Biography

One of rock & roll's most gifted eccentrics, Soft Boy frontman Robyn Hitchcock at his best evokes much of the same benign insanity that marked John Lennon's whimsicality -- at times, his songs even evoke a similar sense of melody. His first solo album, Black Snake Diamond Role, picks up pretty much where his work with the Soft Boys left off, even to the point of employing most of his former bandmates. Still, this suits the material, particularly the manic "Brenda's Iron Sledge" and the lovely, semipsychedelic "Acid Bird."

Working with a pickup band, Hitchcock then recorded Groovy Decay, using ex-Gong guitarist Steve Hillage as producer. Dissatisfied with the result, Hitchcock eventually substituted a revamped version entitled Groovy Decoy; although some of the songs are agreeably melodic (especially "America" and "The Cars She Used to Drive"), neither the Hillage recordings nor the Matthew Seligman- produced remakes are in any way essential. But if you're curious, the whole mess was compiled into Gravy Deco (The Complete Groovy Decay/Decoy Sessions). After a two-year hiatus, Hitchcock returned with the drolly titled I Often Dream of Trains. Recorded without a band, its lean, guitar-and/or-piano arrangements leave it sounding less like a finished album than a collection of song demos. Thus, although the songs are wonderful -- particularly "Sounds Great When You're Dead" and the barbershop harmony number "Uncorrected Personality Traits" -- the performances rarely do them justice.

Eventually, Hitchcock got tired of being solo and recruited the Soft Boys' original rhythm team of Morris Windsor and Andy Metcalfe (plus keyboardist Roger Jackson) for a new band, the Egyptians. That this was the right thing to do becomes obvious with the first notes of Fegmania!, which showcases Hitchcock's cheerful insanity through authoritatively played, tunefully surreal numbers such as "Egyptian Cream" (a perverse fertility song) and "The Man With the Lightbulb Head" (a loopy monster-movie send-up). Even better, Hitchcock and band followed Fegmania! with the spirited concert album Gotta Get This Hen Out, which not only righted some of the wrongs done by I Often Dream of Trains and Groovy Decay by remaking "Sometimes I Wish I Was a Pretty Girl" and "America," but also reclaims the Soft Boys' "Leppo and the Jooves." But Hitchcock and the Egyptians don't really begin to show their true potential until Element of Light, which augments the usual lyrical whimsy with well-crafted, insinuating melodies such as those to "Winchester," "Lady Waters & the Hooded One," and the homoerotic "Ted, Woody and Junior." (The best of his work to this point is compiled as Uncorrected Personality Traits.)

Obviously, others sensed the group's potential, for with Globe of Frogs, Hitchcock and the Egyptians made the leap to the majors. Unfortunately, the album doesn't quite live up to the inspired standards of Element of Light, for despite the appealing lunacy of "Balloon Man" and the raucous "Sleeping With Your Devil Mask," the album fizzles where it should sizzle. Hitchcock bounces back, though, with Queen Elvis, which includes the expected flashes of insanity (for instance, the wicked wit of "The Devil's Coachman") but puts the bulk of its energy into tuneful tidbits such as "Wax Doll" or the chiming, Byrds like "Madonna of the Wasps." Hitchcock hadn't gone completely commercial, however, and had by this point assembled enough musical oddities to fill an album; hence, Eye, which takes the same stripped-down approach as I Often Dream of Trains, although without its predecessor's lo-fi sound. It's not a great album, but Hitchcock does seem to need an outlet for his apparently relentless creativity. After all, up to this point he had been regularly releasing occasional collections such as Eaten by Her Own Dinner and Exploding in Silence; indeed, Invisible Hitchcock compiles more than a dozen songs from such projects.

Hitchcock compensates for those underproduced efforts with the surprisingly slick and accessible Perspex Island. What makes this such a delight isn't that its conventional love songs -- "So You Think You're in Love," for instance -- are so infectious, but that Hitchcock's melodic standards are the same regardless of lyrical content. Respect, which turned out to be his final album with the Egyptians, is a somewhat more low-key affair, but it doesn't lack for verve -- the wacky "Yip Song" sounds as if it was inspired by a four-year-old after too many cookies. From "The Wreck of the Arthur Lee" to "Then You're Dead," it's classic Hitchcock. It's worth owning pretty much all of the A&M; albums, but for those on a budget the sterling Greatest Hits includes most of the highlights.

Hitchcock went back to playing solo, with a revolving cast of accompanists, with Moss Elixir, a mildly folkie effort long on whimsy but packed with melodic punch, especially on "Sinister But She Was Happy" and "The Devil's Radio." Jewels for Sophia reflects an unexpected L.A. influence and features such big marquee names as Peter Buck, Jon Brion, and Grant Lee Phillips. Its sound is more traditionally rock & roll than any of Hitchcock's non-Egyptian projects, and tracks such as "Sally Was a Legend" and "You Got a Sweet Mouth on You, Baby" are sassy, nonsensical, and nearly irresistible. Even the outtakes from those sessions, collected on A Star for Bram, are pretty fab. But just as Jonathan Demme's concert film Storefront Hitchcock failed to generate any buzz outside the music world -- or, to be honest, much buzz within it -- Jewels didn't set the world on fire, and Hitchcock slid back into indie semiobscurity. At least he has his freedom, and makes the most of it on Robyn Sings, a serious sort of gag album in which he covers a number of Dylan songs, including the infamous "Royal Albert Hall" bootleg. The mostly acoustic Luxor returns to the stripped-down sound of I Often Dream of Trains and maintains the usual standards of inspired whimsy through the likes of "Penelope's Angles" and "Solpadeine." (J.D. CONSIDINE)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide

Photo

Advertisement

 

 


Advertisement

Advertisement