4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Could really be considered a soft boys album!, September 9, 2005
This review is from: Black Snake Diamond Role (Audio CD)
Considering Robyn himself said that by the time of Underwater Moonlight The Soft Boys were just a band playing his songs. Well, so is this. And it's the members of The Soft Boys as well. So basically Robyn just selected which soft boy plays on which track - utilizing their strengths as the songs called for them. In addition to Morris playing drums, the excellent Vince Ely of The Psychedlic Furs plays on some tracks (although it does not list who played drums on "City Of Shame" - odd). Some great tracks here: "The Lizard", "City Of Shame", "Out Of The Picture" and "I Watch The Cars" are all Robyn at his very best. "Do Policemen Sing?" sounds like a silly Monty Python song, "Love" is beautiful
and "Meat" sounds like the soft boys never broke up (or have any reason to).
The bonus tracks included here (on the Rhino/Sequal releases)
are all great and chronologically accurate.
However the big letdown is that instead of adding additional mixes of "The Man Who Invented Himself" (Hitchock's best single) and "Brenda's Iron Sledge" (also fab) to this release they replaced the originals (!!??!) and put new mixes in their place. Why would you try and fix something if there's nothing wrong with it in the first place? The real kicker is that the mixes that were chosen to replace the originals are by no means superior.
The difference in "The Man Who..." is that they removed the sax (which only added to it's already fun and quirky swing)!
And "Brenda" for some reason now sounds dull.
Uh, yeah, what an improvement. Stupid!
For these original mixes search out the original Glass Fish import edition. So if anything by issuing this definitive edition on cd you still have to buy the original to get the original versions of tracks.
Robyn at his creative peak!! Unmatched!
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Attention Shoppers, November 27, 2007
As both a fan of Robyn, and a buyer/seller on this glorious site, I should like to point out that while this is among my favorites of his...the song listing currently associated with this recent YepRoc release is actually the proper song list for another recent Robyn re-release..."Eye". No doubt the song listing currently on view for the "Eye" disc is the proper listing for this disc.
Got that?
Anyway, buy them both and sort out the discrepancies on your own...you won't regret it.
KimBob/Amazonplaza
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hitchcock's First Solo Album Full of Hidden Charms, August 11, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Black Snake Diamond Role (Audio CD)
With the Soft Boys officially dispersed, one may have expected a darker album to creep up from Robyn, but this debut solo recording is anything but.
Using most of the Soft Boys throughout as backing musicians, Robyn casually creates a solid work including some of his best straight-up pop ("Acid Bird", "The Man Who Invented Himself") a terrific Soft Boys-ish rocker ("I Watch the Cars"),a genuinely touching ballad ("Love") and music much stranger than what had come before ("Do Policemen Sing?", "Brenda's Iron Sledge"). Yet in spite of the contradictory tones, there is a solid bond holding this album together which still enchants 18 years later. Add to that a fine bunch of bonus cuts, including the great funk (!) single "Grooving On A Inner Plane" and you have a cd well worth plunking your money down for. Grab it now, before it goes back out of print!
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