Robyn Hitchcock/Soft Boys: Classic or Dud?

Oh you don’t say? The Rhino CD of element of light happens to have the best bonus tracks of any robyn CD ever

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uv5cc6mnj5vzj9b/The%20President%20%282020%20version%29.WAV?dl=0

Video version:

https://vimeo.com/426120374

Last week's Eye show:

https://www.facebook.com/robynhitchcockofficial/videos/745575576214056/?refsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com%2Frobynhitchcockofficial%2Fvideos%2F745575576214056%2F&_rdr

More Eye this week, too.

I have recently gotten a case of the Soft Boys and Robyn Hitchcock fever. i'm still working my way through the thread, and through much of the catalog as well. i have to say, it was an absolute _delight_, earlier, to be listening to the Egyptians 1996 Greatest Hits comp, hearing many of the songs for the first time, especially toward the back half, and then hearing Michael Stipe on "She Doesn't Exist", and loving the song even before realizing it was him or believing it. I wondered if it was Mills for a minute, but then it was clearly Stipe, and it's interesting because the way he sings on that song, from 1991, seems like it prefigures a shift in how he would sing with REM in the mid-to-late 90s. it almost sounds like the the way he would sing a song on Up or Reveal or parts of New Adventures, I mean. hard to explain, but it was just so excellent to hear his voice out of nowhere (along with Peter Buck's playing. damn they were on a roll back then)

i also have some other thoughts but i want to read the thread first. hitchcock's lyrics. i mean, i'll say this, you notice them. i mean, i know RH has the reputation of being "weird" but i am hoping i don't get to the mid-2010s part of the thread and find that he straight up murdered people, lol *grimace*

one additional first reaction to listening to a lot of the catalog all at once - it's kind of amazing how the older hitchcock gets, the more he sounds exactly like robert pollard (or very much vice versa)

i mean, i know RH has the reputation of being "weird" but i am hoping i don't get to the mid-2010s part of the thread and find that he straight up murdered people, lol *grimace*

afaik there's nothing out there too ugly about him, i basically assume he was not the easiest person to deal with around the time of the Soft Boys and i wouldn't have wanted to be in a romantic relationship with him then but that's about it. his political leanings seem fairly good, and while "Uncorrected Personality Traits" might be a little questionable (and obviously tongue-in-cheek) he seems to have pretty warm-hearted and open-minded thoughts on gender fluidity, particularly for an aging British man.

I think the era that Greatest Hits comp covers is not my favorite, the production tends to mar the songs a bit, but there's still plenty of good stuff there. It's weird trying to navigate his catalog, albums get re-released, re-ordered, with outtakes added in and certain songs deleted. Wonderful b-side (or something) from that era that seems to have vanished from his official re-releases: "Ghost Ship." On the other hand I had never heard "The Beauty of Earl's Court" until a few years ago when it showed up on the reissue of Eye.

after skipping ahead and listening to some of the Venus 3, i am very much looking forward to seeing where he goes. there are some excellent songs. "Luckiness", despite the trope of the format (almost every line starts with Lucky, manages to be interesting throughout and surprising and even touching, at times. also a lovely performance -- it's kind of shocking to hear the crowd clap at the end after what sounds like a studio cut

Karl I am not sure if my Spotify playlists still exist now that I don’t have Premium anymore, but if so I did an RH one called Verities & Verdigris which I was rather proud of. He’s been my favorite songwriter for 37 years now. There’s so much to wander across and blunder into. He loves to leave his best songs off his albums.

(Note: I think globe of frogs and queen elvis are on streaming now but iirc they weren’t when I made my playlist.)

(Also his Patreon is super worth it - he’s put up a few dozen demos/obscurities at this point including the great “The Cross, The Dollar And The Gun”)

(Also yeah there’s not really anything ugly to discover about his character, the worst I’ve heard is he’s a bristly grouch sometimes)

it's also amazing to hear that this obsession with reptiles and insects and shit that was very apparent in the soft boys stuff is STILL there in the 2000s. it just comes up, in so many ways, to the point where you start to listen for it and maybe count things as reptilian-references that maybe aren't at all. like in propellor time (the song), when he sings "Now paint me green / ‘Cause that’s my scene"

His Venus 3 era was a great one for live shows, they did so many great shaggy renditions of his songbook. There’s lots of really good audience recordings on archive.org from those years - look for 2006-2007 especially.

My favorite Venus 3 is Propellor Time which for some reason no one ever talks about including him. “Star Of Venus”, “John In The Air”, “Ordinary Millionaire”, perfection

Xpost haha

I've never really gotten on with RH's recorded work but I did see him play with the Venus 3 a decade or two ago and it was unbelievably good, just one of those nights when you go in with no particular expectations and get utterly blown away. I think I probably went along because Peter Buck was in the band and it seemed cool that someone from a band as big as REM was playing a tiny club show.

My favorite Venus 3 is Propellor Time which for some reason no one ever talks about

interesting! yeah, it was the first of the venus 3 material that I listened to, (and I thought it was a one-off before finding the earlier ones), so with fresh ears I thought it was excellent and is definitely one that stands out to me so far

He loves to leave his best songs off his albums.

yeah, i was just giving Eye a good listen (i like it a lot), and and "shimmer distant love" came on and was immediately my favorite. such a lovely song. (i also really like queen elvis and executioner and several others along the way). but, i didn't realize it wasn't on the original album, just the reissues! all three of the bonus tracks (shimmering distant love, lovers turn to skulls, the beauty of earl's court) are quite good. Eye proper has some very noticeable influences, as basic as bob dylan and john lennon, but clear as day. his music is very interesting because his influences are clear and lyrical obsessions are clear and trackable and yet he so frequently surprises. those three bonus tracks are like a little magical mystery tour era beatles EP. sort of.

i also saw that he has a huge bob dylan albert hall 2xlp release, so i'm looking forward to hearing that. i thought his version of Cold Turkey was pretty great

He’s done several really great recreations of other people’s albums, usually in the uk to benefit charities, with “heavy friends”. That Dylan thing was the first thing he did song those lines. There’s been Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, Clear Spot, Sgt Peppers, John Wesley Harding (the latter done solo in the US). Maybe one of The Band too I can’t remember.

The Dylan 66 one is the only one to have been packaged up as a release, the others are all on Archive as audience recordings. HIGHLY recommend the Floyd one.

Also along those lines, do not overlook I Often Dream Of Trains In New York… this kind of thing is usually to be avoided but this is a fantastic reimagining of the album with really cool arrangements.

There was a time when Perspex Island was my jam. I still like a lot of it.

It’s too long but a great album anyway. Probably his bleakest. Also, his obsession as a listener with the Avalon/Boys & Girls soundworld is notorious and I think this is the album where he actually flirted with that feel in his own music

“Lysander” = deathless

"If You Go Away" too.

Definitely, and probably the darkest thing on the record

still going through the deep dive! it's interesting, listening to the streaming/spotify versions of old albums like Black Snake Diamond Role, because it doesn't clearly delineate where the album proper ends and the bonus tracks begin. also, i don't know which bonus tracks are outtakes and which are singles or from EPs and stuff. it's nice because i can listen with something of a clean slate. for example, to me, "all i wanna do is fall in love" sounds like a fine closer to Black Snake, more straight ahead than most of the album, but also maybe the most soft boys / pop song on it as well, it's catchy as hell.

Try this bit of freshness. It smells like sea air:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FUgViZU2Pg

^Robyn’s own favorite, and he’s not wrong

i haven't gotten to Element of Light yet!

getting very close though, will be later tonight i think

I think “out of the picture” is the most soft boys thing on black snake. Either that or I watch the cars

For me his “bonus tracks” are forever cemented as the ones Rhino put on the 90s reissues (and though element of light may or may not be his best album, the rhino cd of it with bonus tracks is certainly his best cd, IMO)

Karl you spun me out into creating my definitive fake rh box set and I spent all day on it (sorry employer)

Of course it’s mp3s in folders rather than a “playlist”

I’ve got all the tracks selected and I’m grouping them now. It’s too long though, I want to make another pass and see if I can get to an under four hour (“3cd”) version

xp yeah the live version of "airscape" on the rhino reissue is beyond beautiful. don't think it's on anything else ... can't even find it on youtube.

As a result I came across a previously unlistened to track from a VA compilation- “Crumble To Dust” - which fucking slays

Waittaminit Tyler - are you sure that’s on rhino? Mine has the b-sides, a couple of demos, and THE CAN OPENER

these are the ones on my rhino CD

Rhino CD reissue bonus tracks
"The Black Crow Knows"
"The Crawling"
"The Leopard"
"Tell Me About Your Drugs"
"The Can Opener"
"Raymond Chandler Evening" (Demo)
"The President" (Demo)
"If You Were a Priest" (Demo)
"Airscape" (Live)
"The Leopard" (Demo)

the "raymond chandler evening" demo is insanely great too

Jesus did I not rip that track back in the day when I imported EoL or something? I totally forgot it existed!

Yes, the Raymond chandler demo is my preferred version

The horns <3

I'm getting drunk inside my house again.

yeah, Element of Light rules, a standout for me so far. i was listening without looking at the playlist, and about a minute into "Airscape" i knew what it was. That's going to be an instant fave of mine as well, i think, i love it. it's one of those songs that i swear i had heard before, but i hadn't. it reminds me of "Tonight" from Underwater Moonlight in that quality, in that it sounds like this massive pop hit that we all love and remember or something. it sounds like the soundtrack to the end of a movie where the people you're rooting for win and they actually deserve it without any sort of cruel twisted dagger of irony that makes it hard for you to enjoy their victory. no, they just win because they deserved and "Airscape" plays as it goes to credits. also, it has the title of the album in it, and you know what that means.

"Somewhere Apart" reminds me very much of "Remember" from Plastic Ono Band, with the same chords and kind of relentless stomp, and of course, RH (which, to be clear, stands for Radiohead) sounding quite a bit like Lennon himself. i love Lennon's voice and I love this song too. RH gives a very good performance. Lennon got very lazy and boring and drunk, very quickly, i think. this is like when he still gave a shit. reminds me a bit of nilsson as well for similar reasons.

i still haven't read through much of this thread, but i saw morbs early on and smiled. i also smiled as i listened to "The President". i bet morbs liked that one. :)

i like the guitar solo at 4:00 into Lady Waters, rock and roll!

"The Leopard" is really, really good - it shares a partial melody with the Stone Roses' "Waterfall", and the snare kicks in at just the right time. mmhmm. i also really like the harmonies/multitracked backup vox throughout. Soft Boys / Egyptians vocal harmonies are generally really great, going back to the beginning.

anyway, going to bed but i'll definitely be revisiting Element of Light.

has there ever been a soft boys / hitchcock giganto poll?

oh, also "If you were a priest" is a cool opener, i love it. the single from the LP, i think?

Yeah, backed with The Crawling

"If You Were a Priest" already shows signs of writing to character but what a riff, as ever.

There’s never been an RH/SB ballot poll. I’ve contemplated doing a song by song thread

That (song by song) was done quite well over on the Hoffman board. Definitely an insider or two participated.

oh i'll read that

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_-88nKetZA

fegmania! is really something else. i mean, it is, on many levels, just flatly ridiculous. they write "heaven", a song which, sitting here 35 years later listening to it for the first time, sounds like it belongs on mid-80s radio, a stratospheric hit. the chorus even kind of annoys me a little bit - it starts to sound a little too MOR for me. but regardless, the chorus bugs me in a way that should point toward sacrifices made for popular appeal.

and then, they put the shepard tone in. the audio illusion that sounds like the frequency is getting higher and higher (even as lower frequencies are always being reintroduced and faded in as the higher ones fade). not once. not twice. but THREE FUCKING TIMES, the SHEPARD TONE! that is a level of commitment that is just kind of mindboggling, and they did it on their chance at a big pop hit! i fucking love that

then, following that, you have a straight up rip of the beatles "if i needed someone" which, just before you check to see if it's a straight up cover, quickly shifts into the land of byrds 12-strings and harmonies land, which is already what the Rubber Soul Beatles were referencing

"my wife and my dead wife" is just something else, too. very odd song, and it reminds me very much of Magazine.

i went looking for Christgau's opinion of RH and the soft boys. all he has is a [scissors icon] rating for Jewels for Sophia, which he rated [scissors icon], and then the following entry from his 1980s "Subjects for Further Research", which seems to be referencing the above. doesn't look like he ever further researched:

Hitchcock is the kind of English eccentric who becomes impossible to bear when he's taken up by American Anglophiles. I admired the Soft Boys' 1980 Underwater Moonlight and Robyn's own 1981 Black Snake Diamond Role from a distance, but my enthusiasm dimmed as he and his Egyptians became college-radio idols, and once I noticed the one about the guy who keeps his wife's corpse around for company, his considerable talent meant nothing to me. I have no doubt that scattered among his albums are songs strong enough to withstand his professional-oddball attentions, and if I were more spiritually advanced I might even swallow my prejudices and learn to enjoy him for what he is. Which is what? A rock and roll cross between H.P. Lovecraft and Kingsley Amis? Way too kind, but that's as much thought as I intend to give the matter.

"The Man with the Lightbulb Head" is just outstanding

love this soft boys photo

http://s3.amazonaws.com/quietus_production/images/articles/5207/Soft_Boys_picture1_1288611843.jpg

That’s the classic Morris pic. He looks like bad news!