Splendid
March, 2001
Underwater Moonlight
by George Zahora
I'm writing this review from the perspective of having seen the newly reunited Soft Boys perform less than seventy-two hours ago. Despite my natural (and justifiable) skepticism toward "reunion" tours and feature-added reissues, I'm thoroughly delighted to own a copy of the newly-expanded Underwater Moonlight.
For the uninitiated, The Soft Boys are probably best known as the band that Robyn Hitchcock fronted before he moved on to work with many of the same folks under the "Egyptians" moniker. Arriving in the midst of the original Punk explosion, The Soft Boys were defiantly intelligent and harmonic in an era that celebrated blunt aggression. Matador's reissue of their seminal Underwater Moonlight album more than triples the material found on the original; in addition to retaining Rykodisc's eight bonus tracks from the 1992 reissue and slipping in a ninth, they've added ...And How It Got There, a supplemental disc of rehearsal recordings and oddities. Is this necessary? Not really. Underwater Moonlight's original ten songs more than justify the purchase price. But rather than coming across as a cynical attempt to get fans to purchase the same album a second time, Matador's Underwater Moonlight...And How It Got There is a testament to the label's own love of The Soft Boys. It speaks not to casual interest, but active and consuming passion.
For fans of Hitchcock's solo material, Underwater Moonlight won't come as much of a shock. His trademark vocal delivery, arch and literate and unrepentantly clever, is almost fully developed here; if his performance seems a little less wry, perhaps it's because he's having more fun, and because he's younger. Even at this early stage, though, Hitchcock appears eager to stretch his vocal canvas, moving from wry, narrative sing-speak to guttural muttering as the music requires. Musically, the band's early Floydian Pop jangle is fused with the sort of sidelong, Beefheart-derived R&B flourishes that served many bands on the outskirts of Punk's first wave: The Pretenders, Roxy Music, The Talking Heads, even Ian Dury And The Blockheads. And even if you've never heard them before, these songs will seem familiar. No matter how loud your stereo will go, there's something about the anthemic "I Wanna Destroy You" that'll make you want to crank it even louder, and "Tonight" holds the promise of Hitchcock's future career in its handful of delightfully absurdist lyrics and soaring chorus. "Old Pervert" reminds us that The Soft Boys are a Rock band, dishing up an opening riff thunderous enough to send the Blues Explosion packing with their tails between their legs.
The supplemental studio material still acquits itself fairly well. "He's A Reptile" and the wonderfully-titled "Where are The Prawns?" fit in nicely with the original material, while "Only The Stones Remain" bares the group's Punk-ier edges. "Black Snake Diamond Rock" cops its riff and Blues-y attitude from "Who Do You Love", but comes off as a surprisingly credible effort (and gives Hitchcock a new vocal "character" to play with). The rest of the "bonus" songs sit more firmly in Syd Barrett territory -- particularly the cover of Barrett's own "Vegetable Man". These songs work well, but it was probably wise to leave them off the original Underwater Moonlight; they're less energetic than the rest of the material and might have adversely affected the album's pacing.
The second disc features seventeen rehearsal recordings, including multiple takes on "Old Pervert", raw versions of "Underwater Moonlight" and "Insanely Jealous", previously unreleased material and a couple of ace covers -- Lou Reed's "Leave Me Alone" (from the daunting Metal Machine Music) and Roxy Music's "Over You". Naturally, this material will appeal mostly to rabid Soft Boys fans, but jumbled as it is, ...And How It Got There is better than many "real" albums I've heard this year.
Rounding out this package is a painstakingly-assembled liner-notes-and-photos booklet so thick that it makes closing the jewel case a real challenge -- a wealth of information to accompany a wealth of music.
Underwater Moonlight...And How It Got There sets a high bar for "feature-added" reissues. It's also as vibrant and listenable as any current album, and a hell of a lot smarter than many of them. Even if you don't buy it, take the time to listen to it in a store or borrow a friend's copy. This is as good as "old stuff" gets.
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