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, 25th
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)
