Robyn Hitchcock/Soft Boys: Classic or Dud?

xp cool, link it here when up plz

Awesome, Jon! That’s for a bunch of songs I can’t immediately remember, I will be going through that today and tomorrow looking for gold :)

I rely on my brother for all my Robyn Hitchcock knowledge, and I've only heard like 1/3 of these songs, but one that I really like that I haven't seen mentioned is "Solpadeine."

That’s for a bunch of songs I can’t immediately remember...

this is one of the most confusing things i've ever written, and that is hard to do. sorry about that!

what i meant was, there are a bunch of songs in your playlist that I don't think I'm familiar with, so I'll be looking forward to listening!

"veins of the queen"

Forgot to say, having this song in my head over the past week led me back to Queen Elvis! Would love if somehow A&M allows a deluxe edition sometime, given how good the live versions of these songs can be.

Yeah, the live stuff from the "Luminous Groove" box is ace.

Also the B-side from that album, “Ruling Class”… rules

Other odds and ends I'd recommend:

Innocent Boy (Soft Boys)
The Face of Death (live Gotta Let This Hen Out)
Toadboy
August Hair
The Beauty of Earl's Court
De Chirico Street (alt version from Mossy Liquor)
Each of Her Silver Wands
Pulse of My Heart (Soft Boys - Nextdoorland)
I'm Falling
San Francisco Patrol
Time Coast

seconding "san francisco patrol" — I think that's my favorite song of his from the past decade or so...

where is "Do Policemen Sing?" u savages

these later period recommendations are helpful, thx

both the Yep Roc boxes rule, I have 'em

Oh yeah Do Policemen Sing rules.

at long last — https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2022/11/07/robyn-hitchcock-the-aquarium-drunkard-interview-2/

I think it turned out OK!

how's the new album? I guess I could listen to it.

when is someone gonna reissue the Soft Boys "Live At The Portland Arms" record? I love that thing and it's never even been on CD.

thought the new one was pretty middling tbh

Tyler - great interview, particularly liked the question and his answer about singing songs written 40 years ago. I've had other songwriters say basically the same thing to me, that the best songs reveal different aspects as the years go by.

Thanks! Love talking to Robyn, he's definitely a thoughtful guy.

I think his new one is a grower maybe — a handful of duds, but that's sort of par for the course. Really love "The Man Who Loves The Rain" and "Feathery Serpent God" ...

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