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Me and Sylvia on the canal in Qibao (April 2011)

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Jeremy's journal

He became so absorbed in his reading that he spent his nights reading from dusk to dawn, and his days from dawn to dusk; and thus, from so little sleep and from so much reading, his brain dried up, so that he came to lose all judgement.

Miguel de Cervantes


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Tuesday, November 11th, 2008

🦋 Requiem for the Smoke Age

Robyn Hitchcock is releasing (with The Venus 3) a new album on YepRoc, called Goodnight Oslo. His 15th studio album! Features among other tunes, "Up to Our Necks" and "Hurry for the Sky" -- good stuff! He is interviewed about the record in the current Paste. Here is a performance of the title track:



"Goodnight Oslo" -- at The Iron Horse in Northampton, MA, July 9th, 2008

posted afternoon of November 11th, 2008: Respond
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Thursday, December 11th, 2008

🦋 Goodnight Oslo preview

It's not available yet -- going to be released in February. But you can listen to some of the tracks at Proper Records.

Hm; hard to make a judgement of the record based on these clips. I am glad to see the songs from The Fifth Beatle appearing here, because I think they are lovely songs; but I have no idea whether I'll like the Venus 3 versions better than the solo versions I've heard. I will say, that is one of the nicest Robyn Hitchcock album covers I've ever seen.

posted morning of December 11th, 2008: Respond

Saturday, January 31st, 2009

🦋 Up to our necks in love

YepRoc Records has posted video of Robyn and friends singing "Up to Our Nex", from the November 22nd show at Symphony Space -- presumably this is part of the documentary film they're making of that tour.

On stage with Mr. Hitchcock are (from left to right) Amir El Saffar, Terry Edwards, Gaida Hinnawi, and Tim Keegan. The song will be released on Goodnight Oslo. Thanks for the link, Woj!

posted afternoon of January 31st, 2009: Respond
➳ More posts about Rachel Getting Married

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

🦋 Saying goodnight

Another Robyn Hitchcock interview, from Yep Roc -- here he is talking, among other things, about the title track from Goodnight Oslo, what it is about and where it comes from.

As you get older, I suppose you have to vacate certain comfort zones. Because in the end, they're not comforting, they're stifling. So, you have to move out of your shell -- you cannot stay where you were.

I'm meaning to write an extended post or series of posts about the songs on this record, which I like a whole lot -- trying to find a couple-of-hours block of time that I can devote to that.

posted afternoon of March 23rd, 2009: Respond

Friday, March 27th, 2009

🦋 Goodnight Oslo: deep listen

Coming up! This evening is not quite upon us yet; I need to do things like put Sylvia to bed and tidy the kitchen, before it can truly be thought of as evening; but I am planning once all that is taken care of, to spend a couple of hours listening to and writing about the songs on Goodnight Oslo. (I did this a couple of years ago with Perspex Island, at the beginning of my infatuation with Robyn Hitchcock.)

I just noticed (at Hot Rox Avec Lying Sweet Talk) a really nice quote from Robyn, in a 2002 interview with Rolling Stone -- he is asked about what fan reaction he is anticipating to the forthcoming Nextdoorland, and replies:

They'll be initially pleased to hear it, and then they'll say it's not as good as Under Water Moonlight and then about five years down the line they'll probably get to like it on it's own merit," he says. "I can see the different layers of icing -- they'll like licking off the first layer, they won't like licking off the second layer, but once they've got through, the third layer's pretty good.
(And, argh, here Robyn is talking about his fans licking frosting off of his records and he is happy about it -- confusing... Makes me more confident about my initial reaction to his quote about Moss Elixir.)

So, stay tuned -- more later.

(Update: Oh wait, strike that. The disc is in the car which Ellen drove to visit her friend. Oh well, something else... maybe I'll do some reading instead.)

posted evening of March 27th, 2009: 2 responses

Thursday, May 14th, 2009

🦋 And dreamt herself was such a faded form

YepRoc records has made the video for "I'm Falling" available online.

It is lovely but fills me with questions -- primarily I'm curious to know what is the relationship between this song and Tennyson's Idylls of the King, some lines from which are quoted onscreen when Robyn is filming his puppet-show; also I wish I could read lips and know what Robyn is saying silently at the end of the video.

posted evening of May 14th, 2009: Respond

Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

🦋 It's just Norwegian speed

At Norway's Cafe Mono, Robyn Hitchcock reminisces on his first visit to Norway, on tour with the Egyptians in 1982, and the years since then. Morris Windsor posts a cover of "The End", live in Oslo in '82, the "culmination of one of the weirdest tours ever" -- "The closing remarks contain the seeds of 2009's Goodnight Oslo."

posted evening of October 25th, 2011: Respond
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