan of A Can of Bees, if I'm being honest. Wading Through a Ventilator EP and Moonlight are the only studio works I listen to very often), so scrapping it and assigning the songs elsewhere doesn't bug me too much. Just don't lose stuff in the process, damn it!

also -- seems like they should put out that amazing Portland Arms disc again too. Or do some kind of live comp. Guess it's up to the fans.

With some of the boots that have surfaced (like the much improved Lady Mitchell Hall and the set from Leicester University) and the Portland Arms set you could easily have a nice two-disc live collection. They were much better live than in the studio; both more playful and more vicious.

Got to see him and Joe Boyd doing their Chinese White Bicycles reading/performance thing tonight (Boyd reads, Hitchcock performs songs he produced).

Setlist:

My White Bicycle
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
Chinese White
River Man
Reynardine
And the Wind Cries Mary
Bike
Way Back in the 1960s

wanted to go out and see this (love robyn forever), but door was kinda steep and it was a tuesday. currently regretting my reticence...

Got the Soft Boys reissues early, but the download codes don't seem to be active. Slight bummer, but won't be peeved unless the downloads don't appear come Tuesday.

Just got an email from Amazon that a two disc reissue of Moss Elixir is coming out in about 10 days, with Mossy Liquor as the second disc! Have this vinyl, but as I don't have a working record player at the moment. I'm sure I'll end up buying it again.

Yeah, I have a vinyl rip myself but I'll pick it up as well - Mossy Liquor was the better of the two!

I agree completely.

Happy Birthday Robyn!

Going to see him and Joe Boyd at Mass MOCA weekend after next!

I wish I could make it out there and stop by Greenfield and visit Scott Seward and his awesome record shop; alas, it is just too big a pain.

The show looks like a blast. Make sure and report back.

I'm thinking of going to the Washington DC area gig. I guess noone here has seen this tour yet?

talked to a friend who saw it -- said it was fun, if a little bit stilted... I'd go if it was anywhere near me!

new album?
http://soundcloud.com/hype-city-recordings/dismal-city
Robyn Hitchcock's forthcoming album on Hype City. To be released in Norway April 8th on LP and CD. Produced by Paul Noble, the "Tromsø, Kaptein" features 8 new RH compositions as well as a re-recording of 'Raining Twilight Coast' from EYE and a new Norwegian language version of GOODNIGHT OSLO.

tapping into the lucrative norwegian market, i guess.

I think a black metal Robyn Hitchcock would be interesting ...

Years ago another quirky-ish pop guy I liked (Laptop) put out a seemingly random Norway release, and I wondered at the time what the deal was. Do you get free healthcare or sardines or something if you use their record labels?

all the lutefisk you could ever desire

I thought Robyn said all his future albums would be digital-only?

yeah he hinted at that...guess he's not ready to say goodbye to the physical world just yet.

I've only listened to the two streamed tracks once apiece, and I wasn't terribly excited by them. Then again, that happens a lot with my first hearing of a new RH album; I tend to start out hearing what it's NOT and only later hear what it IS...

Anyway, what I'm hearing is a kind of late 60s Kinks-y midtempo thing with prominent rhythmic cello. "Dismal City" feels a bit cute, though the sentiment expressed is unique enough.

The "produced by Paul Noble" tag is intriguing; RH's London live band is usually Noble on bass, Terry Edwards on various, Kimberly Rew on guitar and Morris Windsor on drums. I've long hoped he'd do a record with that lineup (one of its few studio recordings, "City Of Women", is IMO one of RH's top 5 songs of the 00s).

Nice cover painting.

There's another track floating around, one listen to each didn't move me, but then "Propellor Time" needed a few spins to really grow on me. Still, I think the last out-of-nowhere album he released was "Luxor" which is really weak.

Haha, I didn't see your comments when I posted, Jon. Twisted minds think alike!

dunno, i kinda like this poppier direction -- hitchcock could easily settle into rootsy folk-mode, but the arrangement on dismal city is fun.