Wey Wey Hep a Hole Ding Dong: Robyn Hitchcock the song by song, album by album thread

Today's song is "Each of Her Silver Wands", written and produced by Robyn Hithcock.

Lyric.

An outtake from Moss Elixir, this was released on Mossy Liquor in 1996; another version, performed by The Soft Boys was released on Side 3 EP in 2002. I plan to go over the Soft Boys version separately.

 

...and was recorded for Respect as a full orchestral track but unfinished with no vocals but twice the length.
Patching three versions together, I'd take the full strings/brass track from 92, the guitar and harmonies from this (same tempo), and the lead vocal and rhythm section from the 2002 one.... As it is, 4.5/5

Another example of how, once in a (blue) moon, he comes up with something that's stratospherically good. This has an other-worldly, medieval air, on a par with Crosby's Renaissance Fair - reminds me of the translucence of a Burne-Jones stained glass window.....

 

"Wide Open Star" - this delicate song about hope in the darkness should definitely have been on Moss Elixir: 4/5

 

"Each of Her Silver Wands" - I haven't heard the other versions, but this one is a swirling mood piece that I quite like even if it seems incomplete: 3/5

 

Wands -- 3/5. Nothing overly exciting.

 

I really like it...4/5

 

This is the best of the Mossy Liquor-only tracks for me. Something intoxicating in the way it swirls and chimes. Glad he kept it short, it works better that way.
4/5

 

Really nice guitar, good song....4/5

 

Our votes for "Each Of Her Silver Wands [Mossy Liquor version]"
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Average: 3.75

 

Today's song is "As Lemons Chop", written and produced by Robyn Hitchcock.

Lyric.

An earlier version of this song was released on The Lace Trappist Roe Come, a vinyl EP featuring songs by Robyn Hitchcock and Tiny Tim which was given away for free with issues of Ptolemaic Telescope magaine; this version above was a Moss Elixir outtake released on the vinyl-only Mossy Liquor (eventually released on CD in 2009.)

 

Appeal of this one to me is mainly in the lyrics, which I really enjoy a lot, though I do like the way the track builds in energy and intensity; one of Robyn's psychedelic trifles that seems throwaway at first but then reveals itself as good piece of work.

3.9/5

 

This is good fun, sort of a Syd Barrett-meets-showtunes vibe and lots of appealing lyrics.

3.3/5

 

A pleasing little slice of Barrett-esque whimsy. Another that could have made the cut on the album.

As Lemons Chop 3/5.

 

Each Of Her Silver Wands : As expressed upthread, a very pleasing and successful slice of Ye Olde Folk Rock.
4.9/5

As Lemons Chop : I can see why people like this, but it just seems forced, a bit 'Barrett' (the album)-by-numbers to me, and it leaves me a little cold (the two released versions sound exactly the same to me BTW, certainly the same take).
3/5

 

Lemons -- the best (so far) of these toss-offs: 3/5

 

As Lemons Chop is a nice one 3.5/5

 

"As Lemons Chop" - another boring one from Robyn. I kept waiting for something to happen and then forgot it as soon as it was over: 2/5.

 

It's so hard to keep track of all the multiple releases of multiple versions of tracks from this era, but I think these two versions are the same. I can double check when I get home.

Or: What Surferghost said.

 

Our votes for "As Lemons Chop"
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Average: 3.1

 

Today's song is "Trilobite", written and produced by Robyn Hitchcock.

Lyric.

Outtake from Moss Elixir, released on Mossy Liquor.

 

I kind of like Trilobite, 3/5

 

This is one of Hitchcock's silly songs, a la 'Wafflehead', but for me it's one that works, and now I won't be able to get the tune out of my head for the rest of the day.

 

Much more interesting than "Wafflehead" to me, if not quite at the lofty heights of "Mellow Together." Sure, it's silly but it's one of those silly songs with weird subject matter that only Robyn could do. It's one of those flavors that makes Robyn Robyn.

3.9/5

 

I'll check it out. I don't have Side Three (OOP and too expensive-- most copies are in the US and I've learned the hard way not to order from outside of the EU), though I have an mp3 copy but I've never listened to it. A bit disappointing if it's the same version.

 

I find this one enormously irritating. The vocals really grate and are not so much a Syd Barrett tribute as a Syd Barrett impersonation. Neither amusing nor terribly profound.

Trilobite 1.5/5.