This is how it feels (Robyn Hitchcock) (LP 2763 - 2764)

Robyn Hitchcock  Moss Elixir (CD, Warner Bros Records, 1996) ****  

Robyn Hitchcock  Robyn Hitchcock (Vinyl, Yep Roc Records, 2017) *****  

Genre: Alt-rock 

Places I remember: Fives (Leigh-on-sea); JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: I Want To Tell You What I Want

Gear costume: 1970 in Aspic

Active compensatory factors: I love Robyn's voice and left-field approach, but he has a daunting catalogue. I need a 'How To Buy...' guide in Mojo to navigate it.

Previously, I have taken a punt on each of these albums and not been disappointed at all, so maybe I just need to charge on in there. Or else I've fluked it (a review of Moss Elixir on AllMusic says it's his best album for ten years, there's a similar response to Robyn Hitchcock).

I was living in Essex and bought Moss Elixir from Fives - a shop that was 30 seconds from where we were living. The purchase was prompted by watching a documentary on Syd Barrett - Robyn appears in the bonus section playing Dominoes in his back garden. I was mesmerised!

So, Moss Elixir seems a perfect album for me to buy after watching that, but it was a fluke. It's quite an acoustic album - he's a wonderful musician! And the lyrics flow, as he says, into 'word thickets'.

The Syd influence is there, but so is The Beatles' catalogue of brilliance. 

Robyn Hitchcock from 2017 is his 21st album (I really need that 'how to' guide) and without knowing for sure, I have a hunch it's considered one of his best.

Throughout, he sounds confident, the instrumentation is sympathetic but also experimental in nature. As one reviewer said at the time - it seems familiar but also fresh.

Where do they all belong? Why haven't I bought more of his albums??