(Total aside, Jon not Jon, but I was discovering stuff at Rockheads around that time, when I was 14 or so. Bought Pere Abu's Song of the Bailing Man in the sale bin, and so much other stuff.)
― deep luminous trombone (Eazy), Thursday, 23 June 2022 03:12 (one year ago) link
Ha! That delights me truly!Our itinerary every Saturday was St Paul Comics/Shinders/Rockheads/Town Square for food/wander around the skyways for hours
― covidsbundlertanze op. 6 (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 23 June 2022 03:34 (one year ago) link
A long time ago, I saw a documentary on cable: RH & Venus 3, travelling around, playing gigs in tiny places---"backstage," if you can even call it that, more like "betweem the Men's Room and the fire exit," Buck was looking cross and sleepy and saying what a good time he was having without "my other band," who made such a big deal of everything. At one point, in his plush Seattle apartment, Robyn was waiting for him, speaking shyly to Mrs. B, and then Buck comes out of the bedroom looking all cross and sleepy and fat as hell, and then they go play another dive---anybody know what that is??? Pretty good!
― dow, Thursday, 23 June 2022 03:58 (one year ago) link
ROBYN HITCHCOCK: SEX, FOOD, DEATH....AND INSECTS, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNImdQfZolQ
― You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike. (hugo), Thursday, 23 June 2022 04:15 (one year ago) link
Oh yes I forgot, classic. Gotta Let This Hen Out reissue spoiled a little by the extra tracks though, original verison all killer.
― You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike. (hugo), Thursday, 23 June 2022 04:20 (one year ago) link
I’ve still not seen the film actually
― covidsbundlertanze op. 6 (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 23 June 2022 04:23 (one year ago) link
Oh did you just post the whole thing lol
Everything is on YouTube as Borges predicted. I am watchiing it again right now, forgot all about this one.
― You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike. (hugo), Thursday, 23 June 2022 04:28 (one year ago) link
Is that the one I was talking about?!
― dow, Thursday, 23 June 2022 05:00 (one year ago) link
Oh yeah, looks right.
― dow, Thursday, 23 June 2022 05:02 (one year ago) link
It's groovy. I never saw the Demme one tho, Storefront Hitchcock.
― You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike. (hugo), Thursday, 23 June 2022 05:05 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLtvbfC4NFY
this was just posted a few days ago. Santa Monica, April 25, 1993.
what's great about this thread is the outside chance that one of you may have been there!
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Thursday, 23 June 2022 22:05 (one year ago) link
and for the freaks out there, skip to 32 minutes in for extended stage banter riffing about donald fagen
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Thursday, 23 June 2022 22:12 (one year ago) link
that was just before I got into Robyn — I'd see him for the first time the next year ... in Santa Monica!
― tylerw, Thursday, 23 June 2022 22:46 (one year ago) link
Dang, too bad! There are some fun shots of the crowd in the video, too. Seems like a blast to be there. Excellent “Waterloo sunset”, too.
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Thursday, 23 June 2022 22:57 (one year ago) link
this was just posted a few days ago. Santa Monica, April 25, 1993.what's great about this thread is the outside chance that one of you may have been there!
I was there! I was a few minutes late (parking in Santa Monica is always terrible) so I was in the back - I think I saw the top of my head when the camera panned to the back during the Donald Fagen section.
― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 24 June 2022 23:04 (one year ago) link
i KNEW donald fagen would provide the crucial connection in time and space, somehow!
that's awesome! what a cool show. was that in addition to a show at a more traditional venue or in place of one?
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Friday, 24 June 2022 23:16 (one year ago) link
Yah, this was a couple days before his show at The Palace in Hollywood that he refers to at the end (which was also a terrific show). I think he was living in Los Angeles at this time (1991-1993/4 or so) during his A&M Records era so I saw him a lot - this show, several times at McCabe's, The Whiskey, CSUF's coffee bar.
― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 24 June 2022 23:55 (one year ago) link
Listening to Queen Elvis today front to back, having listened to it a lot in college (quintessential late-80s/early-90s "college rock" production). Always wondered why it wasn't on streaming services, and hearing it in full now wonder if it's because it's...not very good? Maybe it's Robyn's choice not to have it out there? The high points ("Madonna of the Wasps" and "One Long Pair of Eyes") are streaming from Greatest Hits comps.
Anyway, 80s/early-90s Hitchcock is always perfect fall music for me, so listening to it on this cool morning.
― The self-titled drags (Eazy), Thursday, 22 September 2022 16:48 (one year ago) link
i love this anecdote:
Airscape" concerns his "favourite beach", Compton Beach on the Isle of Wight,[5] which also provided a backdrop for the cover shots. He was inspired by learning about the erosion of the cliffs, and imagining the ghosts of people who had walked the cliffs centuries ago now suspended over the water.[6]
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 22 September 2022 17:03 (one year ago) link
this is my "Not That Robyn: I've been listening to Hitchcock for a summer" spotify playlist (so missing some things, like Queen Elvis, as Eazy just mentioned), in chronological order. i realize i have huge blind spots and i need to give his 90s - present albums more time, but at least later i can look at it and make fun of it, about 10 years from now. i hope i don't have horrible back pain all of the time when i do that! i'm sure i won't
human musicleppo and the joovesi wanna destroy youkingdom of loveinsanely jealous of you tonightqueen of eyesunderwater moonlightonly the stones remainacid birdout of the pictureloveall i wanna do is fall in lovethe cars she used to drivetrams of old londonegyptian creamthe man with the lightbulb headbells of rhymneyi'm only youairscapethe leopardif you were a priestsomewhere apartvibratinga globe of frogschinese bonesflesh number one (beatle dennis)queen elvisexecutionershimmering distant lovedriving aloud (radio storm)dark princessshe doesn't existridetelevisionluckinesspropellor timeevolove
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 22 September 2022 17:12 (one year ago) link
Queen Elvis has some duds, but I love "wax doll," "veins of the queen" and "swirling" in addition to the ones you mentioned.
I think its absence on streaming is just that A&M is kind of a mess rights-wise? That's why those Robyn A&M records have never been reissued.
― tylerw, Thursday, 22 September 2022 17:14 (one year ago) link
Exactly. That’s a strong list KM! You have good taste in RH songs!
― realistic pillow (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 22 September 2022 18:47 (one year ago) link
thank you! it's hard to go wrong with RH, though. i came away very impressed with his consistency over the years. even the lesser ones generally have at least a few really strong tracks that make it worth revisiting
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 22 September 2022 18:55 (one year ago) link
I'm always finding stuff in his catalog that I've overlooked — like this week, I was blown away by this one, a late 80s outtake:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DqdrUrgqPc
― tylerw, Thursday, 22 September 2022 19:05 (one year ago) link
oh and hey, I interviewed Robyn this week! Last time I did that was 20 years ago!
― tylerw, Thursday, 22 September 2022 19:06 (one year ago) link
Those Yep Roc box sets were supposedly great. I wasn't yet a fan so I settled for getting the album reissues one by one as I got to know his music.
― birdistheword, Thursday, 22 September 2022 19:28 (one year ago) link
yeah, they're pretty nicely done — his stuff has been reissued so much over the years, it's hard to say what the "definitive" versions of a bunch of his albums really are. But the yep roc ones are pretty close?
― tylerw, Thursday, 22 September 2022 19:45 (one year ago) link
for me the rhino series is definitive. The Yep Roc are good except the egyptians studio items are too louderized - i don't want morris' kick drum to momentarily wipe out the sustain of every other instrument every time it hits. If you had the yep roc boxes and the rhinos of fegmania and element you'd be sitting pretty IMO
― realistic pillow (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 22 September 2022 21:36 (one year ago) link
tyler where is the interview gonna be... and do you have any shareable thoughts on Shufflemania?
So Karl when you announced your RH jag earlier this summer i got inspired to try to make my definitive RH/SBs comp. This became a two month obsessive hitch-hole in which I went through several cycles of culling. I never did get it down to a single CD or even a double CD. I made it to 53 tracks before it became too excruciating to delete anything more.
Here is the tracklist for A Deck Of Cones - The Best Of Robyn Hitchcock:
I Want To Be An Anglepoise Lamp (7" version) (Soft Boys 1976-1981 2CD)Salamander (Soft Boys 1976-1981 2CD)Human Music (A Can Of Bees)The Pigworker (A Can Of Bees)The Asking Tree (Invisible Hits)Insanely Jealous (Underwater Moonlight)Underwater Moonlight (Underwater Moonlight)Only The Stones Remain (Underwater Moonlight bonus)The Lizard (Black Snake Diamond Role)Acid Bird (Black Snake Diamond Role)Mr. Deadly (Invisible Hitchcock or I Wanna Go Backwards)Flavor of Night (I Often Dream Of Trains)Sounds Great When You're Dead (I Often Dream Of Trains)Winter Love (I Often Dream Of Trains)Autumn Is Your Last Chance (I Often Dream Of Trains)I Often Dream Of Trains (I Often Dream Of Trains)Victorian Squid (You and Oblivion or I Wanna Go Backwards)I'm Only You (Fegmania!)Insect Mother (Fegmania!)The Cars She Used To Drive (live Gotta Let This Hen Out)52 Stations (Kershaw Sessions version)The Abandoned Brain (Invisible Hitchcock)Winchester (Element Of Light)Airscape (Element Of Light)The Leopard (Element Of Light bonus)The Ghost Ship (You and Oblivion)She Reached For A Light (You and Oblivion)Chinese Bones (A Globe Of Frogs)A Globe Of Frogs (A Globe Of Frogs)Wax Doll (Queen Elvis)Freeze (Queen Elvis)Aquarium (Eye)Lysander (Perspex Island)Birds In Perspex (Kershaw Sessions version)Arms Of Love (Respect)Egyptian Cream (live version from Rhino ed. of Fegmania - or live version from Live At Cambridge Folk Festival)Filthy Bird (Moss Elixir)I Am Not Me (Moss Elixir)Glass Hotel (Storefront Hitchcock)1974 (A Star For Bram)I Feel Beautiful (Jewels For Sophia)No, I Don't Remember Guildford (Jewels For Sophia)Mr. Kennedy (Nextdoorland)Creeped Out (Spooked)Sometimes A Blonde (Spooked)Museum of Sex (Ole Tarantula)Goodnight Oslo (Goodnight Oslo)John in the Air (Propellor Time)The Abyss (Tromso Kaptein)Strawberries Dress (Live at the Troubadour LA from archive.org because the production on the Love From London version sucks - killer song though)Mad Shelley's Letterbox (Robyn Hitchcock)Autumn Sunglasses (Robyn Hitchcock)
― realistic pillow (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 22 September 2022 22:01 (one year ago) link
nice! thanks for sharing
― budo jeru, Thursday, 22 September 2022 22:29 (one year ago) link
robyn interview will be on aquarium drunkard in a couple weeks. shufflemania is good! maybe one or two songs I'm not wild about, but good overall production, really nice vocals. he sounds pretty lively!
― tylerw, Thursday, 22 September 2022 22:40 (one year ago) link
!
― budo jeru, Thursday, 22 September 2022 22:40 (one year ago) link
xp cool, link it here when up plz
― budo jeru, Thursday, 22 September 2022 22:41 (one year ago) link
Awesome, Jon! That’s for a bunch of songs I can’t immediately remember, I will be going through that today and tomorrow looking for gold :)
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 22 September 2022 22:52 (one year ago) link
I rely on my brother for all my Robyn Hitchcock knowledge, and I've only heard like 1/3 of these songs, but one that I really like that I haven't seen mentioned is "Solpadeine."
― Lear, Tolstoy, and the Jack of Hearts (Lily Dale), Thursday, 22 September 2022 23:55 (one year ago) link
That’s for a bunch of songs I can’t immediately remember...
this is one of the most confusing things i've ever written, and that is hard to do. sorry about that!
what i meant was, there are a bunch of songs in your playlist that I don't think I'm familiar with, so I'll be looking forward to listening!
― Karl Malone, Friday, 23 September 2022 00:02 (one year ago) link
"veins of the queen"
Forgot to say, having this song in my head over the past week led me back to Queen Elvis! Would love if somehow A&M allows a deluxe edition sometime, given how good the live versions of these songs can be.
― The self-titled drags (Eazy), Friday, 23 September 2022 17:25 (one year ago) link
Yeah, the live stuff from the "Luminous Groove" box is ace.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Friday, 23 September 2022 19:03 (one year ago) link
Also the B-side from that album, “Ruling Class”… rules
― realistic pillow (Jon not Jon), Friday, 23 September 2022 19:33 (one year ago) link
Other odds and ends I'd recommend:
Innocent Boy (Soft Boys)The Face of Death (live Gotta Let This Hen Out)ToadboyAugust HairThe Beauty of Earl's CourtDe Chirico Street (alt version from Mossy Liquor)Each of Her Silver WandsPulse of My Heart (Soft Boys - Nextdoorland)I'm FallingSan Francisco PatrolTime Coast
― JoeStork, Friday, 23 September 2022 21:13 (one year ago) link
seconding "san francisco patrol" — I think that's my favorite song of his from the past decade or so...
― tylerw, Friday, 23 September 2022 21:22 (one year ago) link
where is "Do Policemen Sing?" u savages
these later period recommendations are helpful, thx
both the Yep Roc boxes rule, I have 'em
― sleeve, Friday, 23 September 2022 21:29 (one year ago) link
Oh yeah Do Policemen Sing rules.
― JoeStork, Friday, 23 September 2022 22:00 (one year ago) link
at long last — https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2022/11/07/robyn-hitchcock-the-aquarium-drunkard-interview-2/
I think it turned out OK!
― tylerw, Monday, 7 November 2022 16:19 (one year ago) link
how's the new album? I guess I could listen to it.
― akm, Monday, 7 November 2022 17:15 (one year ago) link
when is someone gonna reissue the Soft Boys "Live At The Portland Arms" record? I love that thing and it's never even been on CD.
― sleeve, Monday, 7 November 2022 17:16 (one year ago) link
thought the new one was pretty middling tbh
― ciderpress, Monday, 7 November 2022 17:17 (one year ago) link
Tyler - great interview, particularly liked the question and his answer about singing songs written 40 years ago. I've had other songwriters say basically the same thing to me, that the best songs reveal different aspects as the years go by.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Monday, 7 November 2022 20:34 (one year ago) link