ROBYN HITCHCOCK - QUEEN ELVIS - LIVE

"Taken During The High Period - at Tower Records, (When TR Was Valid!)"

1989 was a wondrous time. New Music was unclassified and YET it was making money and fans all around. This was the time to really follow music. The record companies were all on the phone clamoring for a definition waiting to classify EVERYTHING IN SITE. But it was too hard to do.....

While record PR people were at odds records, yes records, were selling. The entire CD revolution was in a slow turning groove and this was years before Itunes. Tower Records was THE place to get anything you wanted at the time. There seemed to be a lot more of them around back in those days.... And while all of this was happening there was a lot of great songs that were getting pumped out into the public.

Note: At this time nobody needed permission to do anything.

ROBYN HITCHCOCK GOES ACOUSTIC
Ironically I never got a chance to see the Egyptians... technically. I did, however, see the Soft Boys at an impromptu gig at the Bowery Ballroom and reformed once again for the Underwater Moonlight Tour a few years back. Seeing Hitch on the EYE Tour was amazing in its own right. I wanted to see him with a band and go electric. I did not want to see a tour or listen to an entire album that was done acoustically...... but his stuff was different.

The longer he toured and released albums of this nature the better the sound became. If you listen to him sing on the Jonathan Demme concert film he has elevated his acoustic sound to something pretty powerful. It wasn't until this sound was taken to its zenith did I see him play no less than 6 separate times.

*** The funny thing about the album EYE was that it was released on Twin Tone records. This label was home for the Replacements and other thrashy bands. Before the press could jump all over Hitchcock with petty criticisms the record was already recorded and released and distributed.

And there are some gems on this recording. There are several tracks on here that are worth owning. They defy stereotyping of any kind.

Ted Cantu posted this on July 29, 2007 at 8:38 PM

THE SOFT BOYS - "And. then I left Myself and Now your the Lonely One "

"WHAT A MAD RUMBLE OF UTTER IRRESPONSIBILITY !!!"

The lines in this song somewhat slay me. It is a loveable romp into the absurd. It has hardly blues but it does have a bluesy feel to it. It certainly isn't jazz. But that was how it was presented to me when I was first introduced to it. Its none of the above really.... but the lyrics are interesting........

"I left myself and now you're the lonely one....." YIKES. But this is true. If you are in a position where you are completely bombarded with lights, images and sounds and new experiences there is a good chance that you will not remain the same, (un) loveable person that someone saw in you.... in fact, there is a strong likelihood that you will emerge a completely different animal in roughly as a months time.... if left unattended and allowed to go through these multiple changes as Mother Nature intended.....

Hitchcock certainly did that with his band in the Soft Boys and as a solo artist. But is part of the inner wunderkind that embodies his music. That metamorphasis is encouraging at the least.

Cantu 2007

THE SOFT BOYS - GIVE IT TO THE SOFTBOYS

ROBYN HITCHCOCK - LIVE IN 80

UNDERWATER MOONLIGHT is a near sided classic.

That is -- when it was first released it slipped under the radar. Americans were taken up with MTV, Tony Basil, The Clash.... and classic rock. The classic rock part has never changed - that remained consistent. So when Robyn Hitchcock and the Soft Boys were making a racket nobody was paying attention in America.

Captain Sensible supported Hitchcock during bad times so he could keep on creating music. This clip was taken from Underwater Moonlight. The Soft Boys reunited in NYC at the Roseland for a concert a few years back celbrating the 20th anniversary. This live track captures the enthusiasm found on the Soft Boys Anthology.
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cantu fascube 2006

THE SOFT BOYS - ONLY THE STONES REMAIN - LIVE 1980

ROBYN HITCHCOCK AND THE EGYPTIANS - MADONNA OF THE WASPS