a body on the railings that i can't identify: the robyn hitchcock ELEMENT OF LIGHT poll

listening to this for the first time in ages, hence the poll. i don't know what i'll vote for. i played the hell out of this record when it came out. it still seems to me like something kind of separate in hitchcock's discography. more moody, muted, mysterious. the weirdness is more understated and because of that maybe more effective. it sort of seems like his most grown-up record to me, i don't know. like, globe of frogs felt like a little backsliding to me, "balloon man" so obvious in its hitchcock quirkiness vs. something like "somewhere apart."

plus this is the egyptians album where they feel most like a band, i think. (well this and gotta let this hen out.) there's real interplay, vocally and instrumentally.

plus of course there are some great tunes. "ted, woody and junior," "raymond chandler evening" and "airscape" are some of his prettiest, "if you were a priest" and "the president" some of his rock-iest.

also i've always been a sucker for "lady waters," that goth-folky masque-of-the-red-death stuff.

(great licks on "lady waters" too. dude is a serious guitar hero, which i didn't even really realize until i saw him live.)

Airscape then, Airscape still.

I heard a radio interview with Robyn Hitchcock back when this came out... he said "The President" was about a speech given by Ronald Reagan during a European visit. He found the speech very patronizing, like "don't worry little Europe, the world has passed you by but we'll protect you."

He'd never make love to a loaf of bread, unless of course he found one in his bed.

unless of course he found one in his bed

an important caveat.

yeah of all the ronnie-bashing songs of that period, "the president" ranks with "bonzo goes to bitburg" for me. ( both inspired by the same trip, i think.) it nails some specific things about reagan, but also about the creepy delusions of the authoritarian mind.

raymond chandler evening was a regular on "120 minutes" for a little while.

i also like that the homoeroticism of "ted, woody and junior" isn't given any context at all. it's just a sort of pastoral idyll.

("it's a wonderful world/with a lot of strange men")

ok after further listening i think for me it's "somewhere apart." i love the way the melody runs a little bit against the beat. and the lyrics. mule-headed man.

also i really like the sound of this album. it's got great shimmery highs, a bright middle and a really warm low end. (the latter helped a lot by andy metcalfe.)

Very tough, but I'm going to have to go with "Bass" (though "Somewhere Apart" and "Ted, Woody & Junior" come very close).

Holy shit, I haven't heard this whole album in a long ass time. But I have no qualms with "Airscape" as my #1 choice followed by Winchester.

Alex in NYC! Hello! Greetings from ILM, my friend.

I've been playing this all week, OD'ing on the latest remasters. Wonderful album, probably the best of the Egyptians run. Have to go with "Airscape" - it was on the first mixtape I ever gave my wife, and nearly fifteen years later she still mentions that when she hears it playing.

haha, i'm pretty sure i put that on a mixtape for my college girlfriend.

Airscape, just, over Raymond Chandler Evening. Still massively prefer solo live versions of these songs, though (esp solo electric versions of Airscape - maybe there was one actually released on Storefront Hitchcock?).

"If You Were a Priest". IMO Fegmania > though.

fegmania's great. element of light was the first one i bought, so that's probably partly the basis for it being my favorite. (first studio album anyway, i think i had gotta let this hen out first.)

What toby said, here. "Airscape" is not only beautiful, but a lesson in proper operation of the backwards guitar.

And thanks tipsy for introducing me to this one way back when. Just listened again and yup it's airscape. it's almost perfect. And if it was it wouldn't be...

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Airscape, hovering just above Raymond Chandler Evening and If You Were a Priest (some days I'd pick RCE, but not today). Somewhere Apart is real good too, but not quite in the same league.

Something about this album never quite connected with me, though it was my first exposure to the Egyptians (along with Gotta Let this Hen Out, Fegmania!, Invisible and the live show circa '86), and I quickly came to adore all things Hitchcock. For one thing, Element is overburdened with ambitious filler, songs that don't quite work: The President, Never Stop Bleeding, Lady Waters, Bass. But I think the real problem for me is the sound. There's something thin and tepid about this record, something almost dead. As though all the tracks were recorded seperately by proficient but disinterested jazz fusion hacks. And the noodly fretless bass playing often offends my ear.

I love The President and Never Stop Bleeding. Bass is the only one I'd skip.

This is really hard.

i was listening to the bonus tracks the other night. "tell me about your drugs" should have made the album.

"The Can Opener" should have made it too.

"Priest" b-side "The Crawling" didn't do much for me at the time, but over the years I've come to like it quite a bit. Toothier than most of the album tracks.

Lot of those songs people are calling B-sides because they weren't on the LP, but weren't they on the CD when it first came out? I know my CD had at least The Crawling, The Leopard, and Tell Me About Your Drugs on it in 1986/87.

Cripes, haven't heard this in 20 years. But I remember it (and the show I saw on this tour) like yesterday. "Never Stop Bleeding" narrowly over "The President."

I'll vote 'Airscape' (slightly over 'If You We're A Priest') - Ken Stringfellow has an interesting cover of it on a bside of a 45.

Just remembered seeing him on this tour at McCabe's in Santa Monica summer 1987, solo acoustic, some solo piano, a great show. He did Raymond Chandler evening and slayed.

"Airscape" is so lovely.

I saw him at McCabes in Santa Monica that summer as well. He did two sets if I remember correctly.

Are you my ex-girlfriend? If so we were at the same set.

this is by far his best. not sure why that's not universally held, but it's true.

Yeah, it's song for song his best, and it's certainly the one I spent the most intent time with on its release. And tipsy otm in terms of its less frenetic quirkiness being a plus.

As undeniably lovely as "Airscape" is (I had forgotten), I can't not vote for "Winchester." It comes to me, unbidden, all the time and gets stuck in my head for a day or two.

"If I Were A Priest" has a helluva hook and a hella dumb lyric: rote Hitchcock weirdness.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Now I'm mad at all the people who almost voted for Raymond Chandler Evening, including me.

yeah i'm surprised that and "ted, woody" got 0. lotta competition tho.