Seattle Post-Intelligencer
September 30, 1994
It's A British Invasion Of Talent
by Peter Blackstock
Let's count the similarities between Robyn Hitchcock and Richard Butler.
First, and most important at the moment, both are playing in town tomorrow night -- Hitchcock at The Backstage, 2208 NW Market St., and Butler with his new band, Love Spit Love, at RKCNDY, 1812 Yale Ave..
Second, their voices. Though they sound rather different from each other, Hitchcock and Butler have reputations as singularly distinctive singers. They also both serve as exceptions to the general rule that people lose their accents when they sing: there's no question as soon as these guys open their mouths that they are quite British, indeed.
Which brings us to the third similarity: their backgrounds. Both were born in London in 1953, and both began rising to prominence on the English music scene in the late-1970s with bands to which they no longer belong.
While Butler uses sensual dramatics to capture an audience, Hitchcock relies on bizarre stream-of-consciousness ramblings to keep the crowd entertained. Off-the-wall absurdity seems to come naturally to Hitchcock, who began his career with The Soft Boys and went on to front The Egyptians before going solo a few years ago. On his two most recent discs, Perspex Island and Respect, Hitchcock has toned down the strangeness quotient and focused more on his equally remarkable talent for writing brilliant Pop songs.
The '90s have also brought heightened interest in Hitchcock's past work. Last year Rykodisc reissued three Soft Boys albums on CD that had long been out of print. In November, Rhino Records plans to do the same with several of The Egyptians' records (with liner notes penned by Grant Alden, owner of Seattle's Vox Populi art gallery).
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