Eye
October 24, 1996
Thanks For All The Fish
by B.F. Mowat
Robyn Hitchcock has told more than a few fish tales in his 20-year career. Yes, he has those little lyrical eccentricities (like said seafood fetish) that earmark and endear him to his relatively small but intensely loyal audience of Pop intelligentsia.
But in the grand scale of things (and all codding aside) the 43-year-old English songwriter has been responsible for creating a decidedly idiosyncratic body of work that is both timeless and out-of-time. Hitchcock combines suitably bent Anglo-Folk and -Pop melodies with an equally skewed (and teddibly English) sense of lyrical surrealism that touches base with Lewis Carroll, J.W.O. Lennon (M.B.E. retd.), The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band and Syd Barrett.
Mind you, there comes a time when said quirks become habits that in turn become cliches. And that, in turn spells career deathcab, boyo. I had a few generous glasses of Pernod whilst writing this (a birthday gift from my betrothed -- hey thanks, Pookie) and my judgment isn't quite spot-on, but my Mole-ish-sense tells me Moss Elixir, his latest effort, isn't yer average cup of meat because it avoids said pratfalls of cuteness. "I didn't want to make another tasteful, middle-aged Robyn Hitchcock album with myself making a guest appearance on the vocals buried somewhere in the reverb," says Hitchcock in a phone interview. "All the songs on this album were there for a purpose, not just to create the right texture."
Moss also marks the first album in six years that the Soft Boys cum Egyptians rhythm section of Andy Morris and Morris Windsor have not played on Hitch's recorded efforts. It doesn't look like the duo will be returning to the band fold soon, either, as they both have domestic and solo projects on the go. "Gangs are a young man's thing," he says. "And after 20 years, you need a change. There were no girls in those old gangs, too, which was a drag. Nowadays, it's different -- you can have girls in your gang and girls can form their own gangs."
Significantly enough, the last truly solo Hitchcockian effort was 1990's Eye, which was also his best work from that period because, like Moss Elixir, he was forced to: a) write songs that could stand up on their own hindlegs; and b) fill in the missing bits himself. Hitch ended up doing most of the arrangements and production himself, bringing in an eclectic array of decidedly non-conventional players and avoiding "the lickable sheens" associated with hired knob-twirlers. Captain Beefheart tubster Morris Tepper appears while Hitchcock's touring partner, violinist Deni Bonet, gives such pieces as "Filthy Bird" that requisite other-worldliness.
Other future non-Moss-related activities for the songwriter includes next year's release of Goodnight Oslo, a concert film directed by long time fan Jonathan Demme. "It'll be straightforward concert footage," says Hitchcock. "There'll be some new songs included in the footage that I haven't played out anywhere."
America ("and Canada -- they tend to be tarred by the same breath") has given the songwriter a renewed lease on his career. Just about all of his albums are now in print (Soft Boys on Rykodisc, solo material on Rhino, new stuff on Warner), which is kind of amazing, considering he has a Beatle-sized catalogue, but only sells like latter-day solo Ringo albums. And while Hitchcock appreciates the Marshall Plan support, he's a bit wary of the culture of his adopted audience.
"There's something flimsy about it all," he says, "especially when you go to someplace like Los Angeles where their history goes back only 90 years."
COPYRIGHT NOTICE