Los Angeles Times
February 29, 1992
Vanishing Hithcockian Images
Rocker Leaves Behind Some Of The Bizarre Critters That Have Roamed Through His Music
by John Penner
After 15 albums that have been inhabited by midnight fish, maternal insects, and a host of other strange critters; British rocker Robyn Hitchcock says he's setting the lot free.
Hitchcock's 16th and latest release, Perspex Island, ignores the charming and often frightening images of surreal creatures he has used to illuminate real themes.
And -- having revived many of his quirky old crowd-pleasers during solo-acoustic performances -- Hitchcock says he is now ready to bury many of those old numbers.
"We've gotten rid of a lot of those old songs," said Hitchcock (who appears --plugged in again, with his band, the Egyptians -- on Sunday at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano). The trio was scheduled to open its Southland swing Friday night at The Palace in Hollywood.
Hitchcock still performs "My Wife And My Dead Wife", a 1985 Poe-like tale of affection for both a current mate and for the memory of a former one. "I'm sick of that song, but I still think it's a good song," he explained. "In fact, I'm rather proud that I wrote it."
Others, however, he believes have eroded over time. "The Man With The Lightbulb Head", "Brenda's Iron Sledge", and other songs that Hitchcock now considers mere "fairy stories" have been jettisoned.
Still, in explaining why he is moving away from the bizarre, evocative images both on record and in live performances, Hitchcock slipped back into his familiar madcap persona that created the critters pictured in those songs.
"It's time some of those creatures were erased. Or maybe 'liberated' is a better word," he said during a telephone interview this week. "But they're gone now. They're wandering the desert by themselves, making their way to a dead, dry river creek somewhere south of Arizona -- hundreds of miles from water."
Speaking in more linear terms, Hitchcock, 39, says he has simply outgrown many of the songs from his earlier days as a solo artist and with The Soft Boys -- his Punk-era band whose music celebrated the melodies of The Beatles and The Byrds.
"I'm going to be 40 [soon], and I don't want to go around singing songs I wrote when I was 25," he said. "If I were young now, I think I'd like those songs better." Perspex Island, on one hand, marks a return to Hitchcock's past in that it fully embraces the Pop side of his music, chock-full of happy, bouncy melodies. Catchy tunes crop up on all of his records, but on this one the melodies are relentless.
Some of those melodies are brought to life by R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, who has acknowledged Hitchcock as a major influence on his music. Buck -- who has played on four of Hitchcock's recent records and often performs onstage with him -- plays guitar on eight of the 11 songs on Perspex Island. R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe adds backing vocals on one, "She Doesn't Exist".
And while Hitchcock's lyrics are as striking as the melodies, this time around his songs lack not only insects, but cynicism. For an artist heavily influenced by William S. Burroughs and Syd Barrett, that's a big change.
Even in "Earthly Paradise", a song that bemoans the decaying state of the planet, he evokes flickers of optimism.
"I was cynical before I had reason to be," he said. "It's nice to get older and not be so cynical. Cynicism is nothing to be proud of. And, ultimately, it's quite boring."
The void left by the missing critters and angst is filled most often by Hitchcock's views on love. "So You Think You're In Love", "If You Go Away", and "She Doesn't Exist" dissect love from different angles; while "Ultra Unbelievable Love" celebrates it outright.
"I just want to write songs now that make people feel things," he said. "I used to want to make pictures. Now I want to make people feel things."
Expanding upon that theme, many of the new songs are celebrations of the moment.
"Birds In Perspex" depicts birds encased in Perspex -- a British product similar to plexiglass, often used to make paperweights. The song creates an image of a frozen moment of a bird appearing to be in flight, and evokes a longing for the dead bird to burst out of the Perspex and come to life.
"It's like excavating the ruins of Pompeii, finding the forms of bodies in a running position," he said. "You see things differently when you picture them in the moment. When considered in the stream of time."
To celebrate the moment is to "redeem your place in eternity," he says.
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