Wall Of Sound
1996
Robyn Hitchcock
Moss Elixir
Label: Warner Bros.
Genre: Alternative
File Under: Love Songs For The Twilight Zone
Rating: 77
by Grant Alden
Time for a spot of reinvention. Like The Soft Boys, whom they much resembled (save for Kimberly Rew's blazing guitar), Hitchcock's longtime comrades, The Egyptians, are no more. And as with Hitchcock's first post-Soft Boys effort, 1981's beautiful Black Snake Diamond Role; Moss Elixir is a simple, private, acoustic affair. So Spartan, in fact, that it verges on being a self-produced set of demos, with only an occasional cello or other lone instrument to augment Hitchcock's voice and guitar. Why the reinvention? Well, the fortysomething Hitchcock has tired of being a cult songwriter. As a result, Moss Elixir is full of gentle, loving songs like "Heliotrope" and "Alright, Yeah". But Robyn is still Robyn, so there are also charming, bent bits like "I Am Not Me" and "DeChirico Street", full of typically quirky lyrics like, "I was followed home by a weighing machine". But if you found Hitchcock a little too inaccessible in the past, the relatively straightforward nature of Moss Elixir may be just the door you've been looking for. Collectors' Note: the vinyl incarnation of the album (cleverly titled Mossy Liquor, is even more delightful), containing some alternate tracks, including the catchy "Trilobite" and a Swedish-language version of "Alright, Yeah".
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