The Boston Herald
November 14, 1996
Singer's Skewed Views Fill An Album
by Sarah Rodman
Robyn Hitchcock has been called a lot of names during his 20 years in Rock 'n' Roll. The 43-year-old Brit has been tagged loony, warped, demented -- and a hipster genius -- because his shimmery, melodic brand of Folk Pop balladry is littered with dreamlike images of balloon men, cat-headed women, and threatening inanimate objects.
The one label that has been a constant -- from his days in the '70s Progressive Rock outfit The Soft Boys to his ongoing stint with '80s college radio faves The Egyptians to his '90s acoustic solo work -- is eccentric.
"I've been called a lot worse than that," the affable Hitchcock said, laughing, on the phone from a San Francisco tour stop. "I think that's absolutely fine. Michael Jackson is described as eccentric. And compared to me, his music is like a toothpick, so predictable."
Predictability is the last musical crime that Hitchcock, who performs Saturday at Avalon with countryman and adopted Bostonian Billy Bragg, would be accused of.
"Do you want to be predictable?" Hitchcock asked rhetorically. "Unfortunately, most people feel they should. In order to sell records, they've got to have the kind of words that go with their haircut, and the kind of harmonies that go with their guitar solo. Because then the marketing people know where to put it.
"You know, you're not going to get a Rap band talking about the cultivation of cactuses, or have a Heavy Metal band doing a song about tree surgery. And I think that's a pity, really. Everybody knows just by looking at the entertainer what kind of songs they're going to get. Maybe that's sensible marketing, but I think it makes for boring music in the end. So I've always tried to jumble things up a bit."
Things are pretty well jumbled, but beautifully so on Hitchcock's latest release, Moss Elixir.
Self-produced, the tracks range from the spare, surprisingly straightforward love song "This Is How It Feels" to the slightly dissonant, string-sweetened "Sinister But She Was Happy" to the full-blown, sunshine-y acoustic fantasy of "DeChirico Street" (in which a weighing machine follows the protagonist down the street as "Fingers turn to flies and they passed around poetry"). All are graced with Hitchcock's skewed visions and aching melodies.
(For die-hard fans, Hitchcock has released Mossy Liquour: Outtakes And Prototypes, a vinyl-only companion to Moss Elixir, with different versions of the disc tracks as well as additional new songs.)
"I think anybody who follows their own path is liable to be seen as eccentric," said Hitchcock. "I think maybe also if you're not so bothered about making other people follow it. You know, people like Napoleon and Hitler weren't eccentrics because they forced other people to march where they wanted. Therefore they weren't eccentrics, they were dictators. Honestly, I want people to see what I'm doing -- but I'm not going to beat them over the head with it."
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