Billboard
December 5, 2000
Soft Boys To Reunite For North American Tour
by Jonathan Cohen
Seminal U.K. Pop outfit Soft Boys will reunite for a North American tour in March, and will see their revered 1980 album Underwater Moonlight reissued March 13 on Matador. The band -- guitarist-vocalist Robyn Hitchcock, guitarist Kimberley Rew, bassist Matthew Seligman, and drummer Morris Windsor -- split in 1981 after just two studio albums, but has proved enormously influential in the years since.
Matador's reissue of Underwater Moonlight will be augmented by the non-album single "He's A Reptile" and a bonus album of previously unreleased rehearsal sessions dating from 1979-80. The new version will also be released on vinyl for the first time since its original issue. Underwater Moonlight was reissued on Rykodisc in 1992 but has been out of print for some time.
Dates for the tour are still being finalized, but it will kick off March 16th with a special Matador showcase at the South By Southwest music festival. Ex-Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus and Scottish instrumentalists Mogwai are also expected to be on the bill.
Hitchcock has been the most prolific of the former Soft Boys members, having released some 15 solo albums since the mid-'70s. His most recent Warner Bros. album, Jewels For Sophia, was released last year.
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