Customer Reviews

Jewels for Sophia

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is yet another quirky masterpiece from a guy who can write a good, insightful song about anything and anyone. It is one of the "sanity discs" that accompanies me on long drives between California and Oregon and conceptually even longer drives between Sunnyvale and Menlo Park. Viva Sea Tac is a right-on, deadly accurate knee-slapper of a tune. But wait, there's more! Where else can you hear words like "I dream of ant woman, with her Audrey Hepburn feelers and her black & white ...stripes" and be taken straight to B-movie heaven? Listen to it *all* from front to back, observe a moment of silence, keep listening... score the great pleasure of useful advice and the final reward of "Don't Talk to Me About Gene Hackman" (Note to Robyn: thanks for providing me with a(n) hilarious alternative to argument. Write a song about the yutzes who whine in the hallways about the hippies who voted for Nader and won it for Bush and I'll let you move into my house as a permanent guest). While you're at it, fellow consumer(s): for unmitigated RH in all his intense and ironic splendour, buy the "Storefront Hitchcock" DVD.

After the slightly awkward and patchy sounds of his last record, "Moss Elixir," Hitchcock has returned with something a little more speedy and playable. It's an infectious record, with many of Hitchcock's trademark motifs of strange types of love, odd images and hummable, life-affirming tunes. In the face of the void, Mr Hitchcock is chipper and that's the way we like him. "Viva, Sea-Tac," "NASA Clapping" and "I feel loved" are standouts, but the others are not far behind. There's a cute bonus track at the end which is about Mr Gene Hackman. It sounds like some manner of live recording and is the better for it. The only thing to regret is Hitchcock's occasional use of what I can only describe as a whispery growl to render some of the lyrics. He's not the world's best singer, and normally that doesn't matter, but this stylistic trick is not really nice enough to repeat as much as he does. Above all, this is a consistent record with much to commend it. If you liked the albums "Queen Elvis", "Eye" and "Perspex Island", then you'll like this. If you like "Fegmania" then I'm not sure. I didn't but I like this. Alot.

Hitchcock's lyrics alone can make a trip through one of his albums a worthy endeavor. 1999's "Jewels for Sophia" contains some absolutely brilliant lines: "Time will destroy you like a Mexican god"; "Being just contaminates the void"; "Half the world starving and half the world bloats half the world sits on the other and gloats"; "At least when I die, your memory will too". Sometimes Hitchcock's more rock-oriented albums leave the lyrics drowning and screaming for help in the mix. Consequently, many fans seem to be cleaved by his two "personas" - the acoustic and the electric. "Jewels for Sophia" strikes a nice balance for the most part. The arrangements allow the listener to articulate the lines without missing the instrumentation, and the electric and acoustic seem to make great bedmates here. Lush strumming mixes amazingly well with distorted thunder clashes of electric guitar in many places. Grinding rock songs segue into delicate acoustic ballads and vice versa. Both the rough and sensitive Hitchcock get air time on "Jewels for Sophia".

"Mexican God" starts off the album with an impromptu feeling (much like the Soft Boys "Can of Bees"). Robyn counts down after mumbling something into the microphone. This one has a sparse but driving arrangement - only acoustic guitar, bass, and drums. The song grants eternal destruction to four different people and situations. A pean to mortality.

"Cheese Alarm" is both brilliant and stupid. It showcases Hitchcock's ability to elevate the ridiculous to the profound. The lyrics read like Monty Python's "Cheeseshop sketch" then morph into a statement on gluttony and dominance. It features driving tablas and an introduction reminiscent of Bollywood.

"Viva! Sea-Tac" brings the album to full throttle. It grooves and drives while seeming to both praise and condemn the "Seattle Movement" of the late 1990s. It also falls apart at the end, opening the album to "I Feel Beautiful" - a tender acoustic love song (that comes close to falling on the sappy side of the fence) with an amazingly beautiful dulcimer-esque solo.

The haunting "No, I Don't Remember Guilford" seems like a semi-amnesiac remembrance of an English holocaust. It's one of the album's best tracks.

"Jewels for Sophia" presents some excellent Hitchcock. The moody, grooving, beautiful, disturbing, ridiculous, and profound all find a home on this album. Hitchcock's career has attempted to synthesize all of these elements, and his best music does have the ability to bring out the absurdity and beauty of existence. Some of the music on "Jewels of Sophia" reaches these heights.

Lastly, don't miss the live acoustic "Gene Hackman" track hidden at the end of the album.

Prior Hitchcock albums with bands ("post Soft Boys" I mean) usually have boring, dunty production that makes the songs run too long, truncheons anything graceful in the tune, and obscures the words. Meanwhile, his acoustic solo albums (which most fans prefer) get a bit monotonous at length no matter how good his guitar playing is.

This album sounds great, and has good, sympathetic supporting musicians, including a couple famous people. Even the ones with just Robyn & (occasional producer) Jon Brion sound great. I think I've listened to this album more in the past 3 months than to any of his others ever. Jon Brion should produce more in the future.

Good songs too, funny, bitter, trippy, all three mostly. Some I didn't like at first have grown on me, and only "Elizabeth Jade" (in need of two more clever images) has faded. I'm counting four of my fave Robyn songs here. 2 short, audience-recorded live songs are tacked pseudo-hidden on the end.

I bought two more copies for Christmas gifts. I'd get you one if I knew you better.

Robyn Hitchcock has the talent to write hit pop songs, but prefers to do music his own way. We're not likely to hear his pinched, high-pitched English croon on a #1 hit single. To that I say thank (insert deity of choice here) that he follows his own muse.

True, Robyn did flirt with the idea of pop success and even came close to it with a few tunes from PERSPEX ISLAND. The tunes were good, the eccentric tendencies were toned down, personal element turned up . . . but pop success didn't exactly materialize.

So now Robyn is stuck with his rather small but loyal fan base. And now he's older, wiser and more introspective, too. I would daresay JEWELS FOR SOPHIA contains some of the best songs he's ever written (and maybe a few of his worst). His lyrics are as weird as ever and he's got plenty of great musicians along for the ride, including Peter Buck of R.E.M. and Soft Boy bandmate Kimberly Rew.

Breakdown:

"Mexican God" - slides into the album laid-back style, a few doo-wop verses thrown in. "Time will destroy you like a Mexican God." *****

"The Cheese Alarm" - beautiful acoustic guitar introduces this strange finger-picker with tabla accompaniment. It soon takes off as Robyn carries on about an apparent cheese obsession of his. ****1/2

"Viva! Sea-Tac" - noisy, jangling tune that's frankly not too original or inspiring. **

"I Feel Beautiful" - A surprizingly warm and intimate love song played with a pretty straight face (by Hitchcock's standards). *****

"You've Got a Sweet Mouth On You, Baby" - A truly sweet tune, wacky yet gorgeous. *****

"NASA Clapping" - Similar to "Viva! Sea-Tac" but a bit more inspired. The runaway-train drumbeat can't compensate for this lackluster tune although there is some great guitar on the track and some blazing harmonica. It's not that Hitchcock can't rock, but the more upbeat tunes on JEWELS tend to be least mormorable ones. ***

"Sally Was a Legend" - This is another upbeat track, but this one turned out to be a pretty good pop song. The Kimberly Rew influence shines through here. ****

"Antwoman" - With its chugging, tugging groove, this cut is soooo cool and I just love the lyrics. "Being just contaminates the void . . . " *****+

"Elizabeth Jade" - Another swinging uptempo rocker, this one has standard chord changes in a style you've probably heard a million times, but it's well executed. ***1/4

"No, I Don't Remember Guildford" - brilliant, nostalgic sounding, yet it's actually anti-nostalgia. Great, lonesome (mouth) harp. "Show some respect/ To the ghosts that are ruining your life/ It's your life . . . " Robyn's double-tracked voice is exquisite here. *****

"Dark Princess" - You might not have ever guessed he was capable of it, but this one's really sexy. Love the "chamberlin" (vibrophone?). This is one of his very best songs. *****+

"Jewels for Sophia" - Spiraling guitars woven with spiraling vocals, weird percussion, lyrics completely out to lunch . . . this one's mind-blowingly good. *****+

bonus material -
When some homosexual-sounding voice (apparently taken from an answering machine) comes on to announce a screening of "Goodfellas," it's clear we are steering off the map into Robyn's bizarre "netherworld." A strange, rather dischordant piano begins pounding away and Robyn starts riffing at the mouth. Weirdness abounds for several minutes until the song sort of self-destructs and immediately segues into "Gene Hackman" (*****) which seems to have been recorded at some laid-back party with friends, just Robyn and his guitar. Fans will love it.

Here's another one in the long series of psychedelia from Hitchcock. After you listen to this a few times, you'll agree John Lennon's spirit entered Robyn's body at some point; time and again he sounds like Lennon except for the strange lyrics from other planets. Somebody wrote in their review that "this is for drives...and conceptually even longer drives between (someplace and some other place"). Don't kid yourself, this is, conceptually, beyond music to carry you from one place to another, it's music to carry you from one stage in your life to the next. Get this CD, and the companion "A star for Bram". As with great psychedelic concept albums of the past, these two go hand in hand. Hitchcock likes to release an album, and shortly after, outtakes from those sessions as a separate album. These are just two of many of his not to be missed. Guaranteed to stand the test of time.

Robyn Hitchcock's songwriting alone usually makes any new album by him worth the price of admission. But I have to admit, the songs that really drew me in on "Jewels For Sophia" are the ones that feature Peter Buck as guitar co-pilot. It's certainly not that Robyn can't pull off his quirky, eclectic and always melodic songwriting gems by himself (he proved that ably enough during his rollicking and hilarious Seattle Bumbershoot set early in September.) But on the CD, the songs that feature Buck -- Viva! Sea-Tac and Elizabeth Jade most notably -- hit an awsome, rocking groove that suits Robyn just fine. Sally Was A Legend is another standout. Overall, it's a strong album, and worth owning for Viva! Sea-Tac alone!

Although I wasn't sure about this cd the first time I listen to it, repeated listenings convinced me of it's greatness. Each song yeilds more pleasure with each play. "Mexican God" is a personal favorite from this album but there are no clunkers here. It ranks with "Element of Light" & "I Often Dream of Trains" as some of his best solo stuff.

After the wonderfully assembled 'Storefront,' I have really been looking forward to this...just got it in my mailbox today and !whoa! True to form he does not disappoint, albeit in his usual weird way.

From the brilliant insanity of "Sea-Tac" to the plaintive "Guildford" and everything in between, he takes on the stomp sound of the late 60's, melds his 80's guitar tone on top, and twists it into something new.

Is it the dye job? The stellar guest shots? Or is it the return to rocking guitars tastefully arranged (as always)? No matter. Robyn fans rejoice - there's great material here.

This CD is worth buying just for the "Viva! Sea-Tac" track, the chorus of which is "viva seattle tacoma, viva viva viva sea-tac; they've got the best computers and coffee and smack!" As a biased Seattle resident I have to agree.

My other favorite songs on this CD are Cheese Alarm (an ode to cheese), I Feel Beautiful (a sweet ballad), Antwoman (an ode his elusive dream woman), and the title track, Jewels For Sophia (a anthem-like love ballad). Overall this is great songwriting, and Robyn Hitchcock not only has a charismatic and expressive voice, he has an excellent sense of humor.