Well, that was a mighty fine gig indeed. We didn't get some of the classics Adelaide was treated to (no Vibrating, Acid Bird or GITTSB, and only the one Minus 5 tune), but we did get Chinese Bones in the encore, and a brand new song called Propeller Time, which a friend described as sounding like Guided By Voices. Hmmm, not sure about that....but it was cool. Eight Miles High had the crowd in raptures. The sound was exceptional, and I wish I'd been able to record it. And Scott got a chuckle out of my request for Taco Wagon! Scott and Pete were still happily signing merch and talking to folks as I ran out the door.

Roll on Katoomba!

Bill G.


Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3: Basement, October 18
Bernard Zuel - Sydney Morning Herald

A tall Englishman with elegantly grey hair, a glint in his eye and a shirt of florid fabulousness, Robyn Hitchcock looks nothing less than a younger, healthier Peter Cook. You can imagine Hitchcock as the kind of charming but dotty gentleman squire ("the transparent earl" maybe of his opening song If You Were A Priest) who keeps his muddy wellies and his Turner originals in the same cupboard downstairs. Droll of wit, a lover of the absurd and your ideal playmate for an evening in the sandpit of the English language, Robyn Hitchcock is what you imagine Peter Cook would have been like if he'd chosen rock'n'roll rather than comedy. The better to tell a rambling, increasingly obtuse and hilarious story involving space travel and exploding planets which ends suddenly with "and this song is less than three minutes". While Hitchcock was less garrulous than on his last visit, when he played solo and, according to one fan, "was more like a stand-up comedian", there was still a noticeable strain of wry enjoyment through the nearly 2 hour set - even when excoriating certain Texan presidents or playing songs where fatalism ruled. You get that when the material, the playing and the personalities are of this quality There are tunes galore here, given understated but firmly controlled flair by a trio of REM alumni: guitarist Peter Buck, drummer Bill Rieflin and bassplayer/vocalist Scott McCaughey. Hearing them dance through Hitchcock's Queen Of Eyes was like hearing avowed Hitchcock fans REM doing the Byrds doing Dylan. Indeed Buck's playing would have brought a tear to the eye of every guitar pop nerd who pines for the jangling prettiness of those early REM albums.

But the key to Hitchcock is not that his music is deeply rooted in the mid-to-late '60s, infused with that period's melodic drive, but that he finds a way to twist those influences into odd shapes. So the
harmonies are tweaked one step further than you might expect, the melodies are pretty but take a left when the natural order of things would be to take a right and, of course the lyrics are always likely to offer moments such as "stop me baby I'm a trolley bus". Mr Cook would have approved.