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

Ship -- another average cover with nothing exciting about it. 2/5

 

"Crystal Ship" - I am not a Doors fan, and I can't be bothered to listen to the original to compare it to Robyn's. But Robyn's version sounds perfectly fine and perfectly pointless to me. 2/5.

 

Our votes for 'The Crystal Ship"

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Average: 2.1667

 

Today's song is "Recalling The Truth", written by Robyn Hitchcock and produced by Joe Boyd.


Robyn Hitchcock: vocals, guitars

 

"Recalling the Truth" - a sad song about the end of a relationship. It's not bad, but it's not particularly distinctive, lyrically or musically, either. Still, it's better than most of the material on this record. I'm giving it an extra half point because I want Robyn to feel a little better: 3.5/5.

 

@pocketcalculator has summed up this one neatly. It's ok but nothing to write home about. I'm quite glad this album's over now as reviewing it has becoming a little repetitive; either ill-advised cover or dull original.

Recalling The Truth 3/5.

 

Awa the noo!

 

And, just think, on Saturday, we start the sequel The Man Downstairs!

 

Oh God, that's even worse.

 

Recalling the Truth

Maybe it’s just because this album has been such a long slog, but by the time I get to this song, I find it tedious. It seems to go on much longer than 4:25, and while I appreciate the sentiment, I can barely sit through it. Maybe I could appreciate it more if I hadn’t spent so much time recently listening to all the other songs on this album that sound exactly like this. This one seems to drag more than most of them. The music doesn’t engage me at all, although I can’t name anything I specifically dislike about it. Slow and plodding, maybe, but that doesn’t necessarily make a song bad, and I can’t even really say this song plods, as it’s so lifeless there’s barely a beat.

1.75/5

 

Not sure how Robyn thought presenting Joe Boyd with this version of River Man was a good idea. Arnold Layne was definitively covered by the Wondermints. See you in about two weeks!

 

I agree, this bores me 2.5./5

 

Good lyrics. Uninspired melody.

2.5/5

 

Joe Boyd had published his memoir, White Bicycles (highly recommended, btw) and promoted it with a tour where Joe would tell a story from his musical/production career and Robyn would follow the story by playing a song that related to the story (i.e. a Nick Drake or Incredible String Band cover). I believe that tour led to Boyd producing this album and it was easy to include some covers, since Robyn seems to have had more of them at the ready than new songs.

 

I went to one of the the Joe Boyd/RH shows at the South Bank. Boyd told a few stories, some of which were quite amusing and Robyn played lots of cover songs acoustically. It was a reasonably entertaining evening as I recall but, rather like the album, I would imagine the performers got more out of it than the audience.

 

Truth -- pretty dull. 2/5 Let's put this album to bed, please.

 

With this one, the album just fades away.. 2/5
It's funny, it is a pleasant listen as a full album, but individually most of these songs are much less than the sum of the parts. I had no interest in buying even more of the same when The Man downstairs was released, so I'll be hearing these songs for the first time. My hopes aren't high, but who knows..?

 

Ha. And I feel the opposite: the songs are better individually than they are in the context of the album. I can’t make it much past halfway if I try to listen to the album in its entirety.

I haven’t heard The Man Downstairs, and I’ve already been reacquainting myself with Robyn Hitchcock, so I’ll be back for that and the EP with Andy Partridge, which I think is all that is left? I think that’s all that’s left that I have in my possession or is accessible to me.

Edit: I see The Man Downstairs is on Bandcamp. But in keeping what I’ve done in this whole thread - main albums only - I’m going to skip it.

 

Yeah, I think that's all that left other than a few one-offs.

 

He did a few singles with Emma (which I haven't heard, though I'm sure I heard some of the songs live), which I guess are some of the one-offs. I would think we are due for a new album from Robyn next year - it will have been five years since Robyn Hitchcock, which I believe is his longest gap between albums ever.

 

I agree, I don't think I've ever sat through the whole album but a track here and there is pleasant. Fortunately Robyn Hitchcock is a masterpiece.

I got some demos when I subscribed to his Patreon thing for a little while, don't remember what they are....

 

I've decided not to do any Patreon-exclusive songs. I know they exist, but I don't have them and, for god's sake, he releases enough to the general public anyway!

Our votes for "Recalling The Truth"

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Average: 2.4643

 

Today, The Man Upstairs.

 

The Man Upstairs

I don’t really have anything to say about this that I haven’t already said. It’s a hard slog to get through, and less then the sum of its parts. I don’t even think removing the questionable covers would have helped much, because everything sounds the same.

2/5

 

A bit of a pig's ear this one. I accept that Robyn was a teenage fan of Joe Boyd produced records and enjoys covering songs by artists he sees as important in his own musical development but I can't see this as anything other than a vanity project. I doubt many people under the age of 70 would have a clue about Judy Collins' mid-1960s era, so it was an odd concept to start with. I'm sure RH and Joe enjoyed making it but no-one on here seems to like it and I can't believe it broke much territory elsewhere.

With the honourable exception of Ferries, the poorly chosen covers are a pale shadow of the originals and he lacks the vocal tone or range to make them interesting. I think SF Patrol is the best of a pretty lame crop of his own original songs but he was clearly in a creative slump during this period, having followed Love From London with this. The whole thing is just so incredibly flat that I can't imagine ever wanting to hear it again. But form is temporary and class is permanent as we'll find out with the next proper album.

And on the subject of covers, I really don't like the artwork or lettering either.

The Man Upstairs 1/5.