Robyn Hitchcock/Soft Boys: Classic or Dud?

He's played it 4 times this year. I'm glad to see it back in rotation after 30 years.

I just really hope he tours with band some more.

I hope so too. I know solo Hitchcock is a much easier logistically but I like when he mixes it up.

my god, this setlist from Woodstock NY on the 14th:

Set 1
01- Robyn walks on...
02-Tonight
03-The Abyss
04-I Pray When I'm Drunk
05- Robyn banter...
06-52 Stations
07- Robyn banter...
08-The Lizard
09- Robyn banter...
10-I Want To Tell You About What I Want
11- Robyn banter...
12-I Often Dream Of Trains
13-Vibrating
14-Luminous Rose
15- tuning and Robyn banter...
16-You & Oblivion
17- Robyn banter...
18-Sinister But She Was Happy
19- tuning and Robyn banter...
20-I'm Only You
21- Robyn banter...
22-The Queen Of Eyes

Set 2
23-Robyn banter...
24-Flavour Of Night
25- Robyn banter...
26- ? ? ? ? ?
27- ? ? ? ? ? (new song)
28-Ring Them Bells (Bob Dylan)
29-Autumn Is Your Last Chance
30- Robyn banter...
31-Victorian Squid
32-The Cheese Alarm
33-NY Doll
34- Robyn banter...
35-Madonna Of The Wasps
36- Robyn banter...
37-The Devil's Coachman
38- Robyn banter...
39-The Ghost Ship
40- tuning and Robyn banter...
41-Saturday Groovers
-encores-
42-Robyn banter...
43-Gene Hackman
44-My Wife & My Dead Wife
45-tuning > Calvary Cross (Richard Thompson)
46- Robyn banter...
47-Raymond Chandler Evening
48-Queen Elvis

EGAD

damn

wow

he's touring...something. covering something but now I can't remember what....anyway I keep wanting to see him (he plays SF constantly, like, it seems, twice a year at least) and missing him, and in fact have NOT seen him since the early 90's at this point.

He's got a gig in SF covering John Wesley Harding next month.

I read that as the musician at first and thought it seemed odd.

I saw him in Providence, RI on Nov. 17. He was great and played a few songs on piano, as well as three Dylan covers. Here's the set list, according to setlist.fm:

Set 1:
Trying to Get to Heaven Before They Close the Door
(Bob Dylan cover)

I Pray When I'm Drunk

My Wife and My Dead Wife
(Robyn Hitchcock and The Egyptians song)

The Lizard

Dismal City

I Got the Hots
(The Soft Boys song)

Brenda Bad Vibes
(new, unrecorded song)

Hurry for the Sky
(Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 song)

I'm Only You

Saturday Groovers
(Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 song)

Queen Elvis
(with harmonica)

Set 2:
Somewhere Apart
(Robyn Hitchcock and The Egyptians song) (Robyn on piano)

Flavour of Night
(Robyn on piano)

Ring Them Bells
(Bob Dylan cover) (Robyn on piano)

Balloon Man
(Robyn Hitchcock and The Egyptians song)

Luminous Rose
(Robyn Hitchcock and The Egyptians song)

The Devil's Coachman
(Robyn Hitchcock and The Egyptians song)

Chinese Bones
(Robyn Hitchcock and The Egyptians song)

The Cheese Alarm

Flowing...
(new, unrecorded song)

Sally Was a Legend

Dead Guys
(new, unrecorded song)

I Wanna Destroy You
(The Soft Boys song)

You and Oblivion

Visions of Johanna
(Bob Dylan cover)

One of my favorite bootlegs: https://archive.org/details/robynhitchcock2007-05-26

This is really enjoyable, thanks!

i have been listening to tons of underwater moonlight and a can of bees recently, and i'm ready to spread out. what is the greatest robyn hitchcock solo album of all time?

I like Fegmania.

you should listen to something like uncorrected personality traits and determine if you want more raved up psychedelia or acoustic psychedelia.

if the former go to fegmania, if the latter go to I often dream of trains.

Going back through time:

Propellor Time
Nextdoorland
A Star For Bram
Element of Light
Fegmania!
I Often Dream of Trains (also the IODOT in NY live version)
The “While Thatcher Mauled Britain” rarities comp included in the I Wanna Go Backwards box set

Or search for the long and short versions of my Verities & Verdigris spotify RH playlist

NB my favorite versions of a lot of the post 2000 material are in live audience recordings available for free from Archive.org, especially shows from the Venus 3 tours.

Start with the first one IMO. Black Snake Diamond Rock

don’t forget to check out the “wading through a ventilator” 12” from ‘84 which is singles tracks and unreleased stuff all recorded in ‘77

personally i really like “eye” from 1990 which is mostly acoustic iirc but i like the songwriting

Gotta Let This Hen Out is the most natural segue from Soft Boys to the Egyptians.

black snake diamond role

Gotta Let This Hen Out is the most natural segue from Soft Boys to the Egyptians.

my Verities & Verdigris spotify RH playlist

Seconding this

black snake diamond role and moss elixir (which i'm not really aware of many digging).

For something from each era:
80s solo: I Often Dream Of Trains
80s with the Egyptians: Fegmania
90s solo: Eye
90s with a band: Jewels For Sophia
00s with the Venus 3: Ole Tarantula
10s: Robyn Hitchcock (eponymous)

honestly, i don't think you can go wrong with any of his records through the early 2000s — some of 'em are spottier than others, but I don't think any are bad. and i'd throw in a hearty recommendation for invisible hitchcock, his mid-80s rarities collection. he's the kind of songwriter whose outtakes can be better than others' best work.

and xp — i love moss elixir ... was glad that the last time I saw him he broke out "sinister but she was happy"

Funny, I've been listening to Moss Elixir all month ... one of those situations where I randomly found the long-lost disc, tossed it into my car player and have been too lazy to switch it out. After not hearing it for ages (maybe even since its release?) I've been having a great time reacquainting myself with it while driving around through a wet gray muddy spring.

lol the archival part of ilxor is a favorite aspect of this joint.
elixir didnt get many votes there but plenty support.

I Often Dream Of Polls - your favorite Robyn Hitchcock album (ends May 9)

also somebody guessed moss’s popularity at release was newbs or pent-up demand. for me it was sorta the opposite i was a soft boys/bsdr era fan, had sorta lost patience with him around globe, and this album seemed like such a piece of formalistic structured BEAUTY, intensified by some if his better poetic psych-verse.

damn i probly wrote it somewhere else in those back pages, but i will always rep for _this is how it feels_ as one of the most beautiful love songs ever. “It’s a sideways glance, in a full on world.”

moss elixir was the first new Hitchcock record that I was on board for — i had spent the previous few years gorging on the rhino / ryko reissues ... in retrospect, it kinda feels like two or three separate albums jammed together, but it still all works for me. "this is how it feels," yeah, that one is fantastic. always loved "heliotrope" too, it just sparkles.

Yeah Heliotrope is gorgeous, plus there’s Mossy Liquor - the versions of De Chirico Street and Beautiful Queen on there are great.

this thread caused me to listen to newer hitchcock- i’d never actually listened to goodnight oslo. It is so very very to “what i want/expect in hitchcock,” and played/arranged really well to my tastes. I almost automatically like it so much that i don’t trust my opinion. I’ll def listen more.

meanwhile his more recent s/t is more “not quite what i want to hear from him- like country-rockified song, or roots americana-fied song? mmm- no? the very slightly different personas he adopts in some of the songs is pretty interesting, i’m not quite sure if i’m just imagining those tho. did this album’s songwriting, esp lyrically, “feel” different to anyone else?

Yes it did. It’s a good album and I REALLY want to see him in front of his current semi official backing band but you can definitely hear Nashville in it.

Spooked of course being a previous record with a strong country side.

Goodnight Oslo is great. Propeller Time kind of rode over it for me though. The goodnight Oslo tunes, like the Ole Tarantula tunes, really came to life on tour imo and so I listen to live recordings when I want to hear them.

I'm not a huge fan of the recent self-titled record but at least his countrified leanings are natural and not an act. It seeps into your pores here in Nashville and he's been here a few years now.

I held no opinion about Robyn Hitchcock until I saw him open for the Psychedelic Furs at a gig I attended in 2017. While the Furs basically left me cold (though part of it was my not being 100% into the concert), Hitchcock awed me with the strength of his songs and surprisingly (for me anyway) witty banter in between songs. He was alone on stage with his guitar but he made his part of the performance feel like something amazing and massive. That's when I became an instant fan of his. BTW, if my friend Stephanie (who is the biggest Robyn Hitchcock fan I know) is checking out this thread, STOP LURKING, SWEETIE! COME JOIN US.

Did RH play "The Ghost in You" at that gig?

is Respect OOP?

Maybe? But there's gobs of cheap CDs on Amazon.

Speaking of Sir Robyn, he's got an EP collaboration with Andy Partridge coming out: https://burningshed.com/store/ape/robyn-hitchcock_andy-partridge_planet-england_cd

I think all the A&M stuff is out of print except maybe the greatest hits cd

The single he released earlier this year, “Sunday Never Comes”, is aces IMO

yeah it is great!

it does seem strange that (arguably) Robyn's most well-known solo material (the A&M years) is so off the radar. Not even streaming, except for that greatest hits. Of course, as noted, easy enough to find it all used, but still.

Thanks for the tip about his recent single, hadn't heard it until now. "Take Off Your Bandages" is particular terrific.

Anyone heard the "Robyn & His LA Squires" 7"? Looks like a fun set of live cuts.

Why can’t I buy these new singles as downloads :(

The latest single is on Amazon Digital.

Oh good!

Playing a couple of streaming shows this week (Dylan covers - one US evening time one UK time):

https://www.stageit.com/Robyn_Hitchcock

He’s starting a $5 month patreon also, where he will post at least 3 unreleased tracks or works in progress a month along with blog type content

His Dylan covers always great live.

Matthew Seligman has been in an induced coma for a couple of weeks with Covid-19 apparently

Fuuuuuuuck no

Big Soft Boys fan but I don’t know much of their history.

This bad news has me looking them up to learn more and it is blowing my mind that Katrina & The Waves features a Soft Boy who was the main songwriter and is responsible for Walking On Sunshine.

Also released his own great album Bible of Bop.