Technicolour Dreaming

Robyn Hitchcock is in town this week for the first show of his latest Australian tour, playing at the Gov on Friday night, and we interviewed him by phone from Sydney during the latter part of ‘Technicolour Dreaming’. He has had a long, interesting career, beginning with the Soft Boys in the 1970’s, and following through with umpteen solo albums and collaborations to his present position of an unofficial “UK national treasure”. Our conversation ranged from reflections on the role of psychedelia in the 60’s to jokes about pith helmets and Victorian gentlemen-explorers and other diversions. He really is a charming person and, needless to say, a brilliant musician, so don’t miss his shows during this tour. Using Robyn’s music as our starting point, we moved into a variety of other delights, some related, some not. His fondness for Syd Barrett’s music led us to Captain Sensible’s unique take on Syd’s “Octopus”, whilst his trip to Greenland, publicising the effects of climate-change, led to us playing Iceland’s Singapore Sling – a slightly vaguer link, I’ll admit! We also continued to plunder the wonderful “Love, Poetry & Revolution: a journey through the British psychedelic and underground scenes 1966-72”  boxset which we mentioned last week, with songs by Tuesday’s Children and the Mirage, as well as a song by the Fut from 1970 which has often been erroneously credited to John Lennon – Yoko even tried to copyright it in 1985 – but which was in reality a recording by Maurice Gibb, Tin Tin and others... an early try for an “Australian Beatles Tribute Band” perhaps?..... or not!  Throw in some Pinkunoizu, Pugwash, Los Saicos and others and there you have it – another edition of Technicolour Dreaming done and dusted.....

..... and here is the playlist with associated visuals, including the song by the Fut.....

the Soft Boys – Mr Kennedy      (“Nextdoorland” 2002 UK)

Sons of Hippies – The Soft Parade      (“A Psych Tribute to the Doors” compilation 2014 USA)

Pugwash – There You Are      (“The Olympus Sound” 2012 Ireland)

the Beach Boys – Caroline, No      (“Pet Sounds” LP 1966 California, USA)

the Sand Pebbles – Natalie      (orig. on “Atlantis Regrets Nothing” 2006 Australia – this live version rec. 2007 – taken from “Tomorrow Is Today: a tribute to the Australian psychedelic scene 1966-70” compilation 2007 Australia)

Gravenhurst – The Prize      (“A Ghost In Daylight” 2012 UK)

Pinkunoizu – Down in the Liverpool Stream      (“The Drop” LP 2013 USA)

Tuesday’s Children – A Strange Light from the East      (7”single 1967 UK – taken from “Love, Poetry & Revolution: a journey through the British psychedelic and underground scenes 1966-72” compilation boxset 2013 UK)

the Mirage – The Wedding of Ramona Blair      (7”single 1967 UK – taken from “Love, Poetry & Revolution...” compilation boxset 2013 UK)

the Fut – Have You Heard the Word      (7”single 1970 UK – taken from “Love, Poetry & Revolution...” compilation boxset 2013 UK)

Spider 72 – Thursday Sound Revival      (“Seven” 2012 UK)

Robyn Hitchcock – I Want You (She’s So Heavy) [Beatles cover]      (“Mojo : Abbey Road Now” cover-mount-CD compilation 2009 UK)

           ****   Phone conversation between Robyn Hitchcock in Sydney and the Cat & the Brat in Adelaide, prior to his appearance with Steve Kilbey on Friday night, 25^th April, at the Gov    ****

the Soft Boys – Underwater Moonlight      (“Underwater Moonlight” LP 1980 UK)

Captain Sensible – Octopus [Syd Barrett cover]      (“Mojo : The Madcap Laughs Again” cover-mount-CD compilation 2009 UK)

Los Saicos – Demolición       (7”single 1965 Peru – taken from ”¡Demolición! - The Complete Recordings” anthology 2010 USA)

Bob Irwin & the Pluto Walkers – Joker’s Wild [Ventures cover]      (7”single 2012 USA)

Medicine – It’s Not Enough      (“To The Happy Few” 2013 UK)

 the Auras – The Peacock      (“The Auras EP” 2012 Toronto, Canada)

the Sunchymes – Through My Eyes      (mp3 single 2013 UK)

Morgan Delt – Mr Carbon Copy      (“Morgan Delt” 2014 California, USA)

Singapore Sling – Make Us A Fire      (“Perversity, Desperation & Death” 2010 Iceland)