Sex, Food, Death and Tarantulas [EP]

Robyn Hitchcock (Performer), The Venus 3 (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 6, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: EP
• Label: Yep Roc Records
• ASIN: B000N3SSIU
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #195,862 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Sex, Food, Death and Tarantulas is the new EP from Robyn Hitchcock, the auteur of the highly-acclaimed album Olé! Tarantula. It contains six live unreleased tracks including the Soft Boys classic "Give It to the Soft Boys," Hitchcock solo gems like "Sometimes a Blonde," and the Venus 3's "(A Man's Got to Know His Limitations) Briggs." Also included are two videos for "Adventure Rocket Ship" from Olé! Tarantula--one live-action video and a wistful stop-motion animation rendering. In addition to the these extras overflowing from the Olé! Tarantula sessions and tour, keep an eye out for a documentary profiling the psych-popster to air on the Sundance channel which will debut at the SXSW film festival.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Companion to the album and tour, March 20, 2007

By 

R. D. Seale Jr. "assistant principal" (Birmingham, AL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sex, Food, Death and Tarantulas (Audio CD)

I bought this Cd for two reasons: Peter Buck of REM was on it, and Hitchcock was coming to my town to perform and I planned on going. I had not bought anything of his since Perspex Island (1991), but I enjoy a casual listen. This CD is excellent! The live cuts are well produced; so much so, if you didn't hear crowd applause after and before, you'd think it was a live studio recording. Hitchcock's backing band (REM's Buck, Scott McCoughey and Bill Reiflin from REM's touring band and The Minus 5) is superb and well-suited for this album's brand of power pop, and this CD includes songs fom the "Ole' Tarantuala" CD as well as some older Soft Boys songs. Standouts here are "(A Man's Got To Know His Limitations) Briggs", "Queen of Eyes", and "Ole Tarantula", the only studio song here.

Incidentally, the show was fabulous. Hitchcock is charmingly quirky onstage, and his band, The Venus 3, were having a blast. It was a bit surreal seeing Peter Buck perform in a club one week after seeing him get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of fame, but it was obvious that these guys were having an immensely good time, and the songs and performance proved it. The show was so good that I feel like I have missed out on some great music by not having invested in more Robyn Hitchcock before this. Afterwards, the entire band stuck around to talk to the crowd and sign autographs. Please go check them out if you can!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Give It To The Venus Boys!, November 19, 2008

By 

McSpunkle (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sex, Food, Death and Tarantulas (Audio CD)

I was tempted to give this e.p. a few less stars due to the fact I got a speeding ticket while listening to it yesterday, but that would be unfair to Robyn & the boys wouldn't it (it was during "Queen Of Eyes", one of my favorites, I guess I got a little too excited).

Anyway, this is a cool companion to "Ole! Tarantula", it contains the title track (same as the album version) and six live songs from the tour with The Venus 3 as his backing band. Amazing sound quality and performances throughout, I'd love to hear a recording of a full set from this tour, as they didn't come to my town (Robyn did, however, come through on a solo tour shortly after this and it was spectacular!)

Most surprising are a couple of Soft Boys tunes reworked here, "Queen Of Eyes" and "Give It To The Soft Boys", both awesome versions. If you dig Robyn Hitchcock and his oddball style of psych pop/rock don't hesitate on this one.