Robyn Hitchcock/Soft Boys: Classic or Dud?

I feel beautiful and beautiful queen are the biggest Michele songs I can think of - does he play those still? I can’t remember.

Man, “The Beauty of Earl’s Court” is really lovely. Interesting decision leaving that off Eye, and including “Agony of Pleasure.”

Looking forward to seeing him at the Betsey Trotwood (London) on Tuesday night - and I have a spare ticket, if anyone's interested...

report???

I was utterly heartbroken to not be able to see him last friday night in nyc playing in front of an electric band because we had to go to massachussetts for an emergency. i hope this mini tour will not be the last time he ever tours electric with backup.

I saw Liz Phair in Nashville a few weeks ago, and in the encore she brought Robyn Hitchcock on stage to sing "I Wanna Destroy You" with her and Sadie Dupuis (Speedy Ortiz were the opening band). It was pretty great.

There's a video of that on Youtube - not a combination I'd ever imagined.

the show on Tuesday was amazing - one of the best I've seen him play (of the 40 odd I've seen at this point). solo acoustic, about 50 people in the audience, just magical - kicked off with Tonight, ended with Airscape, but in between we got a bunch of interesting stuff - the first time I've seen him play Glass (which suddenly clicked for me), what he claimed was the live debut of You've Got, the banter was as good as ever. Also the first time (I think) of hearing I Wanna Destroy You on acoustic - not quite as good as the incredible versions from the electric shows earlier in the year, but still pretty good.

Also I thought he was off in a fantasy when he was talking about writing songs for an Ethan Hawke movie, but I guess it's real (and he also played this):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1sAd6_WruI

haha, maybe that movie is good, i have no idea — but the cover of that soundtrack is the worst.

I'm looking forward to his Nashville show in November - I haven't seen him with a band since the Jewels For Sophia tour.

EZ you didn’t catch any of the Venus 3 tours?

Unfortunately not. I lived too far away from any of the shows.

Last night's show was a lot of fun. Loose and freewheeling set in a tiny club. One of the benefits of Nashville is he plays hometown shows often enough that he can pick and choose his venues.

Bummed I couldn't get also tickets to his Bluebird Cafe acoustic set tonight but such is life.

Last nights show solo or band?

Band. Him and the Fabs. Good setlist:

Try again:
Hitchcock setlist

Winchester! Love that one ... don't think I've ever heard him play it live.

It was a first for me!

I haven’t kept up w him in years but nice to see Madonna. Aleah liked Queen Elvis and thought it was unjustly maligned.

Madonna of the Wasps was lovely as always. The surprising Queen Elvis highlight was Freeze. As close to ferocious as I’ve heard from him.

He played Winchester?!?!?!

Fuck you!

So jealous

He apparently played it at the Bowery show last month, too

Arrrrrgh

I seriously absolutely could not get out of the thing I had to leave town for that weekend

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.