Invisible Hitchcock

Billed as a solo album, Robyn Hitchcock's "Invisible Hitchcock" was not conceived as such, being an assemblage leftovers and outtakes from the first half of the 1980s. The sleeve notes explain that the album was assembled because the songs "didn't fit in with what I was doing at the time and do fit in with each other now". It was first released in 1986.

As such, the contents are erratic, and range between acoustic numbers ("My Favourite Buildings"), rock and rollers ("It's A Mystic Trip") and Hitchcock's own surrealist pieces ("The Abandoned Brain", "Mr. Deadly" etc.).

Much of the material appears for the first time, which is in some ways surprising given its strength, although the prolific Hitchcock had already released five albums in the preceding three years, plus a slew of 7-inch and 12-inch singles containing originals.

"Invisible Hitchcock" is its author's most surreal set, a dark atmosphere hanging over almost every song. "My Favourite Buildings" appears in a different take to that later included on the CD edition of "I Often Dream Of Trains", whilst "Give Me A Spanner, Ralph" is a Soft Boys-esque piece of absurdist comedy matched in mood by "It's A Mystic Trip" in which a sequence of bizarre characters perform irrational acts ranging from squatting in nettles to inserting beans in their nostrils.

As is frequently the case, Hitchcock's most penetrating songs are those outlined most vividly, "The Abandoned Brain" for example painting a verbal picture of a derelict mind which is literally decaying to the elements with leaves blowing through its corridors and flowers growing through its floor.

"Trash" meanwhile takes an earthy swipe at several overblown rock stars including Brian Jones ("Now he's just a heap of bones"), while "Let There Be More Darkness" rounds off the original LP with a ludicrous depiction of a lad trapped inside a lavatory cubicle while his mother calls him to dinner in vain.

Since its first appearance, "Invisible Hitchcock" has been re-packaged for CD with further tracks thrown in, taking the running to twenty titles. One of these, "Eaten By Her Own Dinner", contains Hitchcock's finest food-related lyric in which a girl settles down to feast on meat, veg and turtles, only to find the food seeking revenge and consuming her, so that she ends up with a cauliflower for a brain, avocados for breasts and syrup flowing through her veins.

"Listening To The Higsons" is the original studio version and adding to the culinary theme, features Hitchcock playing a wok part-filled with water, against which he hammers a wooden spoon.

Track listing

1. All I Wanna Do Is Fall In Love [3:46]

2. Give Me A Spanner, Ralph [2:36]

3. A Skull, A Suitcase, And A Long Red Bottle Of Wine [4:58]

4. It's A Mystic Trip [2:57]

5. My Favourite Buildings [3:12]

6. Falling Leaves [4:24]

7. Eaten By Her Own Dinner [4:26]

8. The Pit Of Souls (Country Version) [5:56]

9. Trash [2:51]

10. Mr. Deadly [4:13]

11. Star Of Hairs [3:15]

12. Messages Of Dark [3:51]

13. Vegetable Friend [2:12]

14. I Got A Message For You [3:05]

15. Point It At Gran [2:02]

16. The Abandoned Brain [2:53]

17. Let There Be More Darkness [2:57]

18. Blues In A [3:26]

19. Listening To The Higsons [2:46]

20. Dr. Sticky [3:33]