CMJ New Music Report
September 6, 1993 (Issue 348)
Soft Boys
1976-81 -- Rykodisc
by James Lien
In terms of Postpunk influence, few rival the unseen impact of The Soft Boys. It was no accident that one of their collections was called Invisible Hits -- the band never had anything remotely resembling a popular record in its own lifetime. But like The Velvet Underground, it influenced scores of musicians who came afterward. This two-disc compilation of favorites, rarities, and oddities (given the nature of The Soft Boys' music, you knew there'd be plenty of those) attempts to satisfy the group's cultish and unusual fans -- and former Soft Boy Robyn Hitchcock compiled this anthology with their twisted interests in mind. Only Hitchcock would compile a collection that includes two different versions of the same song within 15 minutes of each other, and then repeats another song twice just a few minutes after that. His was -- and generally still is -- a curious, downright bizarre world where sex, death, and the imagination become horribly twisted together through Daliesque logic -- even the most shallow-sounding lyrics usually mask some incredibly dark and twisted turmoil underneath. On a level beyond the music, Hitchcock and The Soft Boys also forged a (somewhat) substantial career without ever doing anything remotely resembling compromise to outside pressures or the fashions of the times -- an admirable trait in any band. And in the years 1976-81, while Protopunk slid through New Wave to Synthy Euro-Rock, such iconoclastic lunacy seems even more impressive.
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