23 years of Robyn Hitchock

I have been a Robyn Hitchcock fan since 1984 so that makes 23 years of fandom. "I Often Dream of Trains" was just out and my roommate who had a show on the university radio station had a copy. He also had a copy of "Black Snake Diamond Role" and I was hooked. Since then I have been buying all the new CDs (skipping some of the compilations) and have seen Hitchcock play numerous times in London and here in Bristol.

* Black Snake Diamond Role, 1981, * Groovy Decay, 1982, * I Often Dream of Trains, 1984, * Fegmania!, 1985, * Gotta Let This Hen Out!, 1985, * Element of Light, 1986, * Invisible Hitchcock, 1986, * Globe of Frogs, 1988, * Queen Elvis, 1989, * Eye, 1990, * Perspex Island, 1991, * Respect, 1993, * The Kershaw Sessions (Robyn Hitchcock), 1994, * You & Oblivion, 1995, * Gravy Deco, 1995, * Moss Elixir, 1996, * Greatest Hits, 1996, * Live at the Cambridge Folk Festival, 1998, * Storefront Hitchcock, 1998, * Jewels for Sophia, 1999, * A Star for Bram, 2000, * Luxor, 2003, * Spooked, 2004, * Olé! Tarantula, 2006

Before his solo career Hitchcock had a band called The Soft Boys who released three albums plus a double CD of live and unreleased material.

A Can of Bees (1979/1992), Underwater Moonlight (1980/1992), Invisible Hits, 1976-81 (2 CD) , Nextdoorland (2002)

Nextdoorland was the result of a short reformation of the band. Two band members also formed part of the Egyptians, the backing band from 1985 to 1993.

The music is so diverse it defies categorisation and possibly even description. In a recent interview Hitchcock struggled to describe the sort of people who are his fans. I think fans are those people who enjoy his sense of humour which is sort of the skeleton under all of his music. A sense of humour cuts through all other tastes and genres and his fans tend to be a fairly incongruous mix of people.

Here is a clip of a live track called "Surgery" from the album "You and Oblivion" which is a good sample if not representative of the range.



This is a video for "Adventure Rocketship" from "Olé Tarantula" with his latest band called The Venus 3, a band which consists of R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, Young Fresh Fellows' frontman Scott McCaughey, and Ministry's Bill Rieflin.