The Psychedelic Furs and Robyn Hitchcock at House Of Blues, Houston, TX 4/2/2017

I've been a fan of The Psychedelic Furs and Robyn Hitchcock for a very long time. Both artists share a psychedelic influence and come from the late 70's UK punk movement. Robyn's old band, The Soft Boys, opened for the Furs in 1980 and Robyn has covered "The Ghost In You" since the late 80's. So, despite some obvious stylistic differences, they are most certainly peers.

This is my third time seeing Robyn in the past sixteen months, and he's finally come around to embrace his legacy. He's performed "Balloon Man" and "Madonna Of The Wasps" at all of these shows, songs he'd snubbed in the past in lieu of then-recent compositions. He apologized that night for having a case of the flu, but his performance was seemingly unaffected by any such ailments. His playing was as nimble as ever and his voice was in fine form. Classics like "Heaven", "I'm Only You" and "Queen Of Eyes" all got airings as did newer classics like "I Pray When I'm Drunk",  "Saturday Groovers" and "Mad Shelly's Letterbox".

It was a little strange seeing Robyn open for anyone, but, given his slot and his flu, after twelve songs he departed the stage. He didn't even hang out at the merch table greeting fans, which has become a post-show ritual for Hitchcock as of late. Hell, there wasn't even any merchandise of his at the merch table.

I'd only ever seen the Furs once before, about ten years ago. They were good then. They were even better this time. Singer Richard Butler and bassist/brother Tim Butler are backed by lead guitarist Rich Good (ex-The Pleased), longtime sideman saxman Mars Williams (ex-The Waitresses), keyboardist Amanda Kramer (ex-Informantion Society) and drummer Paul Garisto (ex-Iggy Pop). They were a very capable band who were far more engaging than I'd anticipated.

They opened with the bonafide classic post punk single "Dumb Waiters". Sadly, they didn't perform anything from their classic self-titled debut album, but they did a bunch from it's equally classic follow-up Talk Talk Talk ("So Run Down", "Pretty In Pink", "No Tears" and "Mr. Jones") and few from Forever Now ("Love My Way" and "President Gas") plus later singles ("House", "Heaven", "The Ghost In You" and "Heartbreak Beat").

All in all it was fantastic show at a fantastic venue.

Robyn Hitchcock: The Man Upstairs (Yep Roc/2014)

Ex-leader of The Soft Boys, The Egyptians and The Venus Three, Robyn Hitchcock, released his twenty-first album The Man Upstairs. It's ten songs; five Hitchcock originals and five covers. He covers The Psychedelic Furs' "The Ghost In You" (which Hitchcock has covered since the 80's), Roxy Music's "To Turn You On", The Doors' "Crystal Ship", Grant Lee Philips' "Don't Look Down" and I Was A King's "Ferries". The album was produced by the legendary Joe Boyd (Pink Floyd, R.E.M., Cool It Reba) and features cover art by Gillian Welch. The best tracks on this are "San Francisco Patrol" and "Trouble In Blood". The album fits alongside Robyn's several acoustic albums and is a fine addition to an already wonderful back catalog.

Here's the video review:




Thanks to: Doug Mashkow.

Robyn Hitchcock: City Winery, New York, NY (11/19/2016)

 Ex-Soft Boys/Egyptians front man Robyn Hitchcock has been making music for almost forty-years. It's something of a surprise that he's as vital a live performer as he is. He's been a troubadour in the lone-man-with-an-acoustic-guitar sense for well over twenty of those forty years. His latest album The Man Upstairs (Yep Roc) is something of an odd summation of his acoustic leanings and where he comes from as an artist.

Hitchcock performed a few songs from the record (namely "San Fancisco Patrol") as well as some of his most well-known songs ("Balloon Man", "One Long Pair Of Eyes" & "Queen Elvis"). Australian country artist (and frequent collaborator as of late) Emma Swift join Robyn on harmony vocals for a few songs as well. He even dipped deeper into the back catalog with "Uncorrected Personality Traits" and "Trilobite" as well.

At 63, Robyn is as an engaging a performer as ever. He also makes himself very accessible after the shows, hanging out at the merch table, patiently signing anything for anyone.

A nice show by Robyn, as always.

Thanks to Doug Mashkow of CD Island and The New Music Scene.

The Soft Boys: Nextdoorland (Matador Records/2002)

The reunion of The Soft Boys in 2001 was something of a pleasant if albeit unexpected surprise. Band leader, guitarist and vocalist Robyn Hitchcock had worked with all of the ex-Soft Boys in some faculty (either on his solo albums or as his backing band in The Egyptians) since the bands' demise in 1981. This line-up is the same one that had recorded the band's magnum opus Underwater Moonlight. It's fairly safe to say that there is virtually no difference in Robyn's lyrical persona or from what he had been doing just previous to this. And there's little to no effort to imitate the busy arrangements that band had been mining at their outset. If anything these make the songs themselves and the album as a whole far more enjoyable.

Released in 2002 on Matador Records, shortly after the tour and reissue of the Underwater Moonlight

(in celebration of that albums 21^st birthday), Nextdoorland is one of Robyn's better releases from the 2000's. He definitely seems to be rejuvenated to be playing with lead guitarist Kimberly Rew, bassist Matthew Seligman and drummer Morris Windsor once again. The sweet backing vocals or Rew & Windsor are certainly nice to hear alongside Robyn's Syd Barretesque crooning. And it's nice to hear Robyn and Kimberly playing together in a modern context as well. The songs themselves work as a unified whole. “I Love Lucy”, “Japanese Captain”, “Pulse Of My Heart” and “Unprotected Love” being among the stand-out tracks. Outtakes from this album were issued later that year as the EP
Side Three.

The vinyl release was pressed on 150 gram vinyl and came packaged with a 7” single of live versions of “Underwater Moonlight” and “Only The Stones Remain”that were both recorded at the Hollywood Bowl.

This was rated as one of the best albums of the year when it was released and I'll stand by it.

Here's The Video Review:

Special Thanks: Doug Mashkow of New Music Scene.

Robyn Hitchcock: There Goes The Ice (Yep Roc/2013)

Formerly of The Soft Boys, The Egyptians and The Venus Three, Robyn Hitchcock has been reliably producing his blend of jangly psychedelic folk rock since the late 1970's. Since signing to the wonderful Yep Roc Records in 2004 he's had something of a creative second-coming. This release, which collects all five of Robyn's“Phantom 45's” is a nice two-disc 12” 45 RPM Record Store Day release.

The songs have a whimsical very dashed-off quality to them. Disposable in the best-possible sense.

“To Be Human” - which sounds like it could have been recorded for Eye, “Thank You Time Girl” and the title track – the latter containing KT Tunstall backing Robyn - are acoustic-based tracks. The upbeat “Twitch For Sam Surfer” features Green Gartiside of Scritti Politti on guitar and vocals. “I'll See You” and “After The Bullfight” feature Ex-Soft Boy & Egyptian drummer Morris Windsor. None of this material has been released in a digital format to my knowledge, so this is the most convenient-way of owning this material.

Robyn Hitchcock - whose vocals are a hybrid of his primary influences - Syd Barrett, Bob Dylan and John Lennon - has never been all that easy to recommend. He's beloved by critics (myself included) but to your more conservative average low-information consumer, his voice has always been something of a sore thumb. If you're a Robyn novice, a great starting point would be Fegmania!, Underwater Moonlight or Element Of Light. However for the converted, this release is well worth the time and effort as it stands up well with his newest releases.

Here's The Video Review:

Thanks to: Doug Mashkow of CD Island.