Robyn Hitchcock Appreciation Thread

That ‘Zinc Pear’ mix was originally substituted (and labelled as such) on the first CD reissue of the album, which also had a different mix of ‘Brenda’s Iron Sledge’, but has just silently been accepted as canon since (Hitchcock does this a LOT - the original version of the Underwater Moonlight LP has never been reissued). I also recently discovered that the version of ‘Grooving on an Inner Plane’ identified as the original single version on the Black Snake CD is the later remix from the Eaten by Her Own Dinner reissue EP. The original mix has only ever been released on that initial flexidisc. O the joys and perils of collecting!

 

> the original version of the Underwater Moonlight LP has never been reissued

What do you mean by this, what's different than later releases?

Re: "Grooving On An Inner Plane", there's two released versions - the LP version on _Groovy Decay_ and the original flexi version on the Yep Roc reissue of _Black Snake Diamond Role_.

 

The original LP of Underwater Moonlight has a completely different recording of 'Old Pervert'. All the reissues have substituted the "Disco Version" from the b-side of 'I Wanna Destroy You'.

As noted above, the original flexi version of 'Grooving on an Inner Plane' does NOT appear on the YepRoc (or Rhino) CDs of Black Snake Diamond Role. That's the 1986 remix. The original single mix begins with four bars of drum machine alone, with the heavy drum beats only entering along with the bass immediately after that. In the remix, the heavy drum accents begin after half a bar, and are a different sound (more trebly). The rest of the mix is quite different too, but it's immediately noticeable which one you're listening to from the different intro. The Groovy Decay version is a different recording entirely.

While we're at it, none of the CD versions of 'It's a Mystic Trip' are the same as the original flexi either, since that ends with a loooong fake locked groove (three or four minutes) before entering an actual locked groove. The CD versions actually contain a fraction more music (because the song fades out), but are only - technically - about half as long.

And the version of 'Queen Elvis' on the Chronology compilation, from a quick sample on iTunes, seems to be the rerecording from Obliteration Pie.

 

Completely different version of 'Old Pervert'. The version they always use for the reissues was originally the b-side of the I Wanna destroy you single.

EDIT: Rats!

 

There’s four other versions on the And How It Got There disc - is one of them the original?

 

Nope. The only place you'll find it is the original LP.

 

It started with the 1986 vinyl reissue of the LP (the one with a drawing as artwork) and never went back.

 

While we're at it, maybe people aren't aware that the original album version of 'Only the Stones Remain' (from Two Halves for the Price of One) has a synth (!) coda that has never appeared on any other release (every CD uses the shortened single version), and that the b-side version of 'The Asking Tree' (from the 'Only the Stones Remain' 7") is a different mix than on the Invisible Hits album and also remains exclusive to the original 7" vinyl.

(A long-overdue reissue of Two Halves for the Price of One would be a fantastic RSD release.)

 

Good info^^^

Re OP, I just listened to the ...AHIGT versions, and they're actually just excerpts from a long jam version of the song - the four parts are faded in and out but they were probably the same jam.

 

Yeah, they were peppering that through the 2nd disc as I guess a way of drawing it together as a cohesive whole. I'm not sure that 'worked' though. Probably wouldn't have happened in the streaming post-album world that we currently inhabit.

 

As an excuse to bump this thread, I thought I'd quote a couplet from the recent Art Brut album Wham! Bang! Pow! Let's Rock Out!

"I'm gonna grow old like Robyn Hitchcock
My hair will be white and my shirts polka dot"

 

its true that Robyn has aged gracefully .

 

Yeah he put out a top notch album 2 years ago, I wonder when he's going to do another one...

 

Also wondering if we'll ever see a nice box of the A&M years...

 

This would be more than welcome

 

Hi, fellow Robyn Hitchock fans!

I'm planning to start a Robyn Hitchcock song-by-song thread on these boards tomorrow!

My plan is to be as complete as possible, (covering released studio songs in more or less chronological order), starting with early Soft Boys songs all the way to the present day. It's going to be a daunting task: his catalogue is HUGE and more than a bit convoluted in parts. I've been running the Finn Brothers discussion thread for over a year and plan to more or less model it on that one.

Would any of you be interested in joining? I'll post a link here tomorrow.

In the meantime, my first rash of songs would be something like this, starting with 1977 demos and singles that have been officially released:

1. The Size of a Walnut
2. Ugly Nora
3. Wey Wey Hep a Hole
4. The Yodelling Hoovers
5. Give It To the Soft Boys
6. Hear My Brane
7. The Face of Death
8. Wading Through a Ventilator

If anybody's interested, please join in! Also if there are any other songs recorded in 1977 that saw authorized release (not just on bootleg) please let me know and I"ll add them to my list.

 

Well..... I've got some information which may be useful. Starting with the probably well-known fact that Wading Through a Ventilator (what a zeitgeisty title that is now) started life as Vyrna Knowll is a Headbanger - about RH's next door neighbour in Cambridge who complained about the noise - see the letter on the Soft Boys double CD reissue. The Face of Death was a Cambridge down-and-out. And one of the earliest and often played SB songs was Look Into Your Mirror - possibly recorded at Rockfield (?). I'll fish out some old tapes for you.

 

Tidbits like that are so welcome.

 

Love everything he does, have since the beginning. But there's a special place in my heart for The Soft Boys Live at the Portland Arms, which has cheered me up for years.

 

I'm definitely in, Lance. I can't believe you're undertaking this! So many songs & albums, this will take quite a while. I'm not real familiar with the soft boys stuff, but I've been meaning to get around to that.

 

'Vyrna Knowl' was released in 1984 on the Wading through a Ventilator EP (and later on the Raw Cuts CD).

As you can probably guess, I'm in for the Hitchcock discussion!

Oh, and the accompanying 'Face of Death' single featured a different mix to the original EP.

 

We're Up and Running.

I'll go slowly at first, a song every other day to give the thread time to attract fans -- it's not the biggest fandom on earth; though the concentration here on this board is probably bigger than in the general public. Still, threads do get easily lost. At any rate...

@Summer of Malcontent, thank you for the information re: Vyrna Knowl; I'll include it, then.. Hitchcock's got a rather messy discography, especially when you consider reissues and bonus tracks; so it's hard to keep track or even be aware of everything he's done, though I've found a couple of sites that definitely help.

 

Thank you for this. I am a bit of a casual / lapsed Robyn Hitchcock fan. I tried getting into his A&M albums during the 1980's, and I found them to be a bit inconsistent, but sporadically brilliant.

When the A&M Greatest Hits compilation came out, I thought it was all the Robyn Hitchcock I would need. But then I came across the Uncorrected Personality Traits collection and discovered many new favorites.

Around the same time, I picked up The Soft Boys' Underwater Moonlight, and found it to be a phenomenal, rock-solid record. So, I knew there was more digging to do. But I didn't really know where to go next. And the depth and breadth of his catalog is a bit daunting.

When I saw this playlist, I realized that most of my all-time favorite songs are here. So, this will be a good way to dip my foot back into the pool. I plan on putting this on repeat over the three-day weekend.

Incidentally, I met my wife at our old apartment complex. She needed to start her car battery, and I was her "knight in shining jumper cables." When I ran into her a few days later, I was playing Robyn Hitchcock's Greatest Hits on my stereo, as I was sitting out on my 2nd floor apartment balcony. She walked by, and she said, "That's Robyn Hitchcock! I love Robyn Hitchcock!" I knew right then that I had to ask this woman for her phone number.

We have now been together for 21 blissful years. And we still listen to Robyn together. Now, we'll have even more to listen to. Thanks again.

 

I'd like to mention that The Asking Tree has recently been given a revamp and a major update of new information. It's my go-to database for all Robyn discography quandaries.

 

Aside from Underwater Sunlight, I've only really listened to I Often Dream Of Trains. Love both of them - where's a good place to delve next?...