CMJ New Music Report
February 20, 1995 (Issue 415)
Robyn Hitchcock
Black Snake Diamond Role, Gravy Deco, and I Often Dream Of Trains
by James Lien
As the Soft Boys dissolved, Robyn Hitchcock embarked on a solo career. And like his influences Skip Spence and Syd Barrett, he became essentially a cult artist in search of a cult. His first three solo albums present an artist carving a singular niche for himself. (For another clue into one of Robyn's early muses, check the Roky Erickson-style psychedelic photo that adorns Black Snake's inner booklet.) Black Snake continues the lines laid out by The Soft Boys. Robyn's trebly, post-Robert Smith guitar work of the period is every bit as prominent as his characteristically dark sense of humor. Gravy Deco is perhaps the ultimate, end-all summation of the hodgepodge of sessions and albums known alternately as Groovy Decoy and Groovy Decay. The monstrous production was perhaps Robyn's only career regret. The album's worst horror-story occurred when Robyn discovered a "Special Disco Mix" of "Nightride To Trinidad" was being made in the studio by a purple-haired New Romantic re-mixer. When he asked Robyn to turn his guitar down, Robyn obliged him by lowering himself in the mix even further by repairing to a local pub for the rest of the session. To many, 1984's I Often Dream Of Trains remains Hitchcock's most endearing whole album. Though not as scarred or tormented as say, Plastic Ono Band or The Madcap Laughs, the acoustic, introspective LP is surrounded by the magical air of an artist digging deeper into himself for the sake of his art as songs like "Autumn Is Your Last Chance" or "Cathedral" clearly attest: rarely has an artist been this willing to open himself up and bring such personal and poetic music to light. Cultists and completists will no doubt give special attention to the copious bonus tracks on all these reissues, though it takes a bit of tricky programming to get the albums back into their original running orders.
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