Ten For... ROBYN HITCHCOCK (Pt. 5)
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.
Today, after a long run, we finally arrive at the fifth and final chapter in my look at the career of Robyn Hitchcock, an artist who’s still going strong in 2022 and yet has produced so much wonderful work up to this point in his career that a five-part look at his career hardly seems enough…at least to me, anyway. You may well be exhausted at this point, and if that’s so, well, we all have our own tastes, and I’m sorry to have bored you, but I started this thing and, by God, I’m seeing it through to the end.
As I’ve done before, I’ll first offer up the links to the previous four parts, lest any of you find yourselves wondering, “Wait, how can I read Pts. 1 - 4?”
Pt. 1
Pt. 2
Pt. 3
Pt. 4
And now that we’ve solved a problem which may or may not have existed in the first place, it’s time to carry on with the conclusion of Ten For… ROBYN HITCHCOCK!
1. “Light Blue Afternoon” (2011 - Tromsø, Kaptein)
2. “The Abyss” (2011 - Tromsø, Kaptein)
3. “Be Still” (2013 - Love from London)
4. “Strawberries Dress” (2013 - Love from London)
5. “End of Time” (2013 - Love from London)
6. “The Ghost in You” (2014 - The Man Upstairs)
7. “Comme Toujours” (2014 - The Man Upstairs)
8. “Mad Shelley’s Letterbox” (2017 - Robyn Hitchcock)
9. “Sayonara Judge” (2017 - Robyn Hitchcock)
10. “Detective Mindhorn” (2017 - Robyn Hitchcock)
And there you have it: the end of a five-part spectacular about the career of Robyn Hitchcock to date…and even now, I can think of more tracks that didn’t make the cut that easily could’ve, but I’ve got to call it quits sometime, and now’s that time.
Ah, but you knew I wasn’t going to end things without offering up at least a concluding bonus track, so here it is, and it’s the most appropriate cover I can imagine: it’s Robyn’s version of Syd Barrett’s “Dark Globe,” a.k.a. the song that served as my gateway drug into Barrett’s work…although if I’m to be honest, the version that I first heard was actually a version sung by Michael Stipe, and it was on a flexidisc that was included in an issue of Sassy.
Also a true story: I prefer Robyn’s version. (Sorry, Michael.)