Wall Of Sound
1999
Robyn Hitchcock
Jewels for Sophia
Label: Warner Bros.
Genre: Rock, Pop
File Under: Still Not Rehearsing For Retirement
Rating: 82
by Grant Alden
Decades after The Soft Boys, 10 years after having had college radio "hits", and recently canonized on film by Jonathan Demme, Robyn Hitchcock simply keeps on. He has become, alas, the archetypal cult musician, with a scant audience in his native England and small pockets of rabid fans throughout The States, known as much for the glib surreality of his semi-improvised stage patter as for his music.
Despite the apparent novelty of his richly imagistic songs, Hitchcock has always been capable of precise blades thrust to the heart of the matter. Witness "Cheese Alarm", which seems little more than an amusing run through the deli tray until it strays upon this couplet: "Half the world's starving, and half the world bloats/Half the world sits on the other and gloats".
The opening "Mexican God" nods graciously toward doo-wop, while the dubious ode to Seattle, "Viva Sea-Tac" (which features the chorus "Viva, viva, viva, viva, viva Sea-Tac/They've got the best computers and coffee and smack"), and "NASA Clapping" are facile dust-ups. "Sally Was A Legend" is rich, vintage Hitchcock and could fit on any of his last dozen albums, as could much of the balance.
Recorded with various friends in Seattle (a quorum of Young Fresh Fellows, Peter Buck), Los Angeles (Grant-Lee Phillips, Jon Brion), and East London (Kimberley Rew, back after a 17-year hiatus), Jewels For Sophia has a springy, lurching step, even if no particular directions home.
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