Melody Maker
April 3, 1982
The Robyn Hitchcock Orchestra
The Venue, London
by Paul Strange
Altogether a much quieter affair than Robyn's previous Venue outing, last week's gig showed beyond doubt that the man's been thinking long and hard about his changing career.
His recently released second solo album, Groovy Decay, showed a definite leaning towards a more commercial sound -- a simpler stance brought out by clearer, less freaky lyrics, and the general rejection of the cult hero.
Gone are the days of The Soft Boys, freak-outs at the Hope, Moonlight and The 101. Instead Robyn's been supporting -- of all people -- Judie Tzuke.
Hardly surprising, then, that The Venue date gave us a new-style Hitchcock -- less rambling between numbers, straighter clothing, and his "group" (hardly an "orchestra", but Robyn hates the word "band") playing it striaght with a clean, clipped sound that would have certainly never suited The Soft Boys.
Bill Wainwright shone with some sturdy, workmanlike and beautifully linked basslines, ex-TV personality Empire was tight if a trifle nervous on drums, Anthoney Thistlethwaite was okay on sax, and there was a welcome return for original Soft Boy bassist Andy Metcalfe, now a keen Hammond organ impersonator.
It was Metcalfe who really provided the guts of the orchestra. His simple but highly effective organ-lines gave new meaning to the old Hitchcock/Soft Boys classic "Kingdom Of Love" and he helped fill out "Brenda's Iron Sledge", coming to the fore with a good solo on Hitchcock's new single "America".
Metcalfe's backup vocals helped to round out Robyn's solo drawl and the new hung-out section on "The Rain" -- where Hitchcock and Metcalfe twinned vocally using odd harmonies -- was brilliant.
Towards the end of the set, the orchestra gradually overcame their nervousness and started to produce a much stronger, more fluid sound. I still found it a bit too straight, but look forward to a Hitchcock single actually charting and the man blasting to stardom.
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