Robyn Hitchcock & Julian Cope

[GuitarGeek]

So I've gotten myself into an argument on another forum with someone who feels that Nick Mason has engaged himself in a "missed opportunity" by not having Robyn Hitchcock front his Saucerful Of Secrets band. And it occurs to me, I don't really know much about Hitchcock, beyond that fact that I remember for sometime in the 90's, I kept seeing him referenced in books about psychedelic music as a "modern day Syd Barrett" or such. I also know that one of his fellow Soft Boys was at least partially responsible for this:



and even worse, this:


But I'm sure that's no reflection on The Soft Boys or Hitchcock as a solo artist.

So, any thoughts on good places to start?

And ya know what, since I'm talking about "latter day Syds", what about Julian Cope? Literally the only song of his I remember is World Shut Your Mouth, which I remember liking, but I've always heard that some of is other stuff is supposedly "more interesting".

[Sunlight Caller]

Two great eccentric British artistes, and much to love in their catalogues.

Julian Cope post Teardrop Explodes started out strange, went mainstream for one album (St Julian) and then meandered back into the long grass. Personally I love the Teardrop’s work, and followed Julian’s career closely as a result. World Shut Your Mouth and Fried were both interesting yet inconsistent, St Julian saw him flirting with the charts again with a rockier sound, but possibly his best work was on Peggy Suicide. I have quite a few other albums but not anything I listen to these days, and I haven’t kept up with him in latter years. Live he was always entertaining.

Robyn Hitchcock has quite a vast solo catalogue too. I actually saw him playing live the day Syd Barrett died, he was playing with Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey in The Minus 5, at a small local venue to me. He played Gigolo Aunt in tribute, if I remember correctly, and I had a chat with him after about Syd and music. Of his solo work, try I Often Dream Of Trains, I really love that album.

[arturs]

Don't know much about Cope but I tried like hell to "get into" Hitchcock's music at some point in the mid-1990s. Rhino had done a lot of re-issues back then and I bought several. I gave them a lot of attention.

One album stood out as a real classic: Element of Light. It's weird, but the great melodies and Beatles/Floydian arrangements are perfect. Raymond Chandler Evening is one of the most beautiful, evocative pop songs I've ever heard.

But the rest of his catalog has too much "weird" in it. There are one or two gems on every release but most of it, I don't know, seems just weird for the sake of being weird. Or something.

Here's the Raymond Chandler video. I hadn't seen this in probably 30 years. Still as great as ever.

[moecurlythanu]

Chris, you have to remember "Madonna of the Wasps" from Empty V. That was a weird vid.

[spacefreak]

Soft Boys "A Can Of Bees" and "Underwater Moonlight"
Robyn Hitchcock "Groovy Decay", "Fegmania!", "Gotta Let This Hen Out!", "I Often Dream Of Trains", "Element Of Light" and "Eye"

absolutely essential.