Robyn Hitchcock "I Often Dream of Trains in New York” 2009 | TWILIGHTZONE

 Robyn Hitchcock "I Often Dream of Trains in New York" 2009

Recorded live at Symphony Space in New York City, I Often Dream of Trains in New York features Robyn Hitchcock and multi-instrumentalists Tim Keegan and Terry Edwards re-creating the willfully eccentric Englishman's seminal 1983 post-Soft Boys solo outing I Often Dream of Trains in its entirety...
...In typical "Hitchcockian" fashion, the singer enters the stage to the tinny crackle of a hand-held tape recorder playing "Sometimes I Wish I Was a Pretty Girl," sits down at the piano, comically slows the pitch and begins playing the moody instrumental "Nocturne." What follows is a surprisingly deft and poignant retelling of his most beloved album, peppered with the usual Dada banter about tomatoes, microorganisms, and detectives. The two-disc set includes a DVD of the performance, as well as a surreal short film that features extended footage from the original video shoot for the title track backed by random bursts of disconnected music and dialogue. - Review by James Christopher Monger

I thought we had this classic before but Twilight just posted (again?) but perhaps I was thinking of the original release of this classic Hitchcock this is a live version and as were talking about Robyn at the Beefheart tribute here is a seminal quirky eccentric pasterpiece!

Robyn Hitchcock "Shadow Cat” 2008 | TWILIGHTZONE

 Robyn Hitchcock "Shadow Cat" 2008

Robyn Hitchcock is a wizard with an electric guitar and can create crackling, energetic rock & roll with the right band behind him, but sometimes it seems he's happiest when he's working all by his lonesome, and some of the finest albums in his catalog feature him in solo semi-acoustic mode (most notably I Often Dream of Trains and Eye)...
...Shadow Cat is an accidental sibling to these works, a collection of 14 solo Hitchcock tracks recorded between 1993 and 1999, most of which haven't surfaced before (though a version of "Statue with a Walkman" appeared on the vinyl edition of Storefront Hitchcock, the same album included another take on Jimi Hendrix's "The Wind Cries Mary," and "The Green Boy" surfaced on the outtakes compilation A Star for Bram). Some of these tracks can be politely described as experiments that don't quite work, most notably two a cappella numbers performed with the aid of a vocoder ("Because You're Over" and "Real Dot"), and a few are simply lesser compositions that don't sound especially memorable, such as "High on Yourself" and the truncated opener "For Debbie Reynolds." But for fans who like Hitchcock best when he's in a deep and atmospheric mood, Shadow Cat certainly has its rewards, and the languid "Baby Doll," the minimal but absorbing "Beautiful Shock," the stripped-down rock guitar figures of "Never Have to See You Again," and the ominous yet playful title cut are welcome examples of what Hitchcock does so well. Shadow Cat shouldn't be mistaken for a "new" Robyn Hitchcock album, but as a sampler of odds and ends from his notebooks it rescues a few worthy songs from an obscurity they don't deserve, and it's a fine reminder of why Hitchcock is still regarded as one of the most gifted and singular British songwriters around. - Review by Mark Deming

Robyn Hitchcock "This Is The BBC” 2006 | TWILIGHTZONE!

Robyn Hitchcock "This Is The BBC" 2006

This Is the BBC is an album by Robyn Hitchcock, released on the Hux Records label in April 2006...
...It rounds up fourteen tracks recorded for radio, primarily with Andy Kershaw between 1995 and 1999. It can therefore be viewed as a sequel piece to The Kershaw Sessions. The tracks cover Hitchcock's contemporary material at the time of recording, and include a version of the evocative "I Saw Nick Drake" with lyrical amendments. It also includes a cover of Bob Dylan's "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry". The packaging features Hitchcock's artwork and significantly utilises a painting by his father Raymond as a cover, which dates to 1954. (Raymond Hitchcock is also pictured in the booklet.) - wiki

ride your pony here . . . .  

Mo’ Most of The Animals, live at The BBC November 1965 ♫ | TWILIGHTZONE | The Animals Tribute Channel

 The Animals, live on BBC Radio, November 1965 ♫

The Animals Tribute Channel

They say: "The Animals live on BBC Radio/The Joe Loss Pop Show, with two great performances of 'We Gotta Get Out Of This Place' and 'I'm Going To Change The World', recorded November 1965. I have made a compilation of clips to go with the audio. Enjoy : ) Eric Burdon - vocals Hilton Valentine - guitar Dave Rowberry - keyboards Chas Chandler - bass John Steel - drums I dedicate this video in memory of Hilton Valentine, Chas Chandler and Dave Rowberry"

Van Dyke Parks Collection "Song Cycle” 1968/Van Dyke Parks "Discover America" 1972 Clang of The Yankeee Reaper 1976, "Jump!" 1984 Tokyo Rose (1989)|TWILIGHTZONE

Van Dyke Parks "Song Cycle" 1968

"Van Dyke Parks has always been one of the great charlatans of US music history!"
Former child actor Van Dyke Parks had reinvented himself as a songwriter, arranger, raconteur, and budding conceptualist when Warner Bros. bankrolled this brave, baroque 1968 debut, which has achieved true notoriety in the annals of '60s California pop.
More heard-of than heard, Song Cycle sailed against the tide of guitar-driven, blues-drenched rock to bet on the orchestral ambitions of Sgt. Pepper, weaving a conceptual tapestry from folk, Tin Pan Alley, and classical strands. In place of generational anthems or confessional love songs, Parks's coy, modest tenor offered intricate, impressionistic wordplay ripe with puns, multiple-entendres, and geopolitical allusions far beyond the pale of countercultural rock. On songs such as "The All Golden," "Palm Desert," and "Laurel Canyon Blvd.," you'll hear poetic links to Brian Wilson's most convoluted, internalized soundscapes, as well as a wily musical intelligence that will either intoxicate or infuriate you. Not unlike a brattier, Californian cousin to Stephen Sondheim, Parks revels in musical and thematic puzzles, and Song Cycle offers his most seductive and challenging ones. - Sam Sutherland

1 Vine Street (R Newman)

2 Palm Desert (Van Dyke Parks)

3 Widow's Walk (Van Dyke Parks)

4 Laurel Canyon Blvd. (Van Dyke Parks)

5 The All Golden (Van Dyke Parks)

6 Van Dyke Parks (Public Domain) say what now?

7 Public Domain (Van Dyke Parks) come again . . . ? What the heck?

8 Donovan's Colours (Donovan Leitch)

9 The Attic (Van Dyke Parks)

10 Laurel Canyon Blvd. (Van Dyke Parks)

11 By The People (Van Dyke Parks)

12 Pot Pourri (Van Dyke Parks)

CD bonus track 13 The Eagle And Me (Arlen/Naiberg) (originally released as a single on Warner Bros)

Producer: Leonard Waronker

here . . . .

Then came 'Discover America' and we all bought the album thanks to my old friend and collegiate pal Steve Roberts I think! . . . 

“Still she walking’ about with she face like Jack Palance - Go To FRANCE!”

The All Golden - Van Dyke Parks

 

 The Mighty Sparrow's 'Jack Palance' Discover America

Van Dyke Parks "Discover America" 1972

While I dig "Song Cycle" quite a bit, I prefer "Discover America", Van Dyke's sprawling, tropical fever dream. What does it sound like? I liken it to giving a bunch of Disney characters lost in Trinidad with nothing but a bottle of booze and a bag of coke. I dunno. It's a whole hill of fun and a big kick in the rubber parts. Light the tiki torches, crank it up, and relax. - By Patrick Crain (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma United States)
After reading reviews for other Van Dyke Parks albums, I'm amazed at how easily this one gets overlooked; Mr. Parks certainly has many strong albums which deserve heaping amounts of credit (Song Cycle and Jump! come to mind first), but to me this one is the perfect blend of the artistic sensibilities of "Song Cycle" and the listenability and pop/catchiness of "Clang of the Yankee Reaper" (The albums released just before and after "Discover America").
To my ears, this one has just the right combination of elements from both albums, and has proven to be the one I come back to listen to the most. Some people may gripe that there are a number of covers on this album (as another reviewer mentioned, "Roosevelt in Trinidad" contains a number of the original versions): But this is where Park's talent for instrumentation, arranging and personalizing material shines through. This album swells and swoons in all the right places; it is a funky feverish haze with exquisite instrumentation, arrangements, and just the right mix of artistic pretention and outright feelgood funkiness. A tropical cocktail that'll shake you! - By Josh Z. Bonder "a sound painter" (Toronto)

Van Dyke Parks "Clang Of The Yankee Reaper" 1976

Shedding the florid orchestrations of SONG CYCLE and the West Indies explorations of DISCOVER AMERICA, Van Dyke Parks' third album stands as perhaps his most straightforward set of independent songs.
Though CLANG includes none of Parks' original compositions, the set contains the essence of his sound and shines a light on his skills as an orchestrator and as an arranger. The title song is classic Parks, its lyrics evocative of movement, changing times, and Americana. The steel band sound that had empowered DISCOVER AMERICA is again employed to fine effect, most notably as one of the orchestral flavors in "Another Dream." A wonderful parade-band version of Pachebel's "Canon In D"--sounding like football game halftime entertainment commandeered by a group of scholars--closes the album.

Van Dyke Parks "Jump!" 1984

An exhilarating song cycle based on the Uncle Remus tales...
...It incorporates the styles of Stephen Foster, ragtime, '30s movie-soundtrack music, you name it, all in the service of playful, touching lyrics that correspond to the source material, without actually aping it. A delight from start to finish. - Review by William Ruhlmann

Van Dyke Parks "Tokyo Rose" 1989

Given Van Dyke Parks' well-documented fascination with the various and sundry collision points of American musical culture with the rest of the world, he was as good a candidate as any to make a concept album about the often uneasy relationship between the United States and Japan, and he approached the subject on his fifth album, 1989's Tokyo Rose...
...Tokyo Rose concerns itself with America's mingled condescension, infatuation, and contempt toward Japan, as well as Japan's often skewed perception of America and it's cultural icons -- Uncle Sam woos the Dragon Lady, Japan learns to love baseball, and everyone tries to figure out where the cowboys came from. Parks' songs dip satiric arrows into sweet but poisoned wit; the lyrics are never less than amusing (even when they're too wordy and self-consciously clever, which is often), and the lush and elaborate orchestrations are dotted with both "authentic" Japanese themes and well-turned cliches of both Asian and American musical figures. Tokyo Rose often sounds like the original cast album to some eccentric Broadway musical about footloose and pretentious Ugly Americans vacationing in the Pacific Rim, especially since Parks hands over a few of his lead vocals to other singers (including former Three Dog Night belter Danny Hutton), but even though Parks' slightly precious tenor rarely sounds like the perfect instrument for this stuff, he seems to fit the songs better than anyone else on board. Tokyo Rose occasionally gets lost in its own ambitions, and it's sometimes a bit too smart for its own good, but there are precious few people in the American popular musical scene who could tackle this sort of material and make it work so well; if it's not quite a masterpiece, it's at least an experiment that works. - Review by Mark Deming

Robyn Hitchcock - "Obliteration Pie” only in Japan! |TWILIGHTZONE

 Robyn Hitchcock "Obliteration Pie" 2006

Obliteration Pie is an expensive, hard-to-find CD that was released in 2005 only in Japan...

...There are two songs here ("My Wife and My Dead Wife" and "Chinese Bones") that were recorded live at the Bottom Line, New York, in 2003. Hitchcock's introduction to "My Wife and My Dead Wife" called appropriately enough, "Frank Sinatra Intro to 'Wife'" is just delightful. He claims "the song was originally written for Frank Sinatra's Duets album." The re-recordings of "Arms of Love," "Madonna of the Wasps," and "Queen Elvis" are all top-notch. "A Man's Gotta Know His Limitations, Briggs" is a fine studio recording of a live favorite but it doesn't better the version on Olé! Tarantula. Hitchcock's spirited, completely over-the-top take on the chart-topping disco hit "Funkytown" by Lipps Inc. is quite amusing. However, the two unquestionable highlights for me personally are "City of Women," (previously available on Wig In A Box: Songs from & Inspired by Hedwig and the Angry Inch), and "I Fall Into Your Eyes." Keep in mind, Obliteration Pie is an odds and sods record, and frankly it doesn't flow particularly well from one track to the next. Finally, the enhanced CD also includes the video clips for "I Often Dream of Trains" and "Man With the Lightbulb Head." For diehard Robyn Hitchcock fans only. - George Zandona

tracklist

01 Madonna of the Wasps 

02 City of Women 

03 I Fall into Your Eyes 

04 Arms of Love 

05 Man's Gotta Know His Limitations, Briggs 

06 Madelaine 

07 Let the Sun Begin 

08 My Dreams Are Scars 

09 Frank Sinatra Intro to "Wife" 

10 My Wife and My Dead Wife 

11 Chinese Bones 

12 Funkytown 

13 Butterfly 

14 Queen Elvis

Robyn’s Obliteration Pie here . . . come get a slice

Chuck Prophet - Wake The Dead + . . . . . THE TWILIGHTZONE reminds us . . . . .

"LADIES & GENTLEMEN THE DANCE FLOOR IS NOW OPEN!"

Chuck Prophet - Wake The Dead (Live on KEXP)

full half hour set . . . . . . . . 

Chuck Prophet And His Cumbia Shoes on World Cafe

we have had this before . . . . . . you know what?

I DON’T CARE!

click here anyway . . .ride your pony

Robyn Hitchcock "Storefront Hitchcock" - Music From The Jonathan Demme Picture 2004 | TWILIGHTZONE

Robyn Hitchcock "Storefront Hitchcock" - Music From The Jonathan Demme Picture 2004

On Hitchcock's last U.S. tour, he played Hendrix's "The Wind Cries Mary" as well as "Are You Experienced," sometimes within the same set. It's the kind of act that defines his performing genius as a whimsical iconoclast; but then Hitchcock once performed most of Dylan's "Royal Albert Hall" concert, so such live acts of devotion shouldn't come as entirely unexpected...
...Though only "Mary" is included here, Hitchcock's wacky essence is captured on the soundtrack to the Jonathan Demme picture which chronicles a couple of evenings during the aforementioned U.S. tour; both documents demand patience, but by the third song and final guitar of "I'm Only You," if you ain't hooked, I'll buy yours. Drawing from a variety of eras (the slice of life "The Yip! Song" and the electrified riff of "Freeze" are familiar Egyptians songs; love stories "Beautiful Queen" and "Alright, Yeah" are from Moss Elixir; "1974" and "I Don't Remember Guildford" are newer, personal-ish songs), the tie that binds this collection is feelings, instead of those proverbial Hitchcock symbols for them: fish and birds. What a relief. And who knew he was such an accomplished folk and electric guitarist? Storefront Hitchcock reveals his humanness, with all of his flaws, foibles, and mid-life revelations: "I'm completely gray, you're completely mad, you're a middle-aged baby and the world is bad," in "Let's Go Thundering"; "I know who wrote the book of love...it was an idiot, it was a fool..." in "Freeze." To the best of his ability, the Hitchcock persona has become "sensitive male" while still maintaining his absurd sense of humor. In the process, he's made one dictionary definition, jaw-dropping live singer/songwriter album. Listen closely for the nod to "Purple Haze." - Review by Denise Sullivan

1 [Spoken Intro] 

02 1974 

03 [Spoken Interlude] 

04 Let's Go Thundering 

05 [Spoken Interlude] 

06 I'm Only You 

07 Glass Hotel 

08 [Spoken Interlude] 

09 I Something You 

10 [Spoken Interlude] 

11 Yip! Song 

12 [Spoken Interlude] 

13 Freeze 

14 [Spoken Interlude] 

15 Alright, Yeah 

16 Where Do You Go When You Die? 

17 Wind Cries Mary 

18 No, I Don't Remember Guildford 

19 [Spoken Interlude] 

20 Beautiful Queen 

21 [Spoken Closing]

ALBUM RE-POST of THE WEEK! Robyn Hitchcock "Spooked” 2004 | Twilightzone

Robyn Hitchcock "Spooked" 2004

Robyn Hitchcock enlisted the help of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings for Spooked-- his first full-length collaboration (not counting, of course, The Soft Boys and The Egyptians)-- and, consequently, it's the most "American" album he's ever made. The record is a departure from Hitchcock's usual eccentric left-of-the-dial pop, a left turn almost as unique as the story behind the album's creation: One of Hithcock's friends sent him a photo of the coronation of a new Miss Ohio named Robyn Hitchcock; the coincidence reminded the English singer of a striking live performance of Gillian Welch's "Miss Ohio"... - Pitchfork

Sometime after the release of 2003's sparse and slightly chilly Luxor, Robyn Hitchcock attended his first Gillian Welch show. Impressed by the duo's rootsy adherence to the organic -- two guitars, two voices -- he approached the longtime fans -- Hitchcock unknowingly signed David Rawlings' guitar at a Boston in-store in 1989 -- and exchanged digits. The unlikely partnership came to fruition at Nashville's Woodland Studios a few months later, and in just six days the lovely, intimate, and typically eccentric Spooked was born. Produced by Rawlings and culled from hours of off-the-cuff originals, Dylan songs, and general weirdness, Spooked harks back to his mercurial I Often Dream of Trains period. References to fungus and food abound, but wrapped in the wooly blankets of Rawlings' signature picking and Welch's winsome harmonies, they take on a fireplace warmth that renders them amiably nostalgic rather than blatantly surreal. On the dew-soaked opener, "Television," Rawlings lays down a beautiful descending lead that wouldn't have sounded out of place on the duo's debut, and its juxtaposition with Hitchcock's "bing a bon a bing bong" vocal entrance is jarring, but when the three of them come together mid-song to harmonize, the results are quietly majestic. Much of the record revisits -- musically at least -- Hitchcock's colorful past. "Everybody Needs Love," with its breathy urgency and electric sitar, sounds like something off of Element of Light, and the lurching "Creeped Out" -- featuring Welch on drums -- could have been the B-side to 1985's "Brenda's Iron Sledge." This is Hitchcock's most rewarding and creative endeavor since 1993's Egyptian-led Respect, and the fact that Rawlings and Welch are there as eager tools to flesh out his English netherworld makes the fellowship feel even more collaborative. It's a testament to both camps' willingness to try anything -- hearing Welch and Rawlings repeating "crackle, crackle, pop" beneath Hitchcock's spoken word sales pitch to extraterrestrials looking to vacation on Earth is a pretty good example -- that ultimately succeeds in making Spooked the left-field gem that it is. - Review by James Christopher Monger

tracklist:

01 Television 

02 If You Know Time 

03 Everybody Needs Love 

04 English Girl 

05 Demons & Fiends 

06 Creeped Out 

07 Sometimes A Blonde 

08 We're Gonna Live In The Trees 

09 Tryin' To Get To Heaven Before They Close The Door 

10 Full Moon In My Soul 

11 Welcome To Earth 

12 Flanagan's Song

Television . . . . . Robyn Hitchcock

The Animals - Baby Let Me Take You Home (1964) - Twilightzone

 

The Animals - Baby Let Me Take You Home (1964) ♫♥

another from my brother’s album ’The Most of The Animals which we played to death  . . .

I was 12!

Robyn Hitchcock Plays Bob Dylan - LIVE "Rob, Bob & Albert" - An Exclusive Performance At The Borderline London 25th May 1996 | TWILIGHTZONE

Robyn Hitchcock "Rob, Bob & Albert" - An Exclusive Performance At The Borderline, London, 25th May 1996 - 1996

After finding a measure of success in the latter 1980s in America, Hitchcock's lyrical and musical horizons broadened further to encompass a range of approaches while still retaining a recognisably surreal, but more serious, signature style...
...He has recorded for two major American labels (A&M Records, then Warner Bros.) over the course of the 1980s and 1990s, and was the subject of a live performance/documentary film (Storefront Hitchcock) by major motion picture director Jonathan Demme in 1998. Since the turn of the millennium he has also finally received belated critical recognition in his home country. Despite this, mainstream success remains limited. He continues to tour and record prolifically and has earned strong critical reviews over a steady stream of album releases and live performances, and a dedicated "cult following"[3] for his unique body of work. - wiki

Oh we really like this one . . . . not bad quality in case you thought some previous live ones from Robyn were a bit ropey! 

Robyn Hitchcock and the Sadies at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival

 in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, October 4, 2015

Robyn Hitchcock & The Sadies "Astronomy Domine" & "Lucifer Sam" Sept 13, 2015 | TWILIGHTZONE

 Robyn Hitchcock & The Sadies "Astronomy Domine" & "Lucifer Sam" Sept 13, 2015

Robyn Hitchcock and the Sadies cover these Pink Floyd songs in a blistering fashion

Robyn and band cover two early favourite Pink Floyd songs

Robyn Hitchcock "You & Oblivion” 1995 | Twilightzone

Robyn Hitchcock "You & Oblivion" 1995

.

Hitchcock's earliest lyrics mined a rich vein of English surrealist comic tradition and tended to depict a particular type of eccentric and sardonic English worldview.....His music and performance style was influenced by Bob Dylan, and by the English folk music revival of the 1960s and early 1970s. This was soon filtered through a then-unfashionable psychedelic rock lens during the punk rock and new wave music eras of the late 1970s and early 1980s.[2] This combination of musical styles won Hitchcock's band of the time, The Soft Boys, an enthusiastic if small fanbase. However, the Soft Boys' final album together, Underwater Moonlight, posthumously earned them a glowing reputation (particularly in America) as a major influence on bands like R.E.M. - wiki

tracklisting

01 You've Got 

02 Don't You 

03 Birdshead 

04 She Reached For A Light 

05 Victorian Squid 

06 Captain Dry 

07 Mr. Rock & Roll 

08 August Hair 

09 Take Your Knife Out Of My Back 

10 Surgery 11 Dust 

12 Polly On The Shore 

13 Aether 

14 Fiend Before The Shrine 

15 Nothing 16 Into It 

17 Stranded In The Future 

18 Keeping Still 

19 September Cones 

20 Ghost Ship 

21 You & Me 

22 If I Could Look 

23 Statue With A Walkman

ROBYN HITCHCOCK ‘ You & Oblivion’ BLOOM. MEZZAGO, MILAN, ITALY 13 FEBRUARY 1999

Robyn Hitchcock "Groovy Decoy” 1985 | TWILIGHTZONE

Robyn Hitchcock "Groovy Decoy" 1985

Four years after its release, Robyn Hitchcock pulled Groovy Decay from circulation, replacing it with Groovy Decoy, an alternate version of the record assembled mainly from demos he recorded with Soft Boys bassist Matthew Seligman. . .

. . .the album included some versions that are identical to the Decay material, as well as a handful of new songs. By and large, Groovy Decoy is a better record, with more immediate and gripping versions of the songs that comprised the original album, but the material remains some of the weakest Hitchcock has written. 

~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Personnel:
Robyn Hitchcock (vocals, guitar); James A. Smith (vocals); Anthony Thistlethwaite (saxophone); Chris Cox (trumpet); Andy Metcalfe (piano); Matthew Seligman, Sara Lee(bass); Rod Johnson (drums) 

traxfromwax:
1. Fifty-Two Stations 2. America 3. St. Petersburg 4. Nightride To Trinidad 5. How Do You Work This Thing? 6. The Cars She Used To Drive 7. It Was The Night 8. Young People Scream 9. The Rain 10. When I Was A Kid 11. Midnight Fish

More Hitchcock . . . . . . a two fer TWILIGHTZONE SPECIAL

 Robyn Hitchcock "I Often Dream Of Trains" 1984 + "The Bells of Rhymney" 1984 (12"EP/45rpm)

 

RYP Says: This is definitely a desert island album for me. The intimate sound, the melancholy and whimsy mashed up together.

I remember the first time I heard this album. I was already fully dedicated to finding anything he had released and anything he would ever release in the future. By 1988, which is approximately when I picked up this on cassette, music was pretty over-produced and obnoxious sounding. It also was in the death throws of too many decades of taking itself seriously. Robyn Hitchcock, for me, was the perfect antidote to that entire era. Without him, life would have been very annoying.
So, it was with some shock to realize almost halfway through "I Often Dream of Trains" (having never read a word about it before) that it was entirely acoustic. Robyn was, as it later turned out, returning from a self-imposed retirement stage and had a bucketful of songs. With the addition of the middle section of songs on the CD releases (all of which are instant classics themselves) "Trains" is an even fuller, richer experience. Alternating between his three favorite styles (dark laconic, psychotic, and hilarious), "Trains" is an achievement because it best represents the extremes of all of these strains. "Sometimes I wish I was a Pretty Girl" is just a one line joke, but it sounds like the ravings of a killer. "Flavour of Night" is easily one of the most beautiful songs ever written. And, the much beloved "Uncorrected Personality Traits" is a defining moment in music (you will either love it or hate it, but you will always remember that you heard it.)
In short, this is a classic. It may not always be the first album of his I reach for, as it is a demanding thing to listen to, but it is easily in the top 5 records he's ever made.
I was actually shocked to read Hitchcock fan's reviews on here that didn't like "Trains." I don't judge you, but I do wonder what it is that you like about the music. This is classic stuff. - amazon, landru141 (Planet Houston)

Robyn Hitchcock all instruments except James Fletcher sax, Chris Cox bass & harmonies

traxfromwax:

1. Nocturne 2. Sometimes I Wish I Was A Pretty Girl 3. Cathedral 4. Uncorrected Personality Traits 5. Sounds Great When You're Dead 6. Flavour Of Night 7. Ye Sleeping Knights Of Jesus 8. This Could Be The Day 9. Trams Of Old London 10. Furry Green Atom Bow 11. Heart Full Of Leaves 12. Autumn Is Your Last Chance 13. I Often Dream Of Trains 14. Nocturne (Demise)

Robyn Hitchcock "The Bells of Rhymney" 1984 (12"EP/45rpm)

Robyn Hitchcock's The Bells of Ryhmney EP is the logical step between his albums I Often Dream of Trains and Fegmania. Andy Metcalfe and Morris Windsor join Hitchcock on the faithful cover of The Byrds "The Bells of Rhymney" as well as on the poppy "Falling Leaves", but "Winter Love" is Robyn solo as is "The Bones In the Ground", these last two songs were tacked on to Rhino Records' reissue of I Often Dream of Trains.

traxfromwax:

1.The Bells of Rhymney 2.Falling Leaves 3.Winter Love 4.The Bones In The Ground