Ten For... ROBYN HITCHCOCK (Pt. 3)

Welcome to Ten For, a feature where I take a look at the discographies of artists who tend to be known in the mainstream for only a few songs (if that), offering up a collection of tracks that will either serve as the start of an education or a squabble, depending on how you feel about the artist’s catalog.

Two days ago, I offered up Pt. 1 of my look into the work of Robyn Hitchcock, which featured his pre-A&M era. Yesterday, I offered up Pt. 2, which featured his A&M catalog as well as the indie album he released in the middle of it (Eye). Today, we’re tackling his years on Warner Brothers, and then there’ll be a Pt. 4 that’ll cover his post-Warners work. Will there be a Pt. 5? I dunno. We’ll see how things shake out.

1. “The Devil’s Radio” (1996 - Moss Elixir)

2. “Alright, Yeah” (1996 - Moss Elixir)

3. “Shuffling Over the Flagstones” (1991 - Mossy Liquor)

4. “Trilobite” (1991 - Mossy Liquor)

5. “1974” (1998 - Storefront Hitchcock)

6. “Let’s Go Thundering” (1998 - Storefront Hitchcock)

7. “I Something You” (1998 - Storefront Hitchcock)

8. “Mexican God” (1999 - Jewels for Sophia)

9. “The Cheese Alarm” (1999 - Jewels for Sophia)

10. “Elizabeth Jade” (1999 - Jewels for Sophia)

So there you go: 10 tremendous tracks from Robyn’s Warner Brothers years. It’s a brief era of his career, all things considered, but the mere fact that he released the soundtrack to Storefront Hitchcock during that period of time is enough to make it one of my favorites.

And that brings us to a very odd coincidence: it was on this very day 12 years ago that I had a close encounter with the man who directed Storefront Hitchcock, and to say that he was happy to hear that I enjoyed the film was an understatement.

God bless Jonathan Demme. Just having that exchange alone made it one of my all-time favorite moments in a decade’s worth of attending the Television Critics Association press tour.

Okay, so now it’s time to close with the inevitable bonus track, but this time I’m actually going to deliver three bonus tracks.

Actually, the first two really aren’t bonus tracks as much as they are tracks that I accidentally forgot to incorporate because they’re on odds-and-sods collections rather than proper albums.

“All I Wanna Do Is Fall in Love” (1986 - Invisible Hitchcock)

“You’ve Got” (1995 - You & Oblivion)

So now we come to the real bonus track for the list, and that’s a cover of a Skip Spence song that Robyn did for the compilation album More Oar. If you don’t know Spence’s name, he was the frontman for Moby Grape, a group I first discovered when their song “Omaha” was covered by the Golden Palominos with Michael Stipe on lead vocals. But that’s a discussion for another column. For right now, just enjoy Robyn’s version of this song, and stay tuned for the next chapter in this ongoing saga…