Robyn Hitchcock/Soft Boys: Classic or Dud?

so the new robyn hitchcock box set has been released, anyone heard it yet?

I'm a sucker for all things Hitchcock so I picked this up yesterday. Some good, some bad; the sound quality for the three albums is better than the Rhino or any other edition, but the extras (except for the live stuff added to Hen) are pretty meh.

The two-discs of unreleased material (entitled A Bad Case Of History) I found less interesting than the stuff on the previous set. The Egyptians outtakes and demos are a mixed bag. Their versions of songs that were released in other forms ("I Am Not Me", "Beautiful Queen", "Agony Of Pleasure") aren't that exciting, though it may be familiarity trumping the new; most of the others are inferior to anything that made actual albums, with the exception of "Zipper In My Spine" which is as punk as anything he did with the Soft Boys.

The live disc is all over the place. Instead of being a particular show it is random tracks from different shows and tours; the audience is often so far down in the mix that most of them seem like rehearsals. The stuff from Respect is probably the best - "Wafflehead", "Railway Shoes", a beautiful "Wreck of the Arthur Lee". They could do anything they wanted in the end. Overall, it doesn't come near to Gotta Let This Hen Out!, especially with the new added tracks. One weird thing - the additions to Hen come from 1989, and a few of the tracks on the bonus live disc seem to be from the same show.

haven't picked this up yet (anyone know of any deals?), but I'm excited to have a good quality version of "Surfer Ghost" finally. That's been one of my fave unreleased songs of his for ages now.

but yeah, i agree that the bonus stuff here seems chosen kind of haphazardly -- looks like stuff that would go better with the A&M albums than the ones present here. but oh well ... looking forward to hearing it all, regardless.

I got it for under $40 w/tax.

"Surfer Ghost" is good. It just got buried between "I Am Not Me" and "Beautiful Queen" so I missed it when I was skimming the listing.

I think he doesn't expect the A&M albums to get back in print, so he's trying to rescue some of that material. Would have loved a box that was just various live versions of all the A&M stuff. That would take serious balls to put out though, especially if he ever hopes to get the rights back.

it is pretty wacky that the A&M years are so inaccessible now ... when I interviewed him a few years back he said this about it:

"Well, it's just some warehouse in Burbank, and there's some guy sitting there with this supply of candles. And he waits until one candle burns right down to the stub and then he blows it out. And then he pulls a lighter out of his pocket and lights a new candle and puts it on top of his desk. And the camera pans back, and you see that he's all alone in this huge, dark warehouse. Bright California sun is beating down outside and he's sitting there with one glowing candle and thousands of master tapes, the whole A&M back catalog. I'm not sure I'm even going to attempt to dig that stuff up. But I do have the rights to the rest of it."

Insanely jealous of those of you who attend Robyn's Symphony Space concert in November, when he'll be playing all of I Often Dream of Trains. At least they're taping it for later simulcast on Sundance ...
http://www.symphonyspace.org/event/2684

Holy shit, wow, that's great.

I have front row tickets for the IODOT show in Somerville. Not 100% sure I will be able to go, though, as I have to catch a 6am flight to Japan the next day.

Awesome, I got the mailer for the NY show and assumed it was a one-off, had no idea he was touring. Toby, though I sympathize with your dilemma, either way seems like a good outcome: you could see the show and sleep all the next day on the plane, or if you decide to pass this time I'd be happy to take the tickets off your hands.

Hey here's Storefront Hitchock if you want to see it.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/39076/storefront-hitchcock

IODOT show was fantastic - best show I've seen him play in a few years. Really, really great - one of those shows where a song you've never noticed much (That's fantastic mother church, in this case) gains a whole new perspective.

otm! it was amazing. genius. but, why the hell wasn't it sold out? boston is weird. embarrassing! comparable to the pitiful turnout boston gave to John Cale at the Paradise a while ago...

otoh, it was a great weekend for me--RH at Somerville Theater on Friday, Stars of the Lid at the Regent Theater on Sunday!

The new Venus 3 album, Goodnight Oslo hits next month. As expected, it is out in the wild already. On first listen - Wow! The difference between this and Olé! Tarantula is bigger than expected; whereas Olé! sounded like Hitchcock songs with some new backing, Oslo sounds much more organic and cohesive. These songs sound like they were written with the band in mind. The production is also notable; there is a 70s feel to much of it, with some great horn parts, female backing vocals, and general AM radio vibe. Not that I wasn't going to get this day of release, but I'm psyched. More thoughts after I've heard it more than once.

Cool -- I've been hearing good things about this one.

Out today! CD sounds better than the leaked MP3s. Digging it immensely - P4k wrong as per usual. Popmatters review was much better.

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!