The Washington Post
March 28, 1986
Curiously Refreshing Robyn Hitchcock's Odd But Alluring Pop
by J.D. Considine
Love may be a many splendored thing for some, but in the songs of Robyn Hitchcock, love is often downright weird. "My Wife And My Dead Wife", for instance, tells of a menage-a-trois between a man, his wife and his previous wife's ghost, while "Kingdom of Love" describes a case of infatuation in terms of an insect infestation. Not exactly standard Pop sentiment, is it?
The funny thing about Hitchcock, though, is that he supports his odd visions with utterly irresistible music on his latest album, Gotta Let This Hen Out!.
Unlike the Prefab Pop of former bandmate Kimberley Rew (now with Katrina And The Waves), Hitchcock's melodies are all odd angles and unexpected intervals -- yet it's the very quirkiness of his songs that makes them stick. Especially when they're driven home so effectively by Hitchcock and his Egyptians as they exercise an ideal combination of lean efficiency and ragged enthusiasm before an appreciative London audience. This is the sort of album from which cults are born.
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