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I Wanna Go Backwards
 
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I Wanna Go Backwards [Box set]

~ Robyn Hitchcock
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
Price: £37.98 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Product details

  • Audio CD (12 Nov 2007)
  • Number of Discs: 5
  • Format: Box set
  • Label: Yep Roc
  • ASIN: B000VO8O3K
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 107,909 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Disc: 1
1. Man Who Invented Himself
2. Brenda's Iron Sledge
3. Do Policemen Sing
4. Lizard
See all 18 tracks on this disc
Disc: 2
1. Nocturne
2. Sometimes I Wish I Was A Pretty Girl
3. Cathedral
4. Uncorrected Personality Traits
See all 24 tracks on this disc
Disc: 3
1. Cynthia Mask
2. Certainly Cliquot
3. Queen Elvis
4. Flesh Cartoons
See all 21 tracks on this disc
Disc: 4
1. She Reached For A Light
2. August Hair
3. Take Your Knife Out Of My Back
4. Fiend Before The Shrine
See all 24 tracks on this disc
Disc: 5
1. September Cones
2. Lovely Golden Villains
3. Dr Sticky
4. Toadboy
See all 15 tracks on this disc

Product Description

Description

Issued by the Yep Roc label in 2007, this five-disc Robyn Hitchcock box set collects three of the beloved British singer-songwriter's finest solo albums--BLACK SNAKE DIAMOND ROLE (1981), I OFTEN DREAM OF TRAINS ('84), and EYE ('90)--and presents two discs of attendant bonus material. While BLACK SNAKE finds the witty performer in full-band mode with his former Soft Boys comrades (see the Beatlesque "Out of the Picture"), TRAINS and EYE showcase Hitchcock in spare, acoustic-oriented settings, as on the giddy "Sometimes I Wish I Was a Pretty Girl" and the gentle "Queen Elvis", respectively. Highlights of the rarities portion of the collection include the beautifully morbid lo-fi ditty "Lovers Turn to Skulls" andthe dreamy, Syd Barrett-like "She Reached for a Light", songs that exemplify Hitchcock's charming eccentricities. Although too in-depth for fair-weather Hitchcock fans, this well-compiled and annotated anthology will be warmly embraced by the quirky troubadour's ardent admirers.

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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
5 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A good measure of the man., 10 Jan 2008
By Isaac Hunt (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
'I Wanna Go Backwards' is a perfect opportunity for fans and collectors to get their paws on a wide range of Robyn Hitchcock material. The 5 CD collection starts out with what I've encountered as the hard to find on CD 'Black Snake Diamond Role', Robyn's first solo outing, you can hear the progression in the Robyn has made from the Soft Boys.

Next is 'I Often Dream of Trains' an album often held in high regard by many fans. It is a sparse, stripped back affair. I feel these are quiet and reflective songs, but this in no way diminishes anything else. They still sound fairly fresh and you'd never know they were recorded in the early 80s

Eye is the other featured album, again Robyn is mainly going back to one man and his guitar acoustic tunes. The beauty and simplicity of songs like 'Glass Hotel' and 'Queen Elvis' shine through. Eye seems like a natural progression from 'I Often Dream Of Trains' despite being released several years and several Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians albums after.

The 2CD compilation 'When Thatcher Destroyed' may read like tracks from 'Invisible Hitchcock' or 'You and Oblivion' but a listen to tracks such as 'The Abandoned Brain' and 'Point It At Gran' will show they they are demo versions of the tracks which appear on these albums and not the same recordings. There is also previously unavailable material songs such as 'Parachutes and Jellyfish' or 'Melting Arthur'.

Three proper released albums and a 2 CD compilation bursting with rare tracks, this is a compilation for everyone, either the collectors and die hard fans, or for someone wanting to discover more Robyn Hitchcock material.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Trawling the backrooms of your brain., 17 Mar 2008
By Ianham "Ianham" (Ross-shire, Scotland) - See all my reviews
  
Soryy if this is a speedy review but I felt I had to dash something off if only to counter the bad negative vibes man I'm getting from other reviews. Ferchrissakeman, if you don't like Robyn Hitchcock don't buy it -it's as simple as that.

What you get here is a fair resume of his early solo years plus extras not previously available. Yes I have the LP's but I enjoy the little silver discs.

The discs themselves appear to be taken from what I assume are American versions. Not much of a difference but little things pop out - the complete lack of horns on The Man who invented himself being the most glaring example. My LP has horns and thats the one I prefer - but this version has extra piano fills instead. Perfectly acceptable but....Similarly "I wish I was a pretty girl" has some judicious edits, presumably not to offend our colonial cousins.

Those petty quibbles aside this set is both handy way to catch up or fill in gaps in the collection. For novices it's a box of delights and a bargain to boot. "I often dream of Trains" is a highlight. However said the piano was out of tune needs their ears syringed.

Yes it does essay Syd but also takes in Dylan, Ayers, Satie, and neo Victorian Whimsy. Take it or leave it for what it is great music!

I commend this box to the house.
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7 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Retrodereliction from the vaults, 6 Dec 2007
The expanded format of the CD doesn't improve the thin-gruel-guitar and piping-vole vocals of Robyn Hitchcock's solo albums. Instead, it shows up the holes in the production. Nostalgia for the long perished vinyl tempted me with this box set. Perhaps I'm no longer the man I was but Hitchcock's surrealism tries too hard to be literate and meaningless. In the years off from listening to his music I discovered meaning - not too much - but enough to show up the banality of the man's shellfish obsession. One can still engage in humanity from an off-kilter angle (think of the sadness of Dominoes by Syd Barrett with its backwards, seeping guitar which conveys all the hopelessness of time passing) but Hitchcock creates oddity for its own sake and unlike Barrett, short-circuits feeling.

I also take exception to his short stories (one is reprinted in the booklet)- they are more of the same over-ripe confection, (ferns, tunnels, Gormenghast etc) every line screams out for attention like a hyperactive child.

His abrasive personality really jarred with the weedy production. I cherished a memory of excellent Egyptians efforts like Element of Light and Gotta Let This Hen Out where the music underpins and rams home the whimsy. Here it's whimsy galore and fragile guitar lines.

The acoustic albums sound shrill. The stark piano overdubs on I Often Dream of Trains are out of tune, they demonstrate a jobbing musicality. Even the wonderful vinyl version of Trams of Old London suffers here, the guitar sounds unimpressive. Hitchcock tries hard but his music is never fluid or instinctive. It's carefully constructed line by line.

Eye is slightly better sounding. Offering a genuine new track about the beauty of Earls Court.

Sadly the 'new' bonus tracks are taken from Invisible Hitchcock. What tempted me was disc four, unreleased recordings which largely turn out to be songs from the album You and Oblivion.

A huge disappointment, despite a great cover photo of RH in long grasses outside a windowless building. Avoid.
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