Chicago Tribune
May 11, 1993
Robyn Hitchcock, Friends Let Stirring Moments Flow
Forget for the moment that since the late-1970s, Robyn Hitchcock has been tossing out dazzling songs with regularity -- at least two or three per album.
Forget that a handful of those albums -- Underwater Moonlight (recorded when he was in The Soft Boys), I Often Dream of Trains, Fegmania!, Eye -- flirt with greatness.
Instead, focus on Hitchcock and his band, The Egyptians: bassist Andy Metcalfe and drummer Morris Windsor. That's just what Hitchcock did on Monday at the Vic in a performance that emphasized acoustic intimacy and vocal interplay as much as his quirky way with a lyric.
Although the emotional gravity of Hitchcock's best songs is worthy of a Dylan or Lennon, he has a penchant for undercutting himself with silliness. And his between-songs patter, laced with the usual Monty Pythonesque non sequiturs, can be amusing. But it was difficult to justify the a cappella version of "Kung Fu Fighting" or the queasy sexual innuendo of "Wafflehead".
But these were minor detours in an otherwise emotionally engaging performance. The trio blended for some stirring moments, especially when Metcalfe's somber organ fed Hitchcock's guitar line on "Arms Of Love", and hand-held percussion and three-part harmonies turned "Airscape" into an evanescent hymn.
Then there was "The Wreck Of The Arthur Lee", which in the long line of tribute songs from one underappreciated musician to another -- Paul Westerberg's "Alex Chilton", Iggy Pop's "Dum Dum Boys" -- took on added poignance in that Hitchcock has said he may take an extended break after the current tour is completed. If so, he left town on the upswing, with a band in its musical prime.
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