Customer Reviews

Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians - Gotta Let This Hen Out

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was eager to get this newly released DVD of the same 1985 concert that yielded one of Hitchcock's finest albums and one of the better live albums ever, especially since I've watched my DVD of 'Storefront Hitchcock' an obsessive number of times.

Well...Hitchcock completists or fans who haven't seen it will buy it no matter what I say. Be warned, though, that everything Jonathan Demme did right in 'Storefront,' this video generally botches. Gimmicky video editing, pretentious surreal inserts...all distractions from what you're paying to see, which is Robyn and the Egyptians making music. Demme understood that all he needed to do was point some cameras at Hitchcock and didn't need to jazz up his songs with aggressive 'visuals.' Whoever directed this mess sure didn't understand that.

The picture quality, taken as it is from a 1985 videotape, is horrid, though that's to be expected. There are also a couple of artsy videos thrown in -- 'The Man with the Lightbulb Head' and 'I Often Dream of Trains,' which were previously on the 1989 A&M video compilation 'Brenda with the Lightbulb Eyes.' (That video also had the live version of 'Brenda's Iron Sledge' seen on this DVD.) The disc gets 2 stars instead of 1 only because the music is still great, if listened to in the background while not watching it -- but if I wanted that, I would've stuck with the CD. Well, at least 'My Wife and My Dead Wife' -- the definitive version of the song, IMHO -- isn't wrecked too badly.

Perhaps the forthcoming 'Elixirs & Remedies,' the concert video of Robyn and Grant Lee Phillips, will be better. I can only hope so. As it is, curious newcomers to Fegmania would do well not to start here (best bet is still 'Storefront Hitchcock').

Thanks to the reviewer before me for giving me an idea what to expect from this DVD. Unlike him, I did not have a copy of the CD so I am very pleased with my purchase. The music is brilliant. The visuals, as expected, are cheesy, amateurish and psychotic in an endearing sort of way. (The video to "Surgery" for example is just a close up of Robyn's mouth singing through the entire song). Though the individual song videos lack high production values they are quite bizzare and leer at the audience sarcastically in true Robyn Hitchcock form. The live footage of the band is great to have. Just seeing Robyn and the Egyptians perform classics like "Heaven", "My Wife and My Dead Wife" and "Kingdom of Love" make the DVD preferable to a CD in my opinion. In short, I loved it. My wife hated it. My dead wife was unavailable for comment.