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Jewels for Sophia

Robyn Hitchcock

4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews) | More about this product

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Product Details

Audio CD (July 20, 1999)
Original Release Date: July 20, 1999
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Warner Bros / Wea
ASIN: B00000JLMC
In-Print Editions: Audio CD | MP3 Download

Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #169,723 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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1. Mexican God
2. Cheese Alarm
3. Viva! Sea-Tac
4. I Feel Beautiful
5. You've Got a Sweet Mouth on You, Baby
6. NASA Clapping
7. Sally Was a Legend
8. Antwoman
9. Elizabeth Jade
10. No, I Don't Remember Guildford
11. Dark Princess
12. Jewels for Sophia

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In making his first "rock" record since 1993's Respect, Robyn Hitchcock recorded Jewels for Sophia using several different combinations of producers, locations, and collaborators, including members of the Young Fresh Fellows, Grant Lee Buffalo, R.E.M., and the Soft Boys. Not surprisingly, the record is an intentionally eclectic spectacle, spanning the breadth of Hitchcock's ever-expanding, strange universe. He has covered a lot of territory in the 23 years since founding the Soft Boys and much of it is recalled here, from the scalding rock & roll of the Kimberly Rew collaboration "NASA Clapping" to the blistering guitar gymnastics of "The Cheese Alarm" and the beautiful psychedelic folk of "No, I Don't Remember Guilford," all of which are colored by Hitchcock's long-running themes of the absurdity of the human condition and our (often futile and surreal) attempts to make sense of it all. In spite this tumult, however, Jewels is primarily a collection of love songs. In "I Feel Beautiful," recorded with Grant Lee Phillips, it is the wonder of love that fills life's emptiness: "People never celebrate the things they've got / Honey, without you I wouldn't have a lot." Similarly, "Dark Princess" asserts love's salvation in an otherwise hollow existence, while the protagonist of "Antwoman" offers himself up to bloody sacrifice chanting his mantra of love's validation: "Being just contaminates the void." As always, Hitchcock's world view is as weird as it is wondrous, spanning the gap between all that is beautiful and horrible about life. --Paul Ducey

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Customer Reviews

31 Reviews

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

Average Customer Review

4.1 out of 5 stars (31 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Playing through at the golf course on the moon, December 16, 2000

By	Self-kerbed "Kerbistani Rebel" (Kerby, OR United States) - See all my reviews

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.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A really tasty confection of songs, November 4, 1999

By A Customer

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.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't bloat, eat the cheese and gloat..., November 5, 2004

By	ewomack "ewomack" (MN USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

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.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Not this time Robyn
Tired and lacking.
Feels like he had nothing to say but had a record due. A few moments here and there but overall lacks any memorable tunes. Read more

Published on November 23, 2005 by jon gire

5.0 out of 5 stars seattle: its got the best coffee, computers, and smack!
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... Read more

Published on October 27, 2005 by Ann Lewis

3.0 out of 5 stars Uneven
As much as I like Robyn Hitchcock, this album is one of his weaker efforts overall. "Mexican God," "Viva Seatac," "Antwoman" and the title track all range from good to excellent... Read more

Published on May 12, 2005 by Grunt Hog

5.0 out of 5 stars Love Hitchcock? Hear some of his best on JEWELS FOR SOPHIA
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. Read more

Published on November 10, 2004 by Rich Latta

4.0 out of 5 stars Robyn's best sounding album. Recommended.
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... Read more

Published on October 28, 2004 by Ed Stokes

5.0 out of 5 stars Another plateful of psychedelia from Robyn
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;... Read more

Published on January 13, 2003 by wm

4.0 out of 5 stars a remarkable artist
a remarkable artist, mr hitchcock, but this disc isn't his best--no matter! it's still really really good: melodic, funny, sad, profound, silly, bouncy, deep, English, syd... Read more

Published on October 18, 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars Needs -- but worth -- several listenings
When I first bought the album, I played it once and put it away with the comment, "enh."

A couple of months later, a co-worker couldn't get Mexican God out of her... Read more

Published on June 14, 2000

3.0 out of 5 stars There is good cheese and then there is stinky cheese.
3 stars for the slightly-less-than-half of it which can stand alongside Robyn's most enduring work; minus 2 stars for the rest, which is as schlocky and as rife with unnecessary... Read more

Published on April 5, 2000 by fishanthrope

3.0 out of 5 stars I often dream of I often dream of trains
I love Robyn Hitchcock. But this effort just sounds lazy to me. "Mexican God" is great - strong lyrics, great imagery, neat production - classic Robyn. Read more

Published on February 25, 2000 by The Devil's Coachman

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“Jewels for Sophia

by Robyn Hitchcock

is mainly Alternative Folk, quite Folk, with hints of Neo-Psychedelia”

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