The Rocket
November 21, 1996
Robyn Hitchcock And The Egyptians
Greatest Hits (A&M CD)
by Chris Nickson
Ah yes. The stuff that should have been hits, plus some live squiggly bits, all passed off as the very best of Robyn and his band. So, you get things that got air and/or MTV play, things which nobody quite noticed at the time (like "Flesh Number One (Beatle Dennis)"), and even a killer cover of "Eight Miles High". It's all stirring stuff -- Hitchcock at his childlike best on the lyrics. Not as many insects or fish as the real connoisseur might want, but there you go. Those A&M years gave him quite a bit of visibility. It was just a shame that the material, fun and Pop-y as it was, just didn't manage the quality of what went before -- and, it seems, what's come since.
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