Robyn Hitchcock (BBC4 Fri 27th April)

At Last the great man gets a whole hour on TV!
I guess this is the "Sex Food death and Insects" film shown at SXSW recently, it should be available on the NHS. Anyone who saw any of the recent "Venus 3" gigs with Peter buck on guitar and the wonderful Bill Rieflin on drums was indeed privileged.

Chris

quote:

Originally posted by ChrisG:
I guess this is the "Sex Food death and Insects" film Chris

I think you are right about the film. That of course means that Morris Windsor, Nick Lowe, John Paul Jones and Gillian Welch are in it as well!

Steve

One of my fondest memories is gazing up from the audience in the the Royal Festival Hall only to see Robyn and John Paul Jones sitting in the Royal box! Can't recall what the gig was, but it was about time Robyn was treated as royalty.

Chris

Just a note about the scheduling

At 20:30 In Concert Joni Mitchell (1970)
At 22:00 Gillian Welch

Set the PVRs

Steve

His gig with the Venus 3 at Bristol's Fleece & Firkin was one of the best I've ever seen. Peter Buck plays a great supporting role, never taking centre stage.

Steve,

This was one of the best BBC4 profiles I've seen and certainly makes an exploration worthwhile. I had only seen Robyn in a a Syd Barrett Tribute after his death last year. I think he played Terrapin in his garden and very good too. I'm going to buy Ole Tarantula as the songs featured in the programme. Have you any other recommendations?

Denis

Denis

Big and difficult question. To my mind he has produced some mighty fine albums and some absolute stinkers. There is probably someone out there who can direct you better than me but Storefront Hitchcock, Kershaw Sessions, Moss Elixir and Luxor give a real taste. He has done three (four?) acoustic albums which I like (I Often Dream of Trains, Eye and Luxor) as well.

I first got into him via Nic Harcourt's wonderful "Morning Becomes Eclectic" on KRCW (note to self Rufus Wainwright, Tim Finn and Faithless all on/due on in the next few weeks). Shows can be found here (1999), here (with Grant Lee Phillips), here (2002), here (The Soft Boys). The Museum of Robyn Hitchcock also has some cracking stuff on it.

Hope some of this helps, Steve

Denis

Robyn has a huge catalogue to choose from (I've just counted 28 CD's on my shelf and that doesn't include any bootlegs), I'm afraid I'm not too objective as he's my favourite English singer songwriter/guitarist. Try "A Star For Bram", "Element of Light", "Fegmania","Gotta Let This Hen Out" (Live album),"Jewels For Sophia", "Spooked " is the last but one release and is a lovely album (great on headphones) and include Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. I have two copies of "Luxor"(which is acoustic) and if you'd like one mail me at chris@motech.demon.co.uk. He's made some great albums and some not quite so great albums, but he's never ever made a stinker...trust me! Catch him live if you can, either acoustic or with The Venus 3 in the summer.
Chris

Steve,

Thanks for those tips, I'll look into them. I have also followed Nic Harcourt's wonderful "Morning Becomes Eclectic" for a while now. I flicked through the pages of previous shows and found Robyn's and will check it out.

Something I can Thoroughly recommend is at the bottom of page 21 The Dears playing tracks from their excellent No Cities Left album. The current album Gang of Losers is even better and one of my 2006 'best'. They are terrific 'live' band and are appearing at the RFH on 11th July with Midlake.

Denis

Chris,

Blimey, what have I let myself in for, this could get expensive Thanks for your offer, I'll mail you later and maybe I can reciprocate.
After ROTF printed some HMHB lyrics I was already bracing myself for another long but journey.

Denis

quote:

Originally posted by DenisA: already bracing myself for another long but journey.Denis

One thing is for certain, both the HMHB and Hitchcock journeys will be entertaining!

"Stinkers" was really the wrong word.

Steve

Basically Robyn ends up releasing everything, demos, outtakes, etc. This makes it difficult for a newbie to distinguish between the albums originally conceived as 'proper' releases and those issued as a present to the fans. For example, in between 'Spooked' and the Venus 3 album 'Ole Tarantula' came 'Obliteration Pie', a Japan-made compilation of odd tracks recorded since 2002, some very good, some a bit pointless.

Anyway, I'll pick 6 for good measure:

'I Often Dream of Trains' (1984) - very introspective but essence of Hitchcock. CD reissue slightly marred by humorous bonus tracks placed between sides 1 and 2 of the original LP.
'Element of Light' (1986)
'Perspex Island' (1989) - the most produced and REM-like
'Jewels for Sophia' (1999)
'A Star for Bram' (2000)
'Spooked' (2004)

Judging by the documentary the next Venus 3 album will be even better than 'OT'.