Billboard
November 7, 1998
Robyn Hitchcock
Storefront Hitchcock
Producer(s): Not Listed
Warner Bros. 46846
Genre: Pop
by Lisa Gidley
It's a sign of our culture gone awry that there are more documentaries on things like the making of Forrest Gump than on cult luminaries like Robyn Hitchcock, but Jonathan Demme has tipped the balance back a bit with Storefront Hitchcock, his forthcoming film about the surrealistic and intermittently brilliant singer-songwriter. The soundtrack distills the film's performances and keeps a hefty amount of Hitchcock's tangential between-song patter. Yet as an introduction to Hitchcock, it's a curiosity; instead of taking the easy "best-of" route, the album includes a handful of new tracks and weaker novelty numbers like "The Yip Song".
Of course, Hitchcock fans have long gone along with the artist's flights of fancy, knowing that they'll sometimes result in gems; here, the highlights include reworked versions of "Glass Hotel", "Freeze", and "Beautiful Queen", as well as the grounded new track "1974". Likewise, the introductory stories range from comical ruminations on Muzak and bodies ("If it weren't for our rib cages, it'd just be spleens-a-go-go") to less-riveting commentaries on religion and duct tape. While Storefront honestly reflects a witty and complex artist, its main appeal will be to the already-converted.
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