Robyn Hitchcock - I Wanna Go Backwards

10/10 -

For the newbie and the die hard

I Wanna Go Backwards encompasses expanded editions of three of Hitchcock's best-loved albums, Black Snake Diamond Role, I Often Dream of Trains and Eye, along with While Thatcher Mauled Britain Part 1 & 2, a newly compiled two-disc collection of b-sides, outtakes and home demo recordings, many of them previously unreleased. All of the individual albums feature bonus tracks and enhanced liner notes, including Hitchcock's personal reminiscences on Black Snake Diamond Role and While Thatcher Mauled Britain, an extract from a novel in progress on I Often Dream of Trains, and several pieces of original poetry on Eye, along with previously unpublished photos and Hitchcock cartoons.

Robyn Hitchcock is one of rock's most prolific and long-standing artists ... and you've probably never heard of him.

Without recounting his long and prolifc career, Robyn is once again releasing some of his classic (and my favorite) albums into the market place from his new home on Yep Roc Records. I Wanna Go Backwards boasts a stunning array of extras and bonuses, but really does repeat many tracks from "Invisible" and the Rycko bonus discs. There are a few genuine extras and the remastering is very good.

If you've always been curious as to what all the fuss was about, however, this is where to start. Containing my very favorite albums from what was once the flowering underground scene of the 1980's (crushed by Nirvana and the alternative rock format.)

How to describe Robyn's music? From the late 70s, Robyn's previous band the Soft Boys were not well liked amongst their three chords punk contemporaries. They were loud enough and angry enough, but also melodic, complicated, and funny. In 1980, the Soft Boys broke up and Robyn worked on his first solo album. From the Yep Roc press release:


Black Snake Diamond Role continued the Soft Boys' legacy of warped jangle-pop, while introducing the moody, introspective side that Hitchcock would further explore in the years to come. The album introduced such enduring Hitchcock compositions as "The Man Who Invented Himself," "Brenda's Iron Sledge" and "Acid Bird," which are joined on the new edition by eight bonus tracks, most of them outtakes from the original album sessions.

I Often Dream of Trains, originally released in 1984, was a notable departure from Hitchcock's prior work, presenting his kaleidoscopic lyrical imagery and haunting melodic sensibility in spare, mostly acoustic settings that emphasize the material's intimate focus. The album balances the haunting introspection of such ballads as "Cathedral" and "Trams of Old London" with the barbed humor of "Sometimes I Wish I Was A Pretty Girl" and "Uncorrected Personality Traits." The new edition of I Often Dream of Trains augments the album's original 18 tracks with six bonus numbers.

1990's Eye was something of a sequel to I Often Dream of Trains, with Hitchcock returning to stripped-down solo approach as a low-key respite from the major-label rock albums that he was recording at the time. "I got to record Eye at a time when a lot of people were on my case," explains Hitchcock. "It had nobody else on it and no Alternative Chart expectations. It was luxury, a wide open meadow to kvetch in." Eye remains a fan favorite, thanks to such memorable tunes as "Glass Hotel," "Clean Steve" and "Queen Elvis." The expanded edition adds four bonus tracks to the original album's 17.


He's the Fella, the man who invented himself ...