This Is the BBC

Robyn Hitchcock (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 3, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Hux Records
• ASIN: B000EU1MZ8
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #190,036 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Man With A Woman's Shadow

2. Heliotrope

3. De Chirico Street

4. The Cheese Alarm

5. Jewels For Sophia

6. Polly On The Shore

7. Where Do You Go When You Die?

8. I Saw Nick Drake

9. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry

10. Andy Kershaw Jingle

11. Birds In Perspex

12. Sally Was A Legend

13. Elizabeth Jade

14. Madonna Of The Wasps

Editorial Reviews

This Is The BBC was compiled by Robyn himself and features the best of his BBC radio sessions, recorded between 1995 & 1999. This compilation features unreleased versions of many favorite Hitchcock originals, along with Robyn's unique interpretations of Bob Dylan's 'It Take A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry' and the traditional folk tune 'Polly On The Shore'. The accompanying 12 page full color booklet includes photos and paintings by Robyn, song lyrics and an original Robyn Hitchcock poem. Hux.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Arguably, among his best live releases, May 3, 2006

By 

JG "wordmule" (...onward....thru the fog!) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: This Is the BBC (Audio CD)

If you read some of the reviews of Robyn's incredibly prolific releases over the years, be they live or studio records, you might run across comments like "...not as good as his (fill in the blank) live album or studio release..".

That's kind of like saying one Beatles album isn't as good as another. Admittedly, there may be one or two near misses among the 20+ releases in my Hitchcock collection, but it's difficult to say one of his records is better or worse than another. He's gone through phases, but it's all good.

As to this live collection from the late 90s, here he's picked some of the best of the best, not only from the excellent studio albums of the period, but also digging back about a decade to the late 80s. My only complaint is that the song sequence intersperses songs from one session among another, but that's a very small complaint. The sound quality is excellent....very intimate, as you'd expect from a radio session, and without any audience sound, which at times can be distracting.

As with a fine wine, Robyn just keeps getting better with time.

Looking forward to the next chapter from this unbelievably underrated song writer and guitarist.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars another little gem..., November 9, 2006

By 

W. D. Scales (Sylva, NC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: This Is the BBC (Audio CD)

This work, while not as diverse as THE KERSHAW SESSIONS, still stands very well on its ow. The production is clean, the performances are relaxed and tight, and the song selections range over several years from about 1994 to 2005. An excellent companion piece to THE KERSHAW SESSIONS, and somother than OBLITERATION PIE. Worth the price, for certain.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Retrodelic cult artist makes comeback!!, December 12, 2008

By 

Joseph Morris "Joe Morris" (Elmwood Park, NJ) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: This Is the BBC (Audio CD)

..Although thats not really saying much

When this album came out, Robyn fans were worried. Luxor, and other earlier albums, weren't so strong. He was still playing live (where Robyn is in his element) telling his ridiculous stories and playing moody magnificent songs like "Glass hotel"

But Robyn wasn't always putting out strong material. Albums like Spooked & so forth are not the best work hes capable of (and the less said of the Dylan cover album - 2cd! - the better)

I'll grant you, songs like "Television" popped up on college radio, they're kinda katchy, but when the best bit on an album is Robyn's answering message, its cause for alarm

"Lets go live in the trees" could be the worst song Robyn has ever released, period! I understand being influenced by Dylans Basement Tapes, but writing nonsense like that

To backtrack..

One day Robyn was writing great lyrics like Glass, Airscape

You remember:

"Save your illusions - for someone else
Save your illusions - for yourself."

No one knew what he was on about but why mind when Robyn was having a good time

Or:

"Glass protects you but glass can shatter
Hear the sirens, hear the screams
In the end though nothing matters cos
noone else can see your dreams."

Pretty intelligent stuff

By the time of this album, Storefront Hitchcock had been and gone, Robyn had done a tour with Grant Lee Philips (the Elixirs & Remedies dvd came out of this tour - half the video is Robyn, so it helps if you're a fan of Grant)

(And the Bee Gees!)

So when this BBC set came out, certainly I looked at it as a good thing. Very good set list ("I saw Nick Drake" gets a lyrical rewrite. No matter. Still a great song)

The lyrics are included. You've got Robyn doing an off the cuff song about the BBC

This could be one of the best albums to give to someone if they wanna check out Robyn. Robyns partial to the earlier album cut at his house at a dinner party (The Kershaw Sessions) but this is a very good album

This might be a good starter to give to someone whos just getting into Robyn if you can't find any of the best ofs (out of print?) put out by Rhino & Warner

I think this was his 25th album or something - by the time the live I Often Dream of Trains dvd comes out next year, he'll be up to number 31 (Goodnight Oslo).

I think.