Daily Mail
August 9, 1996
Robyn Hitchcock
Moss Elixir Warner Bros
Warners Debut By Soft-Boy-Turned-(Gratis R.E.M.)-College-Fave
by David Cavanagh
Warners have lost TAFKAP and are currently negotiating with R.E.M., but look who they've signed in the close season: Robyn Hitchcock. The chairman is particularly excited about Moss Elixir, one of those albums of "almost literally solo" Robyn (I Often Dream Of Trains, You & Oblivion, Eye) that he makes once in a while.
The 12 songs here are consummately Hitchcockian: Cambridge vowel-twangs, Folk Rock guitars (electric and acoustic), laugh-aloud syntactical pyrotechnics, sincere love songs secreted behind the comedy. Too long in the tooth to worry about his influences -- nor his own influence upon others -- he works to his own standards (which are high on Moss Elixir). His writing can be wonderfully batty ("Darling/You don't need to call me starling/Or even Mao Tse-tung"), yet has a rare economy -- as when he describes a woman as being "like a spider, half-inclined to free you".
The two obvious charmers here are "Alright, Yeah" (with a rhythm section), one of his finest jangling songs; and "The Speed Of Things", so authentic a Folk melody that Bert Jansch could have done it on Jack Orion. But hear those lyrics: "You were allergic to bee stings/I threw some earth onto your coffin/And thought about the speed of things". A racing mind and a dark guitar. What's music about, if not the two together?
Robyn Hitchcock: Moss Elixir (Warner Bros): Straddling that area known as cult (which means "respected-but-doesn't-sell), Hitchcock's whimsical cleverly constructed lyrics and off-centre Folk tunes prove he deserves more recognition. ***
COPYRIGHT NOTICE