St. Louis Post-Dispatch
August 22, 1996
Moss Elixir
Robyn Hitchcock (Warner Bros.)
by Paul Hampel
The biggest difference between Robyn Hitchcock's Folk-imploded latest, Moss Elixir, and a live Hitchcock performance is that the awkward pauses have been edited out.
If you've ever seen Hitchcock perform solo, bereft of the guiding grooves of his longtime backing band, The Egyptians, then you know better than to try and figure out what the hell the quintessential English eccentric Pop star is singing about. You especially know this if you own one of his records and have seen him twice, because then you've heard three different versions of a Hitchcock song.
On Moss Elixir, the brook babbles on: "She was sinister but she was happy/Like a chandelier festooned with leeches", chirps Hitchcock on the dull opening track, "Sinister But She Was Happy".
Nonsense like this is Hitchcock's trademark. He free-associated to remarkable effect with The Soft Boys on the 1980 classic Underwater Moonlight and with The Egyptians on 1989's underrated Queen Elvis. The latter included the Modern Rock radio hit "Madonna Of The Wasps", and introduced Hitchcock to a broad American audience (although he's still largely ignored in his home country).
Only a talented array of guest musicians saves Moss Elixir from total loss. "Alright, Yeah" triggers a repeat mode reflex action thanks to some lovely slide guitar work and an insistent rhythm section. "Beautiful Queen" is a loopy, psychedelic pearl with a melody strong enough to support its composer's absurdist inclinations ("Every cloud is numbered in the library/So is every kiss and every fly").
But the album stumbles under the weight of sodden Folk ballads, consisting mostly of Hitchcock and an unplugged guitar. Of these, only "The Speed Of Things" has a hook, while "Heliotrope", "Filthy Bird", "You And Oblivion", and "This Is How It Feels" come off as self-indulgent filler -- as noteworthy as bad slam poetry.
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