I Often Dream Of Polls - your favorite Robyn Hitchcock album (ends May 9)

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Everyone else started a poll so what the hell.

Poll Results

Option	Votes
I Often Dream of Trains	12
Fegmania!	10
Element of Light	6
Eye	5
Globe of Frogs	5
Black Snake Diamond Role	3
Moss Elixir	2
Olé! Tarantula	1
Sex, Food, Death and Tarantulas	1
Respect	1
Perspex Island	1
Queen Elvis	1
Bah. Give it to the Soft Boys instead	1
Live Death	0
Jewels for Sophia	0
Luxor	0
Spooked	0
Groovy Decoy	0
Groovy Decay	0

― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 3 May 2007 05:29 (eighteen years ago)

very hard one, but i gave it to trains as a sentimental favorite.

― get bent, Thursday, 3 May 2007 09:56 (eighteen years ago)

Three way tie between 'I Often...", "eye" and "Moss Elixir/Mossy Liquor" for me. Though Fegmania, Element and Ole Tarantula have some real high spots!

― BlackIronPrison, Thursday, 3 May 2007 13:55 (eighteen years ago)

Trains is the easy choice, but there is so much to love! I could easily pick the Moss Elixr/Mossy Liquor pair (for "Trilobite" alone), The first few Egyptians albums or their underrated swansong Respect. He definitely has some spotty albums, but there is something decent on each one.

― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:06 (eighteen years ago)

I've always loved Perspex Island.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:27 (eighteen years ago)

i voted for Black Snake, though there are four or five other ones I could've voted for. BSDR has "Acid Bird" and "Do Policemen Sing" and "The Man Who Invented Himself" and a bunch of others good ones.

― tylerw, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:39 (eighteen years ago)

I voted Fegmania.

But I just wanted to mention my fodness for Queen Elvis. I know people hate the production, but I kinda like it, it's a bizarro world where Robyn Hitchcock is a top selling glossy pop artist, and the songs are really underrated.

― dan selzer, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:50 (eighteen years ago)

i voted trains and would just like to add, as i've said many times before, that i like the cd version, with the bonus tracks sequenced smack in the middle of the original tracks, better than the original lp.

― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:53 (eighteen years ago)

hmm yeah, i've never really known IODOT without the bonus trax right in the middle -- I can imagine how it would upset people who fell in love with the original album, but I love it just the way it is. Oh man that is a good album, maybe I should've voted for that!

― tylerw, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:15 (eighteen years ago)

Yay! With Tom Verlaine, my favorite straight-ahead singer/songwriter.

Most RH freaks cite Element Of Light-- it'll be interesting to see how it does here.

I'll vote Fegmania, though. Robyn's lyrical A-game on almost every track, all the fun fussy synth details, that sharp drippy psych guitar, and a high point for Robyn, Andy and Morris' vocal harmonizing. It was also my intro to him 22 years ago, so there's some sentimental bias there.

Must say, however, that I've made a habit in recent years of boiling down every RH album to a 5 song EP of pure classicness (every one of his recs has at least a couple songs that infuriate me). When this has been done, A Star For Bram (the outtakes appendix to Jewels For Sophia, as Mossy Liquor was to Moss Elixir) suddenly vies for first place.

― Jon Lewis, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:32 (eighteen years ago)

Re: IODOT-- without the intrusive bonus tracks you don't get "Winter Love" which might be the best thing on the disc--!

― Jon Lewis, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:34 (eighteen years ago)

No "Gotta Let This Hen Out"? That's my favourite.

― everything, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:50 (eighteen years ago)

yeah, it's true that Hitchcock has very few start-to-finish brilliant records, but each one of them has worthwhile tracks. And while we're on the subject of IODOT, i looooove "Heart Full of Leaves" the instrumental towards the end. I always wished he'd do a whole album of instrumentals like that -- or that maybe someone would hire him to do a soundtrack of that kind of thing.

― tylerw, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:54 (eighteen years ago)

Has anyone suggested Invisible Hitchcock yet? If so, i'm agreein'.

― Alex in NYC, Thursday, 3 May 2007 16:07 (eighteen years ago)

globe of frogs was my first and the one i listen to the most (along with queen elvis); call me a sellout but I like the big production on those

― akm, Thursday, 3 May 2007 16:14 (eighteen years ago)

xpost-- Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Even on his worst records, the tracks that are keepers are SUPA MONSTA keepers. E.g. Groovey Decay: life without "52 Stations" and "The Rain" would be a meager thing indeed.

Re: instrumentals-- there are almost about an album's worth scattered about:

"Heart Full Of Leaves" and the bookend Nocturnes on IODOT
"Chinese Water Python" on Eye
Two of them on Luxor, can't remember the titles. One's like a spazzy raga!
"Shuffling Over The Flagstones" on Mossy Liquor
I must be forgetting some...

― Jon Lewis, Thursday, 3 May 2007 16:15 (eighteen years ago)

"Shuffling Over Flagstones"! Yes, that's an awesome one. Isn't there another one on Eye? "College Of Ice" or something?

― tylerw, Thursday, 3 May 2007 16:26 (eighteen years ago)

Element of Light, definitely. I have difficulty making it through most of the other ones, to tell the truth.

― mitya, Thursday, 3 May 2007 16:45 (eighteen years ago)

Most RH freaks cite Element Of Light-- it'll be interesting to see how it does here.

I voted for it. It was a toss up between that and Eye (though I admit a secret fondness for Respect)

― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 3 May 2007 16:56 (eighteen years ago)

Voted Fegmania but really surprised at how close I came to Ole and Globe of Frogs. His band played a bunch of songs off Element of Light and Globe of Frogs the last few times they were in New York and I was shocked at how well the Globe of Frogs songs stood up.

― dan., Thursday, 3 May 2007 16:59 (eighteen years ago)

Those current live arrangements of those Globe Songs are strikingly different to the originals, aren't they? "Vibrating" and "Chinese Bones" certainly--"Beatle Dennis" is done pretty straight.

There are a bunch of audience recordings (including the abovementioned) from the Venus 3 tours for free download on archive.org-- I especially like the spring 2006 Crocodile show and the November 2006 Baltimore show.

― Jon Lewis, Thursday, 3 May 2007 17:11 (eighteen years ago)

Black Snake Diamond Role is it, since it was the first one I ever heard. Vince Ely's drumming on Brenda's Iron Sledge still slays me.

― kwhitehead, Thursday, 3 May 2007 17:41 (eighteen years ago)

Very much in doubt here, but I chose "Fegmania" although its win ahead of "Element Of Light" is very narrow.

Those two are way above the rest. "I Often Dream Of Trains", "Black Snake Diamond Role" and "Globe Of Frogs" all have their moments but are too patchy to make it all the way.

"Underwater Moonlight" is still better than any Hitchcock solo album though.

― Geir Hongro, Thursday, 3 May 2007 20:18 (eighteen years ago)

Element loses points for "Ted, Woody and Junior". That it made the record, while "The Crawling" and "The Leopard" were left as B-sides, is just classic RH sequencing lunacy.

Demerits also for the chorusing all over Andy's bass on several tracks. Great playing, but it shouldn't be so hard to listen to. Sign of the times , I guess.

― Jon Lewis, Thursday, 3 May 2007 20:37 (eighteen years ago)

This is my favorite poll yet! And I'm going to cast my lot with "Element of Light" - a narrow win over "Fegmania." "Ole Tarantula" my be my number 3, amazingly.

My very inside sources have informed me that he just finished recording another one with the Venus 3, to be out later this year.

― Davey D, Thursday, 3 May 2007 20:38 (eighteen years ago)

"Ted Woody and Junior" is my favorite song on that record. =(

― Davey D, Thursday, 3 May 2007 20:39 (eighteen years ago)

it's an outtakes collection, but You & Oblivion is worth checking out, too -- "Ghost Ship", "September Cones" "Victorian Squid"...A bunch of others too. "Birdshead".

― tylerw, Thursday, 3 May 2007 20:45 (eighteen years ago)

"Ghost Ship" = my favorite RH song. I even did a comics series inspired by it, but I only got three issues out.

Whenever RH is playing and I decide to skip it, he does "Ghost Ship". I've still never seen it played live.

― Jon Lewis, Thursday, 3 May 2007 21:13 (eighteen years ago)

I voted for the only one I own ("Globe of Frogs") altho I remember hearing and enjoying "Queen Elvis" and I think "Eye" 20 years or so ago.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 3 May 2007 21:18 (eighteen years ago)

xpost ha ha really? what was the comic? can i get a copy? I've never seen him do "Ghost Ship" live, though it seems to be creeping into setlists these days.

― tylerw, Thursday, 3 May 2007 21:19 (eighteen years ago)

It was called, well, "Ghost Ship". Slave Labor (or SLG as they're called these days) published it in 1996. It was basically pirate surrealism.

I wish I had copies to send. I only have a couple of each left for myself now, and they've been unavailable from SLG for ages. I really need to get motivated to put a collection of it together with my current publisher.

― Jon Lewis, Thursday, 3 May 2007 22:05 (eighteen years ago)

Fegmania got my vote. Robyn's my absolute favorite active artist. Every album is full of gems - except Luxor, which is his only outright dud. It's not so much bad as boring.

We used "I Feel Beautiful" for our wedding song.

― Mr. Odd, Thursday, 3 May 2007 22:09 (eighteen years ago)

I only have I Often Dream... Which should I get next? (To be fair, I tend to prefer Soft Boys to what I've heard)...

― I eat cannibals, Thursday, 3 May 2007 22:30 (eighteen years ago)

i'd get Fegmania and/or Element of Light, if you like the Soft Boys. Different, but same rhythm section/harmony singers. Those are probably my fave Egyptians records...

― tylerw, Thursday, 3 May 2007 22:57 (eighteen years ago)

A good portion of Black Snake Diamond Role, his first solo album, is very much in tune with the Soft Boys aesthetic. I'll second the vote for Fegmania! as well, and the live album from that same time Gotta Let This Hen Out. The live album has a number of Soft Boys tracks thrown in to help you acclimate.

― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 3 May 2007 23:18 (eighteen years ago)

Thinking about Globe of Frogs today, I started singing "Chinese Bones" to myself. What a lovely tune. He's got at least three per album, surrounded by tracks calcified by mannerisms, as Jon Lewis mentioned upthread.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 3 May 2007 23:24 (eighteen years ago)

I went with Element of Light, but between that and Fegmania and IODOT is pretty much a toss-up. Gotta Let This Hen Out! would be up there too - that version of "The Face of Death" is so amazing.

Luxor is probably the least interesting album of his that I've heard, but it does have the wonderful "Solpadeine."

― clotpoll, Friday, 4 May 2007 03:54 (eighteen years ago)

I went with Respect. A classic and sorely underrated gem. I'm a huge Robyn Hitchcock fan and find myself drawn back to this heartfelt classic again and again. Arms of Love...Moon Inside...Then You're Dust...There's not a bad song on this album.

― wonderwonder, Friday, 4 May 2007 04:08 (eighteen years ago)

I think those three are my least favorites on the album. Well, I think I like "Then You're Dust." But man, "The Wreck of the Arthur Lee" and "When I Was Dead" and "The Yip! Song," great stuff. I have Spectre, the version in which he explains the songs, or at least attempts to. The story behind "The Yip! Song" is quite amazing.

― clotpoll, Friday, 4 May 2007 04:14 (eighteen years ago)

I like everything on the album. It's one of the few albums, especially in light of the subject matter (his father's passing and all that), that strikes me very deep on an emotional level. Tears even. I love the Yip Song, Wreck, When I Was Dead. Even Wafflehead brings some levity. Allows me to recover after all that preceeded it. Again, a gem.

― wonderwonder, Friday, 4 May 2007 04:20 (eighteen years ago)

Voted for Trains, and I agree that it's one of the rare albums where the bonus tracks improve it rather than detract or distract (though I could take or leave "Mellow Together")

― ciderpress, Friday, 4 May 2007 05:36 (eighteen years ago)

There was a very interesting BBC4 documentary about RH last week, well worth seeing. It showed him playing tracks (in his living room) with the Venus 3 and had lots of interviews with him, Buck, and other collaborators including his niece who played the saw, I kid you not. They then toured North America in a very small van: Peter Buck said he enjoyed getting straight on to stage and not having to shake hands with strangers for three hours beforehand.

― Kim Tortoise, Friday, 4 May 2007 11:38 (eighteen years ago)

I saw this on Sundance in america a few weeks back, really good documentary. I liked Buck going on about what a chore REM is and how he can be himself when he plays with Robyn.

― dan selzer, Friday, 4 May 2007 14:08 (eighteen years ago)

Eye!

― Manalishi, Friday, 4 May 2007 14:10 (eighteen years ago)

Strong nod to Element of Light but the expanded ...Trains gets my vote for all of its juicy tidbits.

― christoff, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:24 (eighteen years ago)

poor peter buck, he lives such a hard life

― get bent, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:34 (eighteen years ago)

Element benefits even more than IODOT from its bonus tracks, though (talking of the Rhino edition specifically). All the B-sides are as good as anything on the album, "The Can Opener" is spoken-word foolishness that actually bears repeated listening, and the demo version of "Raymond Chandler Evening" is better than the alb version, substituting an odd, smeary brass ensemble interlude for the chorused bass solo of the studio take.

If you like Egyptians-era Robyn and don't have the Rhino edition of Element, totally buy it on sight. I think the Rhino series is all out of print now...

― Jon Lewis, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:40 (eighteen years ago)

xpost

― Jon Lewis, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:40 (eighteen years ago)

The Rhino stuff is definitely out of print, but I've heard rumors that there's going to be some Yep Roc editions of his catalog, including the A&M stuff. Wonder if I'll have to buy them all again? Hmm...

― tylerw, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:46 (eighteen years ago)

For sound quality, I wouldn't think so. If the bonus tracks are different, mebbe. But then again, Yep Roc is on eMusic, so cherry picking is an option.

― Jon Lewis, Friday, 4 May 2007 16:20 (eighteen years ago)

Aye, Eye!

― inajar, Friday, 4 May 2007 16:23 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, I guess I was wondering whether the Yep Roc reissues would be like the Billy Bragg ones, where there's a live bonus disc with each record? I'd like that. All speculation at this point -- I can't even remember where I read that this was maybe possibly happening!

― tylerw, Friday, 4 May 2007 16:32 (eighteen years ago)

It's definitely happening, RH has mentioned it in multiple interviews. Though he has alluded to the possibility that they will be download-only.

― Jon Lewis, Friday, 4 May 2007 16:33 (eighteen years ago)

I wanted there to be choice for "You & Oblivion". I know, I know...no one cares about that one. Argh. So Trains it is...

― Bimble, Saturday, 5 May 2007 03:59 (eighteen years ago)

You & Oblivion is a great collection, but I assume it isn't on there for the same reason Invisible Hitchcock isn't - it's all stuff from other places and not an album. per se. You could also easily go with The Kershaw Sessions collection of Egyptians radio sessions, which has the definitive "Tropical Flesh Mandala".

― EZ Snappin, Saturday, 5 May 2007 15:26 (eighteen years ago)

EZ Snappin' is a fantastic screen name, btw.

― Bimble, Saturday, 5 May 2007 20:18 (eighteen years ago)

The _Kershaw Sessions_ is fantastic. "The Banana Boat Song" is spell-binding and it's got the complete version of "Madonna Of The Wasps" with the long intro that's otherwise only found on the video.

― Mr. Odd, Saturday, 5 May 2007 20:54 (eighteen years ago)

I played "The Banana Boat Song" on my podcast this week. Just lovely.

The "Madonna Of The Wasps" w/intro is haunting. In general, Robyn is in great voice on those Kershaw recordings. Speaking of intros, I also like the intro to "One Long Pair Of Eyes" on the A&M greatest hits disc - "Seek the the one they call Clint!"

Bimble - thanks for the screen name compliment. It comes with a sweet Theo Beckford theme song too!

― EZ Snappin, Sunday, 6 May 2007 02:07 (eighteen years ago)

It's Moss Elixir. He's got albums with a better sound. He's got albums with better singles or song sequences. He has no better albums.

― Hunt3r, Sunday, 6 May 2007 03:50 (eighteen years ago)

Surprising winner but not altogether unexpected.

― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 10 May 2007 06:34 (eighteen years ago)

really? i thought that was the totally obvious winner, and nothing in the thread suggested otherwise.

― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 10 May 2007 14:24 (eighteen years ago)

I'm surprised _Moss Elixir_ got 2 votes, I'm guessing those came from folks for whom it was their gateway album. I'm also down on the production of that record because I saw him play those songs at 3 shows and an in-store appearance one weekend and they're SO MUCH BETTER as just voice, guitar and violin. I especially can't stand the laugh-track on "Alright Yeah".

― Mr. Odd, Thursday, 10 May 2007 17:14 (eighteen years ago)

I wouldn't lose any sleep at all if someone wanting to delve into RH followed the results of this poll. Maybe would nominate Ole as a first step into the later stuff ahead of Moss.

I can understand the support for Moss, though. It was such a long break between Respect and Moss (4 yrs), with all the Rhino reissues coming out in between, getting everybody all excited about the idea of RH again. And the songs on Moss were heard so many times in concert over several years in "troubador" form-- it was exciting to finally get studio recordings of them.

These days the production on Moss bugs me too, though. It's grayish and lacks bite.

― Jon Lewis, Thursday, 10 May 2007 17:32 (eighteen years ago)

I thought Spooked might have garnered a vote or two. It's great! I went for Element though.

― everything, Thursday, 10 May 2007 18:07 (eighteen years ago)

really? i thought that was the totally obvious winner, and nothing in the thread suggested otherwise.

The vote distribution was surprising. I would have thought that EOL and BSDR would have gotten more votes.

― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 10 May 2007 18:54 (eighteen years ago)

I'm sure it is the matter of choosing one, as opposed to ranking his output. I love Element Of Light, but not quite as much as Trains. A good follow-up would be second favorite - I think there would be more surprises.

― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 10 May 2007 19:08 (eighteen years ago)

A "Second Favorite Robyn Hitchcock Album" poll would get its originator run out of town, I fear.

But yes the OPO effect is kinda distorting when you evaluate the results.

― Jon Lewis, Thursday, 10 May 2007 19:21 (eighteen years ago)

_You And Oblivion_ is a fantastic closet-cleaning outtakes collection that came out the last time his catalogue was reissued. It's exciting to think about how Yep Roc could handle it this time, if they do it like they did Billy Bragg's (a second live disc from the related period for each album would do the trick) I think everyone will want to upgrade. Again.

― Mr. Odd, Thursday, 10 May 2007 19:50 (eighteen years ago)

There are definitely plenty more unissued songs that never got beyond demo stage; another You & Oblivion style release would be easy to put together I would think.

My notion of how many song ideas RH rejects for each record was totally blown away by this set of mp3s that went around the web a couple of years ago. It was strictly demos from the period of Perspex Island, and there were maybe 15 unissued songs there, along with embryonic versions of Perspex songs. A half dozen of those unissued tunes were really good, too, up there with the best stuff on Y & O.

― Jon Lewis, Thursday, 10 May 2007 20:25 (eighteen years ago)

Jon - is that the demo set that includes "Lovely Golden Villians" and "If We Had A Baby"?

― Mr. Odd, Thursday, 10 May 2007 21:24 (eighteen years ago)

Yep, and those are two of the big winners on it. I also dig "Lobsterman", "Whoa-oh-oa" and "Shimmering Distant Love".

― Jon Lewis, Thursday, 10 May 2007 21:36 (eighteen years ago)

"Lobsterman" is GOLD, an utter crime it never made it to an album. 3 Queen Elvis outtakes are stellar as well - "Evil Guy", "Hanging Out With Dad" and "Live Man Die". Only the first got released, on The Soft Boys _Side Three_ EP that came out during their reunion. You're right, this stuff would made great bonus cuts for the Yep Roc reissues. Bring it on!

― Mr. Odd, Thursday, 10 May 2007 23:11 (eighteen years ago)

two years pass...

My friend just told me about this I Dream Of Trains film. Sadly, I don't have cable TV. ;_;

― Born Again Atheist (Bimble), Friday, 5 June 2009 17:21 (sixteen years ago)

one year passes...

I've made a habit in recent years of boiling down every RH album to a 5 song EP of pure classicness

So Jon - care to share your Pure Classicness EP tracklistings?

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Monday, 12 July 2010 03:06 (fifteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

Jon? C'mon, I'm curious!

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Friday, 6 August 2010 00:57 (fifteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.