Robyn Hitchcock - S or D, anyone?

Wow. No "Chinese Bones" or "Vibrating" on that comp.

Here's my quick "One From Each Album" list, with a bonus list of officially released odds and sods and appended tracks (had to get Invisible Hitchcock and You & Oblivion cuts in even if they've been officially excised; I wish I could still start people on Robyn with Invisible Hitchcock), many of which I like more than the ones that he chose first time around for the albums. This isn't a "hits" list, just a favored track from each.

"The Man Who Invented Himself"
"Fifty Two Stations"
"Trams Of Old London"
"The Man With The Lightbulb Head"
"Leppo & The Jooves (live)"
"Airscape"
"Chinese Bones"
"The Devil's Coachman"
"Glass Hotel"
"She Doesn't Exist"
"Wafflehead"
"Heliotrope"
"Trilobite"
"1974 (live)"
"No, I Don't Remember Guildford"
"Daisy Bomb"
"Not Dark Yet (live)"
"Penelope's Angles"
"Creeped Out"
"N.Y. Doll"
"Goodnight Oslo"
"Cathedral (live)"
"Propellor Time"
"Savannah"

Bonus:

"I Watch The Cars No. 2"
"My Favourite Buildings"
"Heaven (live)"
"The Face Of Death (live)"
"The Can Opener"
"The Abandoned Brain"
"A Day In The Life (live)"
"More Than This (live)"
"Polly On The Shore"
"Tropical Flesh Mandala (Kershaw Session Version)"
"Birds In Perspex (This Is The BBC Version)"
"Zipper In My Spine"
"For Debbie Reynolds"

Nice choices, quite surprised by some but anyone who stumps for "The Abandoned Brain" is a-ok in my book! I'll have to ponder my own list.

I thought everyone liked "The Abandoned Brain"! How could you not?

I think it's a matter of having heard it in the first place! You have to have the 12", the way-out-of-print "Invisible Hitchcock" or have sprung for the "I Wanna Go Backwards" box. In other words, dedicated Robyn fans!

I was never really a huge RH fan, but a few years back I caught a show of his (Peter Buck was playing guitar) and toward the end of the set they ripped through a spot-on cover of "See Emily Play". I was mesmerized.

one of those AV Club setlist things w/ Robyn http://www.avclub.com/articles/robyn-hitchcock,64430/

Thanks for the tip tyler!

hey, while this thread is up here, anyone have the "rout of the clones" bootleg? i have it on tape, but no way to digitize...

I'll get it to you. Any other requests? You have Portland Arms, I assume? And Day They Ate Brick?

thanks! yeah, i've got portland arms. not sure about day they ate brick, what's on that? was actually thinking about compiling the ultimate soft boys live album, since robyn doesn't seem to want to do it. but most of the stuff i have is on tape, and I slept on the just add cones website downloads ... :(

Day They Ate Brick is the Radar demos. I'll see what my best-sounding live stuff is and get it to you. Probably not today though.

DO IT NOW
jk, really appreciate it!

sounds interesting...
The Floating Palace

Curated by renowned English eccentric Robyn Hitchcock, The Floating Palace is an intimate evening of free-wheeling musical collaboration featuring KT Tunstall, Eliza & Martin Carthy, Krystle Warren and Howe Gelb.

It's a simple concept: musicians admire each other, are a little envious of each other, and, given the chance, like to play with each other. But normally they only get the chance to do this in the studio, or after hours. For the first time before a paying audience, we present a carousel of exceptional 'roots' artists; all lit within by their passion for music, accompanying each other on songs they know and songs they've only just met.

Robyn Hitchcock is joined by award winning Scottish songstress KT Tunstall, folk legends Martin and Eliza Carthy, American singer Krystle Warren and alt country experimentalist Howe Gelb.

Make sure you don't miss this very special evening if the Floating Palace swings by your city. You can catch them live on the following dates:

05/02/2012 - Glasgow ABC1 as part of Celtic Connections 2012
06/02/2012 - Gateshead, The Sage
08/02/2012 - London, Barbican Centre
11/02/2012 - Brighton, Dome
12/02/2012 - Coventry, Warwick Arts Centre

In high school, my local public library had Invisible Hitchcock. It was brilliant!

Fucker always does such interesting events in the UK.

i know! was sort of disappointed that the Floating Palace wasn't, you know, actually a boat. Though I think he's already done shows on boats.

Yeah he did a thing where he performed on a ferry to the Isle Of Wight and then led people around his favorite places there incl. the beach which inspired "Airscape"

One day one of these events will be so compelling I'll simply have to get on a plane.

But I did get to see him with Joe Boyd, which was fun. He usually gets to Boston almost annually so I can't complain too much.

Gotta think he'll be quiet this year, he's been quite prolific lately.

A limited list, but hey!.

It does my heart good to see someone rate Lysander that high. The best song on Perspex Island, IMO.

you've also identified the pulsing heart of Globe of Frogs (vibrating + Chinese bones)

Interesting that you have shorted the green and gold 'indoor' albums (trains/eye). While I agree with conventional wisdom that the former is a robyn peak, I do think eye is a bit overrated, including by robyn himself.

Vibraaatiiiinng

And in the demons hat
Bom.
Bah bom.
Bah bom.
Discolored flowers grew
Bom.
Bah bom.
Bah bom.

nothing off I Often Dream of Trains?

Man, I Often Dream of Trains/Fegmania was a great period.

When occasionally I get bitter about not having written “Boys Of Summer” I remind myself that Don Henley never wrote “Give Me A Spanner, Ralph”

— Robyn Hitchcock (@RobynHitchcock) January 6, 2019

Well, yeah.

I daresay it's time for a new odds and sods comp of 2000s outtakes.

hear hear!
nice recording of robyn's recent dylan celebration here: https://archive.org/details/rhitchcock2018-12-27.flac16

Oh man I really hope Robyn covers boys of summer