Ryko Info
August 24, 1993
Soft Serve
"There had been an unspoken but implicit agreement that whatever we touched, would turn upside down -- like nailing a bed to the ceiling, or burying a television alive. Without sloganeering, or demolishing the traditional features of Pop -- harmonies, guitar solos, middle eights, etc. -- we tried to rearrange things."
--Robyn Hitchcock on The Soft Boys
Sometimes history is made quietly, and a great band can produce timeless music with hardly anyone noticing. Such was life for The Soft Boys, a band that had everything -- classic Pop songs, twisted humor, a charismatic frontman and a killer guitar sound. Everything but the audience to match. After producing several albums -- including 1980's landmark Underwater Moonlight ("One of the New Wave's finest half-dozen albums and unquestionably its most underrated one," said the Trouser Press Record Guide) -- the band finally went down in a blaze of obscurity.
But the story didn't end there. The '80s saw frontman Robyn Hitchcock begin a brilliant solo career, often joined by fellow ex-Soft Boys -- bassist Andy Metcalfe and drummer Morris Windsor. Meanwhile, guitarist Kimberley Rew wrote a number of hit singles (including "Walking On Sunshine") as the founder of Katrina And The Waves. And the original bands' legend continued to grow as fans discovered the three official albums (A Can Of Bees (RCD 20231), Invisible Hits (RCD 20233), and Underwater Moonlight (RCD 20232), all available on Rykodisc), sought out the rare B-sides, even shelled out for the many dubious bootlegs -- anything to get their hands on more Soft Boys.
More Soft Boys has finally arrived. In mid-August, Rykodisc will release the 38-song, two-CD anthology, The Soft Boys 1976-81 (RCD 10234/35). Assembled with Hitchcock and the band's full cooperation, the package covers every period of the band's history -- from early recordings made in Hitchcock's living room to their final studio track, "Only The Stones Remain" (still a popular live number by Hitchcock And The Egyptians). The set is practically bursting with material not found on any of the Soft Boys' "official" albums, including several non-LP singles, rare demos and live recordings -- plus a few songs so scarce that even the most diehard fans couldn't get hold of them.
The first disc covers the band's early days, with the sessions that led to their first LP, A Can Of Bees. Beginning the set are three songs from the sessions in Hitchcock's living room. Five songs from the debut EP Give It To The Soft Boys (never released in America) are included, along with both sides of the elusive Radar Records single "(I Want To Be An) Anglepoise Lamp"/"Fatman's Son", two further songs from their unreleased Radar album (including the never-heard-before "Salamander"), and a pair of Rock 'n' Roll oldies drawn from their rare, acoustic (and often hilarious) live album, Live At The Portland Arms. These tracks show the wild invention of the early Soft Boys, who often suggested the missing link between Beefheart and The Beatles.
The second disc shows the band's growth into a more straight-ahead Pop group -- but still with a sensibility all its own: "Have A Heart, Betty (I'm Not Fireproof)" remains the only love song in Pop history to include the line, "You were the one that understood the tennis ball." Underwater Moonlight is represented by unreleased early versions of two songs (the title track and "Insanely Jealous"), plus three from the official album -- including the underground classic "I Wanna Destroy You", later recorded by Uncle Tupelo and often covered live by The Replacements and R.E.M..
For fans who still regret that they never saw The Soft Boys perform, each disc also features a set of live numbers. The first catches the band in late-1978 at the Lady Mitchell Hall, and shows their unique taste in cover tunes: who else would seque from Elvis' "Heartbreak Hotel" into Lou Reed's "Caroline Says II", and follow that with the '40s novelty "I Like Bananas" without batting an eye? The second disc revisits the March, 1980 gig at London's Hope And Anchor pub, which produced the live side of the semi-offical (and now deleted) album Two Halves For The Price Of One. In addition to that album's extended version of Underwater Moonlight (with classic Hitchcock monologue), we've dug up four unreleased numbers from the same show.
Formed in the mid-'70s in Cambridge, England, the original Soft Boys were a trio made up of singer-guitarist Hitchcock, bassist Andy Metcalfe and drummer Morris Windsor. But the best-known lineup was in place a year later, after guitarist Kimberley Rew joined up. This was the band (sometimes joined by harmonica player Jim Melton) that made the Can Of Bees album, as well as the unreleased Soft Boys LP for Radar Records. By the time of Underwater Moonlight, Windsor had been replaced by Matthew Seligman, who later became the only Soft Boy to perform at Live Aid (as part of David Bowie's pick-up band). In addition to his continued work with Hitchcock, Metcalfe also doubled in the mid-'80s as a member of Squeeze.
The Soft Boys have never reunited, but they never completely broke up either, as three-quarters of the original band (Hitchcock, Metcalfe, and Windsor) continue to amaze and delight as Robyn Hitchcock And The Egyptians. But they've never made noises quite like the ones on The Soft Boys 1976-81. Come to think of it, neither has anyone else. Look for some selected Soft Boys reunion dates in the fall of 1993.
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