Search - Robyn Hitchcock :: Black Snake Diamond Role

Attention Shoppers

Kim Curlee | Carbondale, IL USA | 11/27/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As both a fan of Robyn, and a buyer/seller on this glorious site, I should like to point out that while this is among my favorites of his...the song listing currently associated with this recent YepRoc release is actually the proper song list for another recent Robyn re-release..."Eye". No doubt the song listing currently on view for the "Eye" disc is the proper listing for this disc.

Got that?

Anyway, buy them both and sort out the discrepancies on your own...you won't regret it.

KimBob/Amazonplaza

"

Could really be considered a soft boys album!

Bill Wikstrom | Long Island, NY | 09/10/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Considering Robyn himself said that by the time of Underwater Moonlight The Soft Boys were just a band playing his songs. Well, so is this. And it's the members of The Soft Boys as well. So basically Robyn just selected which soft boy plays on which track - utilizing their strengths as the songs called for them. In addition to Morris playing drums, the excellent Vince Ely of The Psychedlic Furs plays on some tracks (although it does not list who played drums on "City Of Shame" - odd). Some great tracks here: "The Lizard", "City Of Shame", "Out Of The Picture" and "I Watch The Cars" are all Robyn at his very best. "Do Policemen Sing?" sounds like a silly Monty Python song, "Love" is beautiful

and "Meat" sounds like the soft boys never broke up (or have any reason to).



The bonus tracks included here (on the Rhino/Sequal releases)

are all great and chronologically accurate.



However the big letdown is that instead of adding additional mixes of "The Man Who Invented Himself" (Hitchock's best single) and "Brenda's Iron Sledge" (also fab) to this release they replaced the originals (!!??!) and put new mixes in their place. Why would you try and fix something if there's nothing wrong with it in the first place? The real kicker is that the mixes that were chosen to replace the originals are by no means superior.



The difference in "The Man Who..." is that they removed the sax (which only added to it's already fun and quirky swing)!

And "Brenda" for some reason now sounds dull.

Uh, yeah, what an improvement. Stupid!

For these original mixes search out the original Glass Fish import edition. So if anything by issuing this definitive edition on cd you still have to buy the original to get the original versions of tracks.

Robyn at his creative peak!! Unmatched!"

What's to be said

Ronald Battista | Colorado Springs, CO | 07/05/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"to those who aren't already familiar with Robyn Hitchcock? Aside from the fact that he may well be Syd Barrett's twin, we could tell them that he's a cynic, a crackpot, a wiseguy scribbling mad couplets to go with a truly eclectic pop-rock band. Black Snake Diamond Role, though hard to find in stores, is as good a place as any to apprehend the absurd English genius of Hitchcock. Quoting a few rhymes from the record is all I can do to entice you into looking closer-imagine these lines delivered with sincerity and all seriousness:Upon meeting with police in "Do Policemen Sing?":"dont get stymied/dont say bloody hell or blimey/dont complain if your beans aren't warm"whispered about an enigmatic reptile:"You wear the lizard's shoes/and afterwards you...get confused."tell me this guy doesnt pour LSD on his cornflakes:"All aboard/Brenda's Iron Sledge/please dont call me Reg/its not my name."Don't you wish you could be this eloquent about the girl you wish you could have thats too hot for you to handle:"She's not just a pretty face shes a big black hole as well/she swallows everything she sees/she's not of the human race shes a creature out of hell/shes a disease."Brilliantly weird, if thats your thing."