The Wafflehead
1995 (#1)
North By Southeast
Rise And Slight Shifts Of Robyn Hitchcock And The Egyptians From England
by Haydn J. Mullineux
With the re-release of half of Hitchcock's back-catalogue his appearance in the normal music stores of Great Britain has improved immensely. These are a set of small reviews from his general back-catalogue to give you some idea of which albums click, and which make a quite buzzing noise.
The 1993 album, Respect, could easily be singled out as showing the listeners what's left of Robyn and his English Egyptians. And not-so-surprisingly, it shows us all that there is still a cargo-hold full of interesting curios that manage to scatter themselves freely on ten songs, leaving themselves open for questioning and many listens (more than you could handle). Even Robyn probably doesn't know where the path ends on "Then You're Dust" and "The Moon Inside", and where "Wafflehead" actually begins. Respect doesn't need questioning. It'll answer for itself. 8
I think it was in the same year that The Soft Boys 1976-81 attacked the public in a quiet-but-aggressive way that relieves the group's name of any links with being soft. They may have been pulling worms out of Psychedelia and doing obscene things with them, but there was much more besides. It just got entangled, that's all. This usually worked with Hitchcock's ongoing interest with love, death, and the things that don't fall into everyday conversation. The double album displays a general overuse of the elements and what you'd find in a dusty old ship down some alleyway that just wasn't there the next time you went. 7
Amongst the rapture of the reissues is You & Oblivion, which is a treat for all Hitchcock devotees (or casual fans of 22-track albums). It oozes charm and spits enchantment with "August Hair", "September Cones", and "She Reached For A Light". With "Fiend Before The Shrine" (and many others) you happen to notice that the penny has dropped -- but where is another matter. It may not appeal to everyone, but ignore that. 6
Many would only buy The Kershaw Sessions because t contains "Brenda's Iron Sledge". But if you have the sense to venture that bit further you will find the worthiest collection of invisible hits and magical delights that are just waiting to cool you, soothe you, amuse you, and then kick you and punch you. And just to give you some facts, the sessions date from 1985 to 1991. 8
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