The Plain Dealer
July 19, 1999
Artist: Robyn Hitchcock
Title: Jewels For Sophia
Label: Warner Bros.
Release Date: Tomorrow
by John Soeder
Loony as ever, Robyn Hitchcock returns with another first-rate collection of neo-psychedelic ditties about dairy products, bizarre creatures, and the meaning of life. His eccentricities all-but preclude mainstream success, but they make this British singer-songwriter one of the most consistently fascinating musicians of his generation.
Hitchcock, 46, is used to being one of Pop Rock's best-kept secrets. His first band, The Soft Boys, never transcended cult-fave status; ditto his next group, The Egyptians. As a solo artist on-and-off since 1981, he has racked up glowing reviews and modest sales. His profile was heightened ever-so-slightly last year by Storefront Hitchcock, a documentary film directed by Jonathan Demme.
At any rate, here's another rave for Hitchcock's scrapbook. On the sublime Jewels For Sophia, he sings the praises of cheese ("The Cheese Alarm"), fires off a tongue-in-cheek salute to the Pacific Northwest ("Viva Sea-Tac") and relates a love story from a plant's point of view ("I Feel Beautiful"). Well-crafted melodies make the weirdness go down in the most delightful way, and the lyrics occasionally flirt with profundity. "Antwoman", a tune about a seductress with "Audrey Hepburn feelers", opens with the existential line: "Being just contaminates the void".
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