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

I don't really find anything to bring me back to The Man Upstairs. Of course that didn't stop me from purchasing The Man Downstairs which also failed to make much of an impression!

 

Guilty as charged.

 

Upstairs -- 2/5. It's not Luxor-level terrible -- but it's nothing I go back to ever either.

 

Since Robyn left WB, the layout and design of most of his albums (with the exception of Tromso and Robyn Hitchcock) has been really poor.

 

The Man Upstairs - This is another one where the sum is less than the (very modest) parts. Taken individually, with a few exceptions, these songs are ok but forgettable, but when strung together, it becomes more of a drag. This album doesn't have songs that irritate me the way some of the ones on Love from London did, but I still have no desire to hear it again. 2.2/5.

 

I know I'm getting a jump here, but, despite finding The Man Upstairs a snooze, I bought The Man Downstairs because 1) it was during Covid and I was jonesing for "new" material from an artist I loved and 2) I wanted to send a few bucks Robyn's way, since he couldn't make any money from touring. I didn't have much in the way of expectations, so I wasn't disappointed; I listened to it a handful of times hoping to find something I hadn't heard the first time, then filed it away. At least Robyn got a little income coming in from it.

 

My entries will come in the afternoon: My wife and I have got Cambridge exams all morning (well myw ife will be there all day, I'll be back by 13.00) that I can't cancel, meanwhile my son is sick at home (probably with Covid, he's too young for vaccination), we can't use baby sitting for obvious reasons: it's a mess. And I've dallied too long here this morning!

 

The Man Upstairs:

Well, I don't think it's quite as bad as you all and it's certainly not as boring as Luxor. It does feel extremely lightweight after the last four or five records, whicih I've really enjoyed -- even Love From London had some risk and some bona fide creativity. This just feels kind of tossed off. Maybe that was his point, I don't know.

2.8/5

 

Our votes for The Man Upstairs
1-1
2-3
3-1
4-0
5-0
Average: 2

 

Studio Albums, color*-coded for your enjoyment:

Note: I've now added The Man Upstairs...

A Can of Bees 3
Underwater Moonlight 4.7
Invisible Hits 3.9 (song average)
Only the Stones Remain 3.7457 (song average)
Black Snake Diamond Role 4.275
Groovy Decay/Groovy Decoy 2.1571
I Often Dream of Trains 4.8574
Fegmania! 4.3385
Element Of Light 4.37
Invisible Hitchcock 3.4573 (song average)
Globe of Frogs 3.1278
Queen Elvis 4.2167
EYE 3.5643
Perspex Island 2.9929
Respect 4.3786
You and Oblivion 3.7284 (Song average)
Moss Elixir 3.925
Jewels For Sophia 3.1556
A Star For Bram 3.24
Shadow Cat 3.0415 (Song average)
Nextdoorland 3.3
Side Three 3.425
Luxor 1.55
Spooked 3.0857
Olé! Tarantula 4.4188
Goodnight, Oslo 3.6722
Propellor Time 3.6
Trolley Bus 2 2.9
Tromso, Kaptein 4.1333
Love From London 2.3143
The Man Upstairs 2

Ranked:

1. I Often Dream of Trains
2. Underwater Moonlight
3. Olé! Tarantula
4. Respect
5. Element of Light
6. Fegmania!
7. Black Snake Diamond Role
8. Queen Elvis
9. Tromso, Captein
10. Moss Elixir
11. Invisible Hits
12. Only the Stones Remain
13. You And Oblivion
14. Goodnight Oslo
15. Propellor Time
16. EYE
17. Invisible Hitchcock
18. Side Three
    
19. Nextdoorland
20. A Star For Bram
21. Jewels For Sophia
22. A Globe of Frogs
23. Spooked
24. Shadow Cat
25. A Can of Bees
26. Perspex Island
27. Trolley Bus 2
28. Love From London
29. Groovy Decay/Groovy Decoy
30. The Man Upstairs
31. Luxor

2 albums and one EP to go!

 

Today we'll start with The Man Downstairs: Demos and Rarities.

This album was recorded around the. same time as The Man Upstairs and basically is a sister album to that album. However, it wasn't released until August 7th, 2020 by Robyn's own Tiny Ghost Records, based in Nashville -- to date it is the last full-length album of Robyn's to be released, though obviously not the last recorded, or the last on this thread. LIke The Man Upstairs, it is comprised of a mix of originals and covers. Unlike that album though, this was self-produced, with all instruments played by Robyn Hitchcock; it was recorded mostly by Charlie Francis, though a few songs were recorded by Jessica Corcoran. The CD was limited to 1000 copies. I have one of them!

This has the distingishment of having the worst cover of any Robyn Hitchcock album (personally I liked the cover of The Man UPstairs: this one, not so much.)

Anyway, the tracklist was:

1. All Love and No Peace (Hitchcock)
2. River Man (Drake)
3. ARnold Layne (Barrett)
4. Cavendish Square (Hitchcock)
5. The Threat of Freedom (Hitchcock)
6. The Tower Song (Van Zandt)
7. I Pray When I'm Drunk) (Hitchcock)
8. ON Seeing YOur Photograph (Hitchcock)
9. Born In Time (Dylan)
10. Recalling The Truth [demo] (Hitchcock)

 

Today's song is "All Love and No Peace", written and produced by Robyn Hitchcock; recorded by Charlie Francis.
It streams here on bandcamp: All Love And No Peace, by Robyn Hitchcock

Robyn HItchcock: vocals, guitar

 

"Froggy Went a-Courtin" as rewritten by Dylan pastiche, I like it OK.

3.4/5

 

Sorry to hear your son is not well!

 

All Love and No Peace is OK but not really my trip....2.8/5

 

Peace -- eh. My expectations for The Man Upstairs were never high to begin with and this met those expectations. 2/5

 

Best wishes to your family, Lance! That's a lot more important than these threads, so ok to take a few days off if you need to!

 

Oh thank you, the rest of us are Vaxxed so I’m fine; it was just annoying that we couldn’t postpone the tests but couldn’t use our normal babysitting! But he was ok alone for five hours. If he has Covid (find out Tuesday) I may be quarantined too (nice little holiday!) I honestly dont know what the rules are anymore.

 

Due to a mix-up between here and Nashville I have two copies, which is 0.2% of the entire run.

Actually I would say The Man Downstairs is less annoying than the parent album because it has none of its delusions of grandeur. Plus the ratio of originals to covers is 6:4. I must confess I've only ever listened to it once.

The opening track is a harmless ditty which sounds like one of those he made up on the spot, and as such doesn't really merit any major scrutiny.

All Peace And No Love 2.5/5.

All the best to you and yours, Lance.

 

"All Love and No Peace" - it sounds like Robyn wrote this in 5 minutes, and it shows. If this is the caliber of stuff he was considering for The Man Upstairs, it's a wonder it didn't turn out worse. 1.5/5.

Hope your son is doing better soon, Lance. At' jste vsichni zdravi.

 

Our votes for "All Love and No Peace"
1-0
2-2
3-3
4-0
5-0
Average: 2.44

 

Today's song is "River Man", written by Nick Drake. Recorded by Jessica Corcoran.

River Man, by Robyn Hitchcock

Robyn Hitchcock: vocals, guitar

 

Presumably stricter in the Czech Rep than in the UK! good luck with the test.

 

I've found out the rules. Even if he's positive, which we'll find out in a couple of days, the rest of us can carry on normally, as we are vaccinated.

 

“River Man” is a towering classic of a song. Robyn delivers it well but again it’s not something that necessarily feels like anything more than pleasant and well done cover. If played in front of me I my living room I’d be like “awesome” and I’d appreciate this at a local open mike but as an album track from a living legend I expect more. it’s just OK. 3/5