Robyn Hitchcock/Soft Boys: Classic or Dud?

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

Not my favorite era for Hitch but where's "Cheese Alarm"?

Part of the challenge and fun of making best of's is setting a limit. I mean, I usually listen to full albums but artists with huge catalogs often benefit from a less-is-more approach. So 20 tracks or 80 minutes works well and forces me to really pick the cream of the crop. I've really enjoyed listening to Robyn's best work and bypassing the bad, merely good and failed experiments.

at one point I made a hitchcock playlist and it had like hundreds of songs on it and was 4 hours long at least. his catalogue is just so vast at this point.

I have two Robyn best of playlists on Spotify, one super concise one where each album gets only one or two tracks, and one big baggy one where you get several tracks per album (both are titled Verities & Verdigris). The shitty thing there was that the A&M era is not on Spotify except for the Greatest Hits cd, so a bunch of my favorite globe/queen/Perspex/respect tracks couldn't be included.

second single from this new record is a damp squib, too. Kinda bummed.

oh nooooo really?

seeing the Black Snake show with Yo La Tengo tomorrow night

i dunno, gotta listen to it a bit more, but it sounded good

I'm jealous Jon! Couldn't justify the trip, no matter how much I wanted it. If there's some goofy march thing you could pick one up for me. :)

Here's the new tune. The nicest thing I can say is it's overly familiar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW6scypUj1M

dang yeah that Black Snake show is going to be funnnnnnn

i actually blew it when they announced the second show because i was in minnesota at my mom's and by the time i got home and remembered to buy a ticket it'd sold out too. But I asked my buddy if he had any juice at rough trade store and to my relief he had juice at rough trade store and got our names on the list.

i hope this isn't the last time seeing him in front of an electric band.

ROCK ARMADA '99 FOREVAH

Those Rock Armada shows were the best.

So EZ they just have cd and 7" versions of the Robyn & Emma single and some black snake diamond role shirts and posters
Not the esoterica you would want I assume
(Show has not started yet)

Wow that second set!
Can I just--
Wey wey hep uh hole
It's a mystic trip (w pedal-enabled backward guitar from ira)
All I want to do is fall in love
I got a message for you
A skull a suitcase and a long red bottle of wine
Going down to Liverpool (!)
Run run run (ira ostrich solo)
Sleeping knights of Jesus (4 part harmonies!)
Kingdom of love
He's a reptile (hard and tight as fuck)
Rock n roll toilet (w YLT playing the wrong instruments)
Lucifer Sam
Airscape (w backward ira guitar and Georgia singing the harmonies -- omg)

I may have gotten the exact sequence wrong and or left something out

Yow that looks amazing -- hoping someone was on hand to tape it all...

He indicated that the second set was selected by YLT to his surprise and or chagrin on certain items, ha. And that the second set tonight at Bowery would be different.

First set (black snake lp):

Man who invented himself -- rhythm guitar takes piano part, a guy plays the redacted sax melody on trumpet

Do policemen sing was SO GOOD, super hard and brusque with mcnew and Kaplan doing the high backing vocals

I watch the cars was really fast and charging w the muted rhythm chords super brutal

The lizard was perfect

Love was so beautiful and I gotta think this is the first time he's every played it live? (Likewise policemen)

I forgot to say he's playing a strat now wtf when did that start???? And switched to playing with his fingers on a bunch of tracks, notably skull/suitcase and run run run

sweet, thank you for the report! "Airscape" with Georgia is definitely a dream come true ...

I've never heard him with a female singer doing the Morris harmonies. God damn it was good.

That sounds amazing Jon. So glad you got to see it.

And yeah, that merch is BORING.

wish i was going to tonight's show too!

BTW merch table was run by small blonde with Aus accent, I assume this is Emma Swift. Thought that would mean she would sing on something but didn't happen. RH did dedicate Airscape to her.

That's sweet.

Robyn's catalog is littered with songs to his ex's. I wonder what happened to Michelle.

Ahem one L

Wow that second set!
Can I just--

― Cognition (Remix) (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, March 1, 2017 6:23 AM (five hours ago)

damn, that sounds more than slightly incredible. where is the skulking bootlegger when you need him?

think that nyc taper was hoping to record at least one of these shows ...

ha, was hoping to hear from you, tyler

i assume these will turn up on archive.org if anyone tapes them (though... does YLT have the same laissez-faire as robyn to live recording sharing...?)

hi contendo!

ylt is generally taper friendly, but sometimes it seems like they're not into "special" shows being shared ... but i imagine they'd defer to robyn in this case.

howdy, jon!

...well it's up on dime now.

is dime still a private club?

i think they have open registrations. anyway probably not long before it shows up on archive or whatever for anyone who doesn't want to register for an account.

ysi?

I'll bet tonight's show will be even better, there were some minor spills last night

Though rough trade strikes me as a better room to record from the audience in than Bowery

any intel on last night's show?

I was at the show. Tremendous. I was struck how Ira ended up being Hitch's perfect foil on guitar. He really brought home the noisey bits. The entire band was completely up for the task. Highlights included a triplpy version of Lizard, great falsetto vocals and heavy groove on Do Policemen Sing? and a jaw-dropping version late in the second set of Let There Be More Darkness with Hitch nailing the creepy "Kevin, Supper's Ready!" bit. No Lucifer Sam encore but we also got "I often Dream of Trains, which is always a treat. I'd love to hear a recording of the show. It was a special night.

Noooooo they did let there be more darkness??? Fuuuuuuuuck

ha, that must be a first? man, Invisible Hitchcock is such a good collection.