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

Today's second song is "Recalling The Truth [demo.]", written by Robyn Hitchcock and recorded by Charlie Francis.

Recalling The Truth, by Robyn Hitchcock

The Joe Boyd produced version of this was released on The Man Upstairs.

 

"Born In Time" is fantastic. 4.5/5

"Recalling The Truth [demo]" neither is worse or better than the other version. Fairly boring. I don't remember what ì rated it before. Today it's a 2.5/5

 

Born -- very good. 4/5

Recalling -- meh. 2/5

Thankfully we are now done with these two...bring on his best album in decades!

 

"Born in Time" - Bob Dylan has always bored me, and this cover is no exception. Robyn's version is fine, but it's still uninteresting. 2/5.

"Recalling the Truth" - I was more charitable towards the album version of this, but this one seems more dreary and even longer. 2/5.

I'm also glad we're through with this one.

 

Tomorrow, we'll do The Man Downstairs, and go straight to Robyn Hitchcock on Monday, I guess. Any other stray tracks (and there are a few) I'll do afterwards.

 

It doesn't matter to me which order you do these in, but the two Emma Swift singles preceded Robyn Hitchcock, I believe.

 

I think I’ll do them afterwards.

 

Our votes for "Born In Time"
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Average: 3.5

Our votes for "Recalling The Truth [demo]"
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Average: 2.1667

 

Today, The Man Downstairs: Demos and Rarities.

 

Tomorrow, I'm going to start on Robyn Hitchcock, which is Robyn's final full-length album to date: (The Man Downstairs came out later, but was recorded earlier.

For this album Robyn once again recorded with a band, in his new home base of Nashville Tennessee, using mostly American instrumentalists as his backing band, although Australian Anne McCue played lead guitar on most tracks.

The album was released on April 21st, 2017 and reached #5 on Billboards Heatseekers charts. Note: the Heatseeker's chart is for artists who have never hit the Top 100 before. So he was the fifth-most popular album of then-current albums that had never reached the Top 100.

On the Top Current Album chart, which is different than the Top 200 somehow, it reached #73, and it reached #18 on the Top Rock Album chart. I have no idea what any of this means.

Meanwhile in the UK, it hit #7 in the Top Americana Chart, which I didn't even know existed until today.

Anyway, it was critically acclaimed, with one reviewer proclaiming that it was his best work "since the early 1990s." It has an 80/100 on the Metacritic review agglomerator.

1. I Want to Tell You About What I Want
2. Virginia Woolf
3. I Pray When I'm Drunk
4. Mad Shelley's Letterbox
5. Sayonara Judge
6. Detective Mindhorn
7. 1970 in Aspic
8. Raymond and the Wires
9. Autumn Sunglasses
10. Time Coast

In addition to these I plan to hold up the following afterwards, some of them are older songs I overlooked:

• Follow Your Money -- {Robyn Hitchcock and Emma Swift, standalone single released 2015}
• Motion Pictures (Neil Young),{Robyn Hitchcock and Emma Swift, standalone single released 2015}
• Love Is A Drag (Robyn Hitchcock, Emma Swift) {Robyn Hitchcock and Emma Swift, standalone single released 2015}
• Life Is Change (Hitchcock, Swift)--{Robyn Hitchcock and Emma Swift, standalone single released 2015}
• Thank You, Time Girl -- {standalone single recorded in 2011, released 2016}
• I Walk The Line (Johnny Cash) --{standalone single recorded in 2011, released 2016}
• Human Race --{Johnny Burke, from Distance And Fortune released in 2011}
• Eric ( Frode Stromstad, Hitchcock) -- {by I Was a King from You Love It Here, 2012}
• Food Wheels (Anne-Lise Frokedal, Stromstad,Hitchcock,) {by I Was a King from You Love It Here, 2012}
• Indiana (Anne-Lise Frokedal, Stromstad, Norman Blake, Hitchcock) {by I Was a King from You Love It Here, 2012}
• I Like to Keep Myself in Pain {by Kelly Hogan from I Like To Keep Myself In Pain, 2012}

Some of these songs may not stream, and most of them I haven't heard yet; but if they all stream, we should start on Planet England by Robyn Hitchcock and Andy Partridge on the 16th of November. It will probably be earlier though.

 

I'm in the midst of a mad weekend but have popped into appraise yesterday's songs.

I'm not generally a great fan of Robyn's acoustic Dylan covers but he's dug quite deep to unearth this track off the much maligned Under The Red Sky album and I quite his take on it. The original which has a fuller band sound is pretty average by Bob's standard and I think this version benefits from a more stripped back approach and I like the little electric guitar flourishes.

Born In Time 3/5.

Recalling The Truth is largely indistinguishable from the Upstairs version and neither is particularly memorable so I'll stick with my previous score of 3/5.

 

The Man Downstairs -- will join Luxor as an album I will likely never play again in it's entirety -- 2/5

 

I like The Man Downstairs more than The Man Upstairs for the following reasons:

1. It's got a higher ratio of originals to covers.
2. The covrs are better.
3. I think the slightly lo-fi (but still good sounding) recording suits this spare music better than the ever-so-slightly more produced sound of The Man Upstairs. Robyn doesn't need other pianists and cellist and backing vocalists for this kidn of album. Best just hearing him, an acoustic guitar or two and a double tracked vocal.

Overall, I enjoy this: it's a pleasant, autumnal album. There are a couple of boring songs but overall it's pretty good.

3.7/5

 

I'm excited to get to Robyn Hitchcock which is probably my favorite Robyn Hitchcock album!

 

The Man Downstairs - This is neither better nor worse than The Man Upstairs, which I gave a 2.2 because I liked it better than Love From London, which I think I gave a 2 to, but I'm more tired of these songs now, so this one's just: 2/5.

If you look at the quality and quantity of songs on these two records, Robyn had barely enough originals for an album, and, on the whole, they just weren't that good. I'm very glad he was able to bounce back for the next album.

 

I remember, or misremember, or maybe made up but now remember it like it was something that actually happened, that at the time the album came out, Robyn said that when they were in preliminary discussions for the record, he asked the producer Brendan Benson what he had in mind, and he responded, "Let's make a Robyn Hitchcock album like they used to!"

I'm glad they did that. I think it's his best since the Egyptians.

 

Our votes for "The Man Downstairs"

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Average: 2.5667

 

Studio Albums, color*-coded for your enjoyment:

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

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
The Man Downstairs 2.5667

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. The Man Downstairs
29. Love From London
30. Groovy Decay/Groovy Decoy
31. The Man Upstairs
32. Luxor

1 album, some extra-album tracksand one EP to go!

 

Today's song is "I Want to Tell You about What I Want", written by Robyn Hitchcock; produced by Brendan Benson and Robyn Hitchcock.

Robyn Hitchcock – I Want To Tell You About What I Want Lyrics | Genius Lyrics

Robyn Hitchcock: vocals, guitar, organ
Anne McCue: lead guitar
John Estes: bass
Jon Radford: drums

 

IWTTYAWIW

Not the greatest song--one of my least favorite on the album. But it's a lot of fun, it's exuberant, it kicks off a great album, and I love it--so 4/5

 

I Want To Tell You About What I Want

This song has great energy and feels like a breath of fresh air after The Man Upstairs. The rhythm guitar has a great chugging sound that drives the song forward. The lyrics seem like a patchwork of random thoughts (which is fine, considering the title), some of which I get and some of which I don’t. I disagree that cats will take over the world after we do ourselves in, because they can’t cooperate with each other.

3.75/5

 

After Love From London and The Man Upstairs, what a relief to get a return to RH plugged in and firing on all cylinders with a proper band feel. Credit must go to Brendan Benson who was an excellent choice as producer, bringing his intelligent pop sensibilities to the table and seemingly re-focusing Robyn's songwriting ability. I'm a big fan of The Raconteurs and the solo albums I've heard by Benson are good too.

I'm pretty sure this track was released ahead of the album so I would have heard it as a stand-alone initially. In that context I absolutely loved it, even if the "state of the world" lyrics are a bit tiresome in places. Within the context of what is an absolutely fantastic album, I agree that it's not among the best songs and yet it represented such a return to form that I still really enjoy hearing it.

I Want To Tell You About What I Want 3.5/5.

 

IWTTYAWIW - 4/5 - Not quite top-tier 80s/90s Hitchcock, but still a really good song. The band and productions suit it very well.

 

Want - great start to the album, definite K Rew feel to the guitar parts, so manages to evoke some Soft Boys as well as the late 80s/90s feel. Excellent ensemble work, I think we need to know more about the guitarist.
Lyrically I'm not so sure, sounds like he was improvising on the spot, some familiar RH themes ('the more you give to people the more they want from you', which would come across as mean-spirited, maybe cruel, except some of the fans are perhaps a bit.....) 'feline dynasty' - back to the Egyptians?
3.82/5

According to Douglas Adams the mice are already running the show.

 

Want to Tell You -- great album starter. 5/5. I can only hope he gets Brendan Benson to produce him again (and a band behind him) because he brought a great pop/rock sensibility to this album and it had been missing for sooooo long. Bring the rest of the great album on!!!