The Washington Post
March 10, 1993
Hitchcock & Sting, Catching Newer Waves
by Mark Jenkins
Both non-Punk bands that got caught up in that New Wave, The Police and The Soft Boys washed up in very different locales. The former lightened up English punks' fascination with Reggae and found themselves at the top of the charts; the latter fought a rear-guard action against Punk's earnestness and never escaped the cult-band backwater. Those groups' principal songwriters, Sting and Robyn Hitchcock, have ended up as solo artists on the same label, A&M, but commercially remain leagues apart. Sting's bloated, sententious albums sell far better than do Hitchcock's brisk, surrealistic ones. With their latest efforts, though, both attempt changes of pace that bring them closer together -- musically, at least.
Robyn Hitchcock And The Egyptians: Respect
Death has long been one of Robyn Hitchcock's principal subjects, but he's usually treated it more as an altered state than a permanent condition. His new album, Respect includes the characteristically whimsical "When I Was Dead". But several songs treat mortality more seriously -- reportedly in reaction to the recent death of his father, Raymond. (The album is dedicated to him and to John Lennon.) "Then You're Dust", a quiet ballad, deals with the subject soberly, if not somberly: "Remind yourself what you once were/An animal without much fur/Then you're dust". But other less-likely numbers also touch on the topic. "The Yip Song", which opens the album exuberantly, features such lines as "Septicemia always wins" and "This old man, he was gone and I was sorry" amid its rollicking choruses of "Yip yip yip yip".
As on Hitchcock's last several albums, the other theme is true love: from the lovely "Arms Of Love" to the "Believe in love!/Believe in love/And I'll believe in you" refrain of "The Wreck Of The Arthur Lee", Hitchcock strives to shed his customary absurdist cleverness and be unambiguous on the point. "You need love, baby, love, baby -- don't you throw it away", he warns on "Driving Aloud (Radio Storm)".
Originally an attempt to achieve a simpler, more impromptu sound, Respect was recorded at The Isle Of Wight home of Hitchcock (currently a Georgetown resident) with mostly acoustic and frequently makeshift instruments. (Among the percussion credited to Egyptians Andy Metcalfe and Morris Windsor are wine glasses, water jug, frying pans, and cheese grater.) The Folk style of some songs remains, and Hitchcock's Byrdsian electric guitar is conspicuously absent. But most of these tracks have been adorned with keyboards, strings, trumpet, and -- most significantly -- soaring multi-tracked harmonies. The ingredients may be a little different, but such songs as "The Moon Inside" and "Railway Shoes" sound as lushly tuneful as anything on Hitchcock's three other A&M albums.
Song for song, however, Respect is neither as sure nor as spirited as Perspex Island or Queen Elvis. "The Yip Song" and "Driving Aloud" are the only tunes that qualify as up-tempo, and the album winds down disappointingly: "Serpent at the Gates of Wisdom" is a banal attempt to recast the Eve legend, while the goofily carnal "Wafflehead" is a novelty track that doesn't encourage repeated listenings. Still, the album's catchiest songs deserve every bit as much airplay as the catchiest of Sting's new tales.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE