Robyn Hitchcock

Robyn Hitchcock, in one of many illuminating moments of reflection during this 53-minute documentary, posits that his songs “don’t appeal to meatheads.” But then he adds that his music is “not particularly intellectual or pretentious or arty.” It’s taken the British singer-songwriter the better part of his three-decade career to put himself and his work into honest perspective and find the comfort level to open up, but we’re the beneficiaries. John Edginton’s film catches Hitchcock in the process of creating his sharpest set of songs in years, 2006’s Olé! Tarantula, both in rehearsals and on tour with his makeshift band Venus 3 — whose line-up includes R.E.M.’s Peter Buck vacationing from his day job. Collaborators like Led Zep’s John Paul Jones and singer Gillian Welch weigh in on why Hitchcock remains so underappreciated, a sentiment borne out by live footage of him running through older tunes like “My Wife and My Dead Wife” and “Queen Elvis.”

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Latest Articles

Robyn Hitchcock

Sex, Food, Death . . . and Insects | A+E
Robyn Hitchcock, in one of many illuminating moments of reflection during this 53-minute documentary, posits that his songs “don’t appeal to meatheads.”
By JEFF TAMARKIN | May 20, 2008

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Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3

Ole! Tarantula | Yep Roc
The wonder of Robyn Hitchcock isn’t so much that he can write a line like “Fuck me baby, I’m a trolley bus” as that he can use it in a way that makes emotional sense.
By BRETT MILANO | October 30, 2006

Syd Barrett

1946-2006
Without meaning to, Barrett invented one of rock’s enduring archetypes: the visionary who burns brightly just long enough to become a bona fide star before plummeting into introversion and, in this case, a silence lasting more than 30 years.
By FRANKLIN BRUNO | July 21, 2006

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