Robyn Hitchcock
Queen Elizabeth Hall
Yep Roc
I Often Dream Of Trains And Other Phenomena
As a long-term Robyn Hitchcock fan, it's always interesting to see what he's going to come out with live - a good 30 years worth of back catalogue means there's a lot to choose from.
Tonight he followed the do-one-album nostalgia format that acts like Sonic Youth and Patti Smith have been trying out. In true Hitchcock style, he presented the "director's cut" of I Often Dream Of Trains (not much chance with a surname like that, etc...) Which meant he veered from the track listing, adding in songs like Queen Elvis and the magical Raining Twilight Coast (which he said was part of the Train sessions, but didn't appear until Eye) and That's Fantastic Mother Church (an unreleasd track that's appeared on the recent mammoth 5 CD I Wanna Go Backwards collection) as well as covers of Roxy Music's More Than This and an Incredible String Band number that he said inspired what he was aiming for at the time - a "dark green album".
With one-time Higson Terry Edwards (inspired by Listening To The Higsons?) on everything from trumpet to keyboards and bass, plus auxiliary guitar from long-term live suppport Tim Keegan this was a classic Hitchcock gig, with the added bonus of him playing piano on tracks like the opener Nocturne.
More than ever, I Often Dream Of Trains and Trams Of Old London both were filled with that beautiful sense he's got of pulling nostalgia, artful detail and acute observation together to create a vision that's uniquely English, defined by the world as he sees it, illuminating it for the rest of us. When I first heard the Freudian acapella Uncorrected Personality Traits, it seemed like a hilarious exercise; now, it feels like he was hitting on dark truths way back in 1984, masked in humour. Similarly, I Used To Say I Love You cuts way deeper than I ever realised; This Could Be The Day sounds even more balanced between hope and resignation; Cathedral a fully realised insight into the possibilities (or otherwise) of ever knowing someone.
At the same time, RH keeps it all together with his effortless spiels, riffing on everything from Sinatra's legs to Waterloo Bridge, Bush's hotline to God and YouTube subtitles. Could have done with Sometimes I Wish I Was A Pretty Girl, but other than that this was an excellent chance to spend an evening inside the world of one my all-time favourite albums.
Links
The Museum Of Robyn Hitchcock
RobynSpace
Cooking With Rockstars
Tags
29th Jan 2008 - Tumblr
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