1991
Soft Boys
When Syd Barrett gave up music for art, another Cambridge musician emerged to take on his mantle. Robyn Hitchcock started out as a solo performer and busker before becoming a member of B.B. Blackberry And The Swelterettes, then The Chosen Few, The Worst Fears, and Maureen And The Meatpackers. It was with the last-named that Hitchcock first recorded (in 1976), although the results were not released until much later. His next group, Dennis And The Experts, became The Soft Boys in 1976. The Soft Boys' first recording session was in March 1977, by which point the lineup was Hitchcock (vocals, guitar, bass), Alan Davies (guitar), Andy Metcalfe (bass), and Morris Windsor (AKA Otis Fagg) (drums). The original sessions remain unreleased but the same lineup also recorded a three-track single -- known as the Give It To The Soft Boys EP -- for the notorious local Cambridge label Raw Records (or ripoff records, to those who knew its owner well). This was released in the autumn of 1977, after which Davies left and Kimberley Rew was installed on guitar, harmonica, and vocals. The Soft Boys, now signed to Radar Records, released the single "(I Wanna Be An) Anglepoise Lamp", but it was not considered representative of their innovative live work. Forming their own Two Crabs label they released A Can Of Bees in 1979, after which they replaced Metcalfe with Matthew Seligman. Jim Melton, who had been playing harmonica for a while, also left. Their remaining releases came on the Armageddon label and included Underwater Moonlight, an album which is considered to be one of Hitchcock's finest moments. They broke up early in 1981 and Hitchcock went on to enjoy an erratic solo career, recruiting along the way Metcalfe and Windsor to form The Egyptians. Rew joined Katrina And The Waves and wrote the classic "Going Down To Liverpool" (later a hit single for The Bangles ), while Seligman joined Local Heroes SW9 and continued to contribute to Hitchcock's solo efforts.
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