Robyn Hitchcock at The ArtsCenter, Carrboro NC (With Spotify Playlist)
Thinking about this review, I was realizing that Robyn Hitchcock is one of those musical artists that has been a constant in my life, like The Posies, or Mission Of Burma. Of course, I was aware of the weird beauty of The Soft Boys, with Underwater Moonlight being one of my favorite LP’s ever (Beef People drummer Rhett Lawrence rates Underwater one of his top three LP’s, hopefully part of the dividend of those days).
Robyn’s solo career, of course, I didn’t follow so closely. It took our amazing, departed friend Joey Lindsey to get us excited about Robyn’s career post Soft Boys. Fegmania! Was one of Joey’s all time loves, and he could quote from Robyn’s lyrics at will. (By the way, Joey is the one who invented the expression for trendiness, Zub, that we adopted as our label name). I clearly remember not going to see Robyn on the Fegmania! tour when he and The Egyptians were playing in Athens. Undeterred, Adrienne and Joey went and of course had a great time. I would never miss a local Robyn Hitchcock show again.
Another quick Joey story, he always called Robyn ‘Reg’ from the lyric in ‘Brenda’s Iron Sledge,’ “Please don’t call me Reg/It’s not my name.” Reg is our Twitter buddy, but I’m sure he is sick of me always calling him Reg. I have been converting my CD collection to hard drive, and just checking, I have 16 Robyn Hitchcock CD’s (not counting Soft Boys, or Egyptians), and I’ve listened to them all many times. Favorites include Eye, A Star For Bram/Jewels For Sophia, and Moss Elixir/Mossy Liquor, as well as Ole! Tarantula. His latest LP, Robyn Hitchcock (the purple cover with the cat) is one of his strongest in a very long time.
As time has gone on, my duties as soundman at Horizon Records have allowed me to work with Reg three or four times. He’s always amazingly good, friendly, and so, so talented. His songwriting is a twisted mix of 60’s Syd Barrett with Dylan and a little Revolver spiced in. He has a way around a melody unequaled by hardly anyone, and his cover choices are fabulous. I believe Robyn has been rejuvenated with a new muse, the excellent singer Emma Swift, as his partner. He also is featured on the excellent Planet England collaboration with XTC’s Andy Partridge (tinyurl.com/zubplanet), a must have for anyone who loves old school British pop.
I was able to catch Robyn on October 31, 2004 at Smith’s Olde Bar in Atlanta. My father, living in Alabama, was nearly dead from pancreatic cancer. He was in tremendous pain and had wasted away to a wraith-like appearance. I kissed him goodbye, told him how much I loved him and left for Greenville via Robyn and Atlanta. Robyn played a very inspired Halloween set, all the songs about death and ghosts, and he has many of them, like ‘My Wife And My Dead Wife,’ ‘Raymond Chandler Evening,’ and especially ‘A Skull, A Suitcase, And a Long Red Bottle Of Wine.’ It was a magical, spooky show. The next morning I found out that my poor father’s heart had given up; he died from a heart attack instead of the inevitable cancer. In many ways it was a relief, and Robyn was somehow with me through it all.
So, on to The ArtsCenter, in Carrboro NC, in the same strip mall as The Cat’s Cradle, the space is a 350 seat theatre with great sightlines and decent sound. Reg was playing solo, only his acoustic and Dylan-on-a-holder harmonica, but they had a grand piano and he played a few songs on that as well. He launched into some classic Soft Boys material, beginning with ‘Only The Stones Remain,’ cleverly connecting The Rolling Stones and Stonehenge, followed by ‘Tonight’ from Underwater Moonlight, a song I had never heard him do solo, and ‘Queen Of Eyes,’ his Beatlesque staple. Robyn was off to a great start. ‘Raymond And The Wires,’ a song about his Dad, was followed by the amazing ‘I Want To Tell You About What I Want,’ two exceptional songs from Robyn Hitchcock. This was followed by ‘Autumn Is Your Last Chance ’ a beautiful acoustic ramble from I Often Dream Of Trains, and a truly amazing song, with a bit of a Nick Drake feel. The first part of the set ended with the jokey ‘Listening To The Higsons’ (whoa-oh)’ which Adrienne and I love, being fans of the UK comedy series The Fast Show (Charlie Higsons’ after-band foray into “Brilliant” sketch comedy).
At this point, Robyn took to the piano, and impressed me with his keyboard playing. ‘Flavour Of Night’ from Trains was beautiful, ‘The Man Who Invented Himself’ was jaunty, and ‘Somewhere Apart’ sounded like a Lennon outtake. Back on the guitar, Robyn did ‘One Long Pair Of Eyes,’ from Queen Elvis, a song that I swear has origins in an Olde English folk melody, so catchy and beautiful. Robyn really blew it out when the superb voice of Emma Swift joined him for ‘Virginia Woolf ‘ from Robyn Hitchcock:
Virgina Woolf she was good for a quote
Virginia Woolf knew that stones do not float
She was alright, she was alright,
She was all messed up
They duetted on ‘Glass Hotel’ and ‘Linctus House,’ two of Reg’s strongest tunes from Eye, and then a spectacular version of 'Queen Elvis'. Emma exited, and Robyn did ‘A Skull, A Suitcase, And A Long Red Bottle Of Wine.’ I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t tear up a bit.
Robyn came out for the encore and did ‘I Wanna Destroy You,’ with new lyrics about Rupert Murdoch, “He’s acquired Jerry Hall, but he’s never been in the Stones.” Robyn, after talking about Dylan in between almost every song, ended this magnificent concert with a jaw-dropping version of Dylan’s ‘She Belongs To Me’ from Dylan’s Bringing It All Back Home:
She's got everything she needs
She's an artist, she don't look back
She's got everything she needs
She's an artist, she don't look back
She can take the dark out of the nighttime
And paint the daytime black
You will start out standing
Proud to steal her anything she sees
You will start out standing
Proud to steal her anything she sees
But you will wind up peeking through her keyhole
Down upon your knees
Here’s another thing about Robyn Hitchcock. He is a true Dylan acolyte. I myself have never been a big Dylan fan. I understand his importance but I don’t really dig his sound. Robyn always does a Dylan cover, and they are always amazing. He gives the tunes a gravitas, a sense of mystery and melody that are only hinted at. Last year in Asheville, he opened the set with ‘Not Dark Yet,’ which he made sound like the best song ever written. If you’re like me (and you’ve seen plenty of artists do shitty Dylan covers) I encourage you to find a copy of Robyn Sings!, a two disc set of all Dylan covers by Reg. It’s amazing.
It’s amazing. He’s amazing. He is truly a musical constant in my life.