Comments on: Clean Steve

By: badger

badger — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 22:59:49 +0000

My top three might be IODOT, Eye, and Black Snake Diamond Role.

I lost Hitchcock in the ’90s too. Perspex was okay at the time and oddly, the first one I bought in store (on tape. the rest were taped from tapes of vinyl.) Respect almost put me off altogether. I bought Moss Elixir on vinyl but never developed a relationship with it.

By: The Modesto Kid

The Modesto Kid — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 19:10:53 +0000

A word to the wise: there is a bit torrent floating around of RH (and Soft Boys) complete discography up thru 2007 or thereabouts which has all the rare trax including the unreleased A&M trax and a pretty exhaustive set of RH guest appearances on everybody from Decemberists to REM to Captain Sensible to… I can’t remember where I downloaded it but searching the bittorrent sites for “Robyn Hitchcock discography” should get you somewhere.

By: paledave

paledave — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 15:30:08 +0000

Another obscurish one is the b-sides comp, Invisible Hitchcock. Lot of fun, that one, but it has since been superseded by other releases. I kind of lost Robyn in the mid-90s along with other acts whose lights I thought to be fading at that point (Parker, Costello), but that may just be me.

I was a Robyn obsessive. Saw him at least 4 times, was driving fifty miles to buy flexidiscs, the whole bit. Robyn pops up on The Decemberists’ The Hazards Of Love record, but that’s another story.

By: The Modesto Kid

The Modesto Kid — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 14:21:27 +0000

Nope, EoL is Midnight Music.

By: The Modesto Kid

The Modesto Kid — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 14:20:11 +0000

Wait, wasn’t Element of Light on A&M? I thought the major label period was EoL -> Respect.

By: paledave

paledave — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 14:13:11 +0000

I really like Perspex Island, arguably the best of Robyn’s major label period. The songs are great, and it all is very radio-friendly. I am slowly (it’s taken me 20 years) unraveling the meaning of the title track—still not there yet.

By: The Modesto Kid

The Modesto Kid — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 12:07:52 +0000

(Oh and Storefront Hitchcock, that demands to be included in any list of great RH discs)

By: The Modesto Kid

The Modesto Kid — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 12:07:03 +0000

Element of Light is a great, great record, no question. Also great: Eye, IODOT, Respect/Spectre (if only it did not include Wafflehead this would be my favorite RH disc), Moss Elixir, Black Snake Diamond Role, Underwater Moonlight, Goodnight Oslo, Ole Tarantula, ... I think of PI as my favorite one because I have listened to it from beginning to end more (pretty sure) than any oother RH disc, it is the one that got me back into his music after 15 years or so of not listening to it. "Birds in Perspex" is probably my favorite track of his. More thoughts about this record at READIN...

By: paledave

paledave — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 02:30:05 +0000

Element Of Light, although I had a lengthy IODOT phase and Eye is a strong album. Robyn’s one of those artists (literally, an artist) that has his albums rereleased every few years with different extra tracks. There’s a “new” song from Eye called Century that’s just amazing. My big track is Chinese Water Python.

Element Of Light isn’t only his best; it’s one of my Top 5 for anybody, ever. I saw the Egyptians on that tour, and I don’t have the adjectives. I saw Morris Windsor sing harmonies.

By: badger

badger — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 00:47:16 +0000

you’re mad, brother… mad! (I would not have realized that album would have any fierce devotees.)