Archives for December 2020

Certain Songs #1975: Robyn Hitchcock – “Heliotrope”

December 7, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Moss Elixir
Year: 1996

. . .

After his contract at A&M expired, it was three full years before Robyn Hitchcock released another record, taking some time off to regroup after the death of his father, though it wasn’t like he’d fully disappeared, or even stopped writing songs. I know this, because I saw him for the fourth time at the Bottom of The Hill in San Francisco — one of my very very very favorite places to see shows — on September 23, 1994, and a glance at the setlist for that show shows that he was stockpiling songs for the next album, which finally came out in 1996.

Certain Songs #1974: Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians – “Serpent at the Gates of Wisdom”

December 5, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Respect
Year: 1993

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While people always fixated on the Syd Barrett or John Lennon influences on Robyn Hitchcock, Bob Dylan was also a huge influence, which became formalized when he released an album of Dylan covers that featured the electric half of Dylan’s infamous Manchester 1966 concert. Since then, he’s sprinkled Dylan covers here and there.

And heck, just this year, he played guitar on his partner Emma Swift’s fantastic Dylan covers album.

Certain Songs #1973: Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians – “The Arms of Love”

December 4, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Respect
Year: 1993

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“Arms of Love” is on the short list of Prettiest Songs Ever Recorded, Robyn Hitchcock Division. It was also the first Robyn Hitchcock song I was looking forward to hearing, and it was the rare Robyn Hitchcock song that had been covered by another artist prior to Robyn putting our his own version.

That artist, of course, was R.E.M., who had been intertwined with Hitchcock since 1988 — Peter Buck was basically the fourth Egyptian and Michael Stipe had sung on two of the better of the Perspex Island-era songs, “She Doesn’t Exist” and “Dark Green Energy.”

Certain Songs #1972: Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians – “So You Think You’re In Love”

December 3, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Perspex Island
Year: 1991

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After the acousticy detour of Eye, Robyn Hitchcock came back in 1991 with Perspex Island, his fifth studio album with The Egyptians, which had a bigger and glossier sound as compared to his previous albums. I mean, as compared to: it still wasn’t a patch on some of the bigger productions of the year: your Guns ‘n’ Roses or or your U2s or even your R.E.M.s.

The R.E.M.s, of course, were once again helping Robyn out. Well, mostly Peter Buck, who is all over the album, including the the first single, the crazy-catchy “So You Think You’re In Love,” a song that went all the way back to the Soft Boys days.

Certain Songs #1971: Robyn Hitchcock – “Raining Twilight Coast”

December 2, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Eye
Year: 1990

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My favorite song on Eye was the stark and desolate “Raining Twilight Coast,” a gorgeous elegy for a relationship that is clearly over, but is also on the short list of the Prettiest Song Ever Recorded, Robyn Hitchcock Divsion.

“Raining Twilight Coast” is one of those songs that takes its sweet time to get to where it wants to go — to the point where it’s normally the kind of song I would probably ignore — but the trip is incredibly worthwhile.

Certain Songs #1970: Robyn Hitchcock – “Beautiful Girl”

December 1, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Eye
Year: 1990

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While Eye was mostly filled with longish and downbeat-sounding songs, there was at least one seemingly upbeat tune, “Beautiful Girl,” which is just basically a strummy acoustic guitar song, like you’d imagine a busker somewhere singing while wandering around a BART station.