Robyn Hitchcock
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robyn Rowan Hitchcock (born March 3, 1953) is a singer-songwriter, psych folk artist, and occasional actor. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano and bass both on record and on stage.
Born in London, England, he began his recording career in 1976 with the Cambridge-based punk/New Wave band The Soft Boys. After this group broke up in 1981, Hitchcock began recording both as a solo artist, as well as under the band name Robyn Hitchcock and The Egyptians (with Roger Jackson and two former members of The Soft Boys, Andy Metcalfe and Morris Windsor). It is with this band that Hitchcock achieved some success in the U.S.A via college radio and MTV in the later half of the 1980s and early 1990s with their singles "Balloon Man" in 1988, "Madonna Of The Wasps" in 1989 and "So You Think You're In Love" in 1991.
Hitchcock's musical and lyrical styles have drawn influence from his appreciation of Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Syd Barrett. His tendency for irreverent-sounding delivery has led to some critics misunderstanding him as a purely novelty/comic lyricist, but many of the sentiments within his writing are actually quite serious in themselves, framed in an unpretentious, whimsical and surreal manner.
Hitchcock's 2002 double album Robyn Sings is an album of cover versions of Bob Dylan songs, including a live recording of his recreation of Dylan's Live at the Royal Albert Hall 1966 concert.
Also in 2002, Hitchcock re-united and toured with Kimberley Rew, bassist Matthew Seligman, and Morris Windsor for The Soft Boys releases of Nextdoorland and Side Three.
Hitchcock has collaborated with film director Jonathan Demme on two projects: the live concert film Storefront Hitchcock (1998) and the 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate, in which Hitchcock portrayed double-agent Laurent Tokar.
In 2006 he released the Olé! Tarantula album with The Venus 3, which consists of R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, Young Fresh Fellows frontman Scott McCaughey and Ministry's Bill Rieflin.
Additionally, Hitchcock has a keen interest in abstract art and literature. He writes short stories, paints, and draws (often in a whimsical, surrealist style). Many of Hitchcock's album covers bear his paintings or drawings, and his albums' liner notes occasionally include a printed short story. His live concerts usually include a considerable amount of story-telling and conjecture in his lyrical style.
Robyn is the son of science fiction novelist Raymond Hitchcock and the brother of artist Lal Hitchcock and is not related to Alfred Hitchcock.
[edit] Discography
- Black Snake Diamond Role, 1981
- Groovy Decay, 1982
- I Often Dream of Trains, 1984
- Fegmania!, 1985
- Gotta Let This Hen Out!, 1985
- Groovy Decoy, 1985
- Eaten By Her Own Dinner, 1986
- Element of Light, 1986
- Invisible Hitchcock, 1986
- Globe of Frogs, 1988
- Queen Elvis, 1989
- Eye, 1990
- Perspex Island, 1991
- Live Death, 1992
- Respect (album), 1993
- The Kershaw Sessions, 1994
- You & Oblivion, 1995
- Gravy Deco, 1995
- Moss Elixir, 1996
- Mossy Liquor, 1996
- Greatest Hits, 1996
- Uncorrected Personality Traits, 1997
- Live at the Cambridge Folk Festival, 1998
- Storefront Hitchcock, 1998
- Storefront Hitchcock L.P., 1998
- Jewels for Sophia, 1999
- A Star for Bram, 2000
- Robyn Sings, 2002
- Luxor, 2003
- Spooked, 2004
- Obliteration Pie, 2005
- This is the BBC (live recordings), 2006
- Olé! Tarantula, 2006
- Sex, Food, Death and Tarantulas, 2007
[edit] External links
- The Museum of Robyn Hitchcock (official site)
- The Asking Tree: Robyn Hitchcock Lyrics Database
- The Glass Hotel
- fegMANIA! (the first Robyn Hitchcock site on the Web)
- Robyn Hitchcock Is God, Okay?
- VegetableFriends (Discussion Group)
- Robyn Hitchcock collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive
