1986
Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians
Element Of Light (Glass Fish Records)
by Mat Smith
Like his cinematic namesake, Hitchcock has made a habit of shocking people. According to who you believe, his old band The Soft Boys were either the purveyors of deeply profound songs or merely articulate cobblers, a polarisation of opinons which later moved Captain Sensible to comment that they were doing the right thing but at the wrong time. As far as solo success is concerned, I can't help but thinking that in Robyn's case it's the other way around.
There's little to distance Element Of Light from anything The Soft Boys were doing at the end of the '70s. It's merely the last decade's interpretation of the one before, and as such is going to have a hard time raising Robyn from cult status. Unlike Julian Cope, Hitchcock has an infuriating tendency to cling to familiar ground -- the result being he makes very good albums when he should be making great albums.
Element Of Light explores his darker moods more deeply than the psychedelic whimsies of his last two studio LPs. Those moments remain, obviously, the elements of light in his eccentricity, but are less quirky and, if the truth be told, often better off for it. More Beefheart than Barrett, "Raymond Chandler Evening" is a masterpiece with Robyn singing in that slightly shy, awkward voice -- "It's a Raymond Chandler evening at the end of someone's day/And I'm standing in my pocket slowly turning grey".
Doubtless Soft Boys devotees will be queuing already, but Hitchcock really isn't doing himself any favours by raising the ghosts of the past.
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