The Tennessean
April 7, 1995
Robyn Hitchcock:
The Man Who Invented Himself
by Andy Anderson
One of the most haunting tracks on You & Oblivion, Robyn Hitchcock's new release on Rhino Records, is "September Cones". "I just had this vision of these cones (a bit like traffic cones) glowing on the beach and in the fields at twilight in September -- when it starts getting dark early," Hitchcock explains. "I just imagined all these scenarios -- of phone books on a beach, and a glider crashing into a hill, and horses under a tree -- and the way they look. They start to become spectral. As things get darker, they get a bit more insubstantial. All of these scenarios are, sort of, linked by these glowing cones."
"I've actually got one now," he continues proudly. "I've got a purple cone --that glows, and, sort of, has its own aura -- that my girlfriend's parents gave me," he says, and laughs. Somehow, considering the eccentric nature of much of Hitchcock's music, it just seems right.
You & Oblivion is an entirely new collection of 22 previously unreleased songs, including such gems as "Take Your Knife Out Of My Back", "Mr. Rock 'n' Roll", "and "Stranded In The Future".
"In some cases, I had to finish the lyrics (and a few other things)," the eccentric English rocker says. "There's bits where you'll hear me harmonizing with myself, and one of my vocals is ten years younger than the other. So, I did tidy it up a bit.
"I think you have to look at it as a library rather than a record. It's there so you'll have access to the best of those things that have been laying around."
Born on March 3, 1953 in London, Hitchcock first received recognition and praise for his work with The Soft Boys, a Cambridge outfit playing Post-Psychedelic Rock at the height of the Punk Rock revolution. Since the breakup of The Soft Boys in 1980, Hitchcock has performed as both a solo artist and with his band, The Egyptians. During that time, he's garnered much critical praise and established a significant, fanatical following all over the world.
Hitchcock And The Egyptians issued three intriguing albums on A&M in the late-'80s and early-'90s. But much of his best work has either long been out of print, or available only on hard-to-find imports. Now -- thanks to Rhino, the premier archival label -- U.S. fans can hear the complete work of the man The Trouser Press Record Guide has called "one of the great undiscovered treasures of modern Pop music".
Rhino has remastered and reissued eight of Hitchcock's underappreciated-yet-classic, albums: Black Snake Diamond Role, Gravy Deco (The Complete Groovy Decay/Decoy Sessions, I Often Dream Of Trains, Fegmania!, Gotta Let This Hen Out, Element Of Light, Invisible Hitchcock, and Eye. In addition to much-improved sound, each CD features new liner notes penned by Hitchcock himself, and several additional bonus tracks -- many of which were previously unreleased.
"I suppose it's good," Hitchcock says with a laugh. "I'm just used to not having things all there. Every time I make a record (or the band and I have made a record), they haven't fitted on top of each other in a neat stack. We're used to things disappearing not long after they've been issued, and then reappearing again. It is good that we now have it all twinkling away at once."
Hitchcock's bent, dark, and twisted storytelling -- combined with his highly melodic Pop sensibilities -- make him one of the most unusual and entertaining singer-songwriters of his generation. His singular style is a blend of his own quirky, offbeat nature mixed with the sounds of such childhood influences as The Beatles, Byrds, Dylan and early Pink Floyd.
So what inspires Hitchcock to pen such tunes as "The Man Who Invented Himself", "My Wife And My Dead Wife", "The Man With The Lightbulb Head", and "Eaten By Her Own Dinner"?
"I don't consciously choose a tpic," he insists. "I don't know how many songwriters do, you know, sit there and say: 'I'm going to write a song about the Clintons' (or whomever). I would never write a song about what was happening at the moment unless it was something that was extremely terrifying.
"I did write a song abotu Ronald Reagan once ["The President", on 1986's Element Of Light], because of a speech he gave -- and I was so scared. Generally speaking, it takes a lot for something like that to penetrate me. Otherwise, it's more likely to be some facet of my life that happened twenty years ago, or some picture that's been on the wall of the house where I've been for the last ten years, or something that's been bugging me about a relationship with someone (or, indeed, something I want to celebrate about a relationship with someone).
"But I can't say, 'Okay, I'm going to write a bug song today,'" Hitchcock explains. "I don't choose my inspiration -- I supsect no one does. I think you should always be mindful of that when listening to my work."
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