Rhino Records
December, 1994
Robyn Hitchcock Biography
by Grant Alden
"The next album I make, I think I'll just erase the tapes before it even gets out, so there's less problem about it."
--Robyn Hitchcock
So far as anyone can tell, Robyn Hitchcock is no relation to the film director who shared his last name. Just the same, Robyn's career has been a bit of a mystery to all but those lucky enough to stumble across one of his smart, bent songs. And there have been quite a few of them. With nearly a record a year since he moved from West London to Cambridge in late-1974, Robyn is nothing if not prolific.
Rhino Records, the world's reissue leader, is now making available nine titles from Robyn's fertile "middle period", 1980-87, released in three batches of three during January, Feburuary, and March of 1995. Recorded on modest budgets with the help of a group of Cambridge musicians who have been with Robyn almost forever -- as members of his bands The Soft Boys and The Egyptians, as producers, as co-conspirators, or just friends -- these nine records contain some of Robyn's finest moments. Along the way they became the basis for a cult legend.
Born March 3, 1953, in West London, Robyn came to music during a fertile time. He found inspiration in the songs of The Beatles (especially John Lennon), The Byrds, Syd Barrett, and Bob Dylan. Like his father, he evolved into a multidisciplined artist: writer, painter, humorist. (Robyn's sister is also a respected painter.) Mostly, though, he became a songwriter -- first for the legendary Soft Boys, then for himself. He's been busy, especially for someone whose stated goal was indolence.
"I wasn't too upset when The Soft Boys didn't take off," Robyn says. "Or even when my solo albums didn't work because, really, all I wanted was to sit there like a middle-aged dreamer, staring out over the bridge into the valley, blowing smoke out of my nostrils, reminiscing -- when in fact there was nothing to reminisce about."
Actually there was a fair bit to reminisce about when The Soft Boys called it a day in 1980, and that memory emboldened the release of unheard Soft Boys songs for years after. Largely ignored when they were active, The Soft Boys' reputation has steadily risen since, aided by testimonials from R.E.M., among others.
It's also worth stating that, with one notable exception, Robyn Hitchcock has made subsequent records -- solo and with The Egyptians -- on his own terms, sometimes as a conscious counterpoint to the trends of the day, often simply not caring what the rest of the world was about.
"I'm 41 and people aren't standing there tapping me on the shoulder saying, 'Here, why don't you go and be a Pop star?'," says Robyn. "People more-or-less know what I can do and what I can't do. But back then it was a bit more baffling. I remember right back to when we recorded 'Give It To The Soft Boys' in 1977, the wife of the guy who put out the record said, 'Well, that would be a good song if you had proper words for it.' I mean, she was right. But it wouldn't have been up to me to sing them."
Hitchcock fell into a solo career easily. He recorded Black Snake Diamond Role in 1980, quietly accompanied by an assortment of ex-Soft Boys, with former bass player Matthew Selgiman producing. "It was the first time I'd actually got to pick who I was going to have on the songs," he says, "rather than having the band. And so I figured I'd use the strengths of the individual Soft Boys rather than the strengths -- and weaknesses -- of the collective Soft Boys."
The next outing didn't fare nearly so well. Groovy Decay was recorded in 1982 with a substantial budget and a well-known producer (Steve Hillage), while Robyn was in the throes of some personal demons. Plus, most of his friends from Cambridge had moved on to other projects. So, as he recalls sadly, "There I was with a complete set of strangers, really." It's the only record he's made without assistance from the Cambridge mafia; frustrated, he released the demos as Groovy Decoy, but it didn't help. The songs were unusually dark, and missed the gentle spontaneity of Robyn's best work.
So he retired for two years, making ends meet by writing songs for his friend Captain Sensible's band, The Damned. In the end, he was bound to continue writing songs for himself. Robyn recorded demos at a friend's flat in the country, then very quietly recorded a masterpiece titled I Often Dream Of Trains in 1984.
"I really loved Trains. That and Snake are my fondest memories," Robyn says. "They may not have the best songs, but I think they're really good fun. And they're shining examples of un-corporate Rock. They're the kind of thing you come up with if you don't take any notice of anything."
Trains wasn't even out before Robyn hatched a short film called "The Man With The Lightbulb Head". Somehow the recording of the soundtrack song, combined with The Soft Boys' growing legend and a Cambridge bar in trouble, led to a reunion with ex-SB members Morris Windsor and Andy Metcalfe. The reunion went so well, The Egytpians were born (with Roger Jackson on keyboards). They rehearsed for all of a day before starting to record Fegmania! in early 1985. Six months later, Robyn's rediscovery by the fickle British audience led to The Egyptians' live recording of Gotta Let This Hen Out! at The Marquee in London.
In short order, Robyn Hitchcock And The Egyptians returned to the studio in 1986 to produce one of their finest efforts, Element Of Light. Here was a band well-accustomed to each other's style, road-sharpened and at the height of their powers. "I was a little bit more out of the bubble than I'd been in the early-'80s," Robyn remembers. "I started touring America. I was being exposed to different forces. And, in a way, I was probably starting to feel more like a real person (although it's arguable whether a cult figure or a Rock star is anything like a real person)." Along the way, Roger Jackson was shed and The Egyptians became the slender trio they remain today.
A good deal had been lost along that journey, so Robyn next settled into the first binge of unearthing old tapes, tracking down defunct equipment to play them back on, and rehabilitating B-sides. He called this 1986 result Invisible Hitchcock -- which will appear on CD in America for the first time as part of the Rhino series, complete with even more B-sides and such.
But Robyn has a wry laugh for the completeness and accuracy of this process, even the second time through. "I bet after all this comes out there'll be loads of things that we've missed," he says. "That's good because the collectors will be pleased, and then they can circulate those tapes instead."
All this success ended up with a proper American recording contract, which had ushered forth Globe Of Frogs (1988) and Queen Elvis (1989) before Robyn felt the urge to return to the studio, sans The Egyptians. Eye (1990) was recorded during a series of trips to San Francisco, many of the songs captured in one take. Oddly, it also is home to the song "Queen Elvis".
On March 28, a second batch of otherwise homeless tunes will grace You & Oblivion, a new collection Hitchcock curated whilst preparing tapes and B-sides for the Rhino reissues. All of which is rather tedious work, but not without its rewards.
"I've noticed that there's an awful lot of stuff I didn't really exploit properly," Robyn says. "If I'd let things be for a year and then come back to them, I'd have known how to finish them off. I would have changed a few words. I would probably have known what to do with the sound. I tended to record things as soon as I'd written them, and even before I'd properly edited them. And I'm afraid there's lots of ideas that I never really made the most of. So what I'm trying to do -- at least with the outtakes album -- is actually finish the songs off. In some cases finish the lyrics. Put a bass on it. Whatever."
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