Review by Steve McGowan from Zub RecordsTonight’s show was a real gem. Reg had a false start until he was sure the stream was up. Back in Studio B, he played his small body mahogany and started with ‘Cathedral,’ from I Often Dream Of Trains. He played it in a pretty, folky style picking out the notes. ‘Cathedral’ is one of the strongest songs from a wonderful record. Next up, he described ‘Autumn Is Your Last Chance’ (from Trains) as “one of my first prototype songs for Bryan Ferry.” Playing solo, this was a beautiful, wonderful song.
Finally it was time to “summon up the great muse Emma Swift.” Emma appeared and the duo sang ‘Light Blue Afternoon,’ from Tromso, Kapetin and their voices were great together on this upbeat tune. Emma mentioned that her new Dylan covers record Blonde On The Tracks comes out soon, (tinyurl.com/zubblonde) so the duo did Dylan’s ‘The Man In Me’ (most will remember this song from The Big Lebowski soundtrack). Emma sang solo and this was a great teaser for her record, and her new label Tiny Ghost Records.
Finishing up, Em asked Robyn “have you got something inane to play?” and she departed. Robyn, playing an as yet unseen Gibson Songwriter acoustic, did a slide heavy version of ‘Live In The Trees’ from Spooked. Emma returned and they sang the sad ‘Underground Sun’ from Ole Tarantula:
Stand in the water
with your red 'n' white bikini dots
Telling your daughter
This is where we are and what we've got
I know you're there
I can relive you
Silhouetting on the golden sea
I feel with you
Even though I know
You're not with me
Underground sun
Underground sun
I miss you
You lie so lonely
Listening to the silence of the graves
You don't belong there
You belong down south among the waves
Underground sun
Underground sun
I miss you
Reg’s guitar playing was sparkly and bright, and the song was upbeat despite the very sad lyrics. Next up was ‘Winchester’ from Element Of Light, Em and Reg with superb unison vocals, followed by a discussion of making funny faces when you sing.
Emma requested ‘The Queen Of Eyes,’ a classic from The Soft Boys Underwater Moonlight, and they played a fun and power-pop influenced version. Emma left for a second and came back with Tubby the cat. Playing solo, Robyn did what appeared to be a brand new song, ‘Upgrade Me.’ Emma laughingly shared a chat room post calling that night’s Reg ‘nuttier than a squirrel turd.” The duo then sang a breezy version of ‘Saturday Groovers’ from Goodnight Oslo, always one of my favorite Reg tunes. They ended up with the super-surreal ‘ Trilobite’ from Mossy Liquor:
Trilobite, right Dwight's in the light-bite
Trilobite, right in the light-bite, Dwight
Basking on the shores of time
The little stone creature ain't dead to the world
They call him
Trilobite, right Dwight's in the light-bite
Trilobite, right in the light-bite, Dwight
Clicking away for a second of fame
A billion years later they give it a name
They call it
Trilobite, right Dwight's in the light-bite
Trilobite, right in the light-bite, Dwight
When I'm too wasted these rocks to clamber
Then lean me on the cliff and encase me in amber
And a creature from future in
Way out when
Will clock my fossil and name me Sven
That's a nice name
This was a wonderful way to end a great show, Reg sounding his best and Emma always wonderful, with an almost perfect Swiftcock song selection. Well done!
----Steve McGowan
Online review by Mark My WordsWednesday night means that it’s time for another installment of “Sweet Home Quarantine” with Robyn Hitchcock and Emma Swift. The July 22nd show was an all-request show, spanning Robyn’s whole career. The show was a nice mix of the familiar and some songs that I don’t think have been played on SHQ so far. (I haven’t seen every SHQ show, so I can’t say with absolute certainty.)
Robyn opened the show with gorgeous versions of “Cathedral” and “Autumn is Your Last Chance,” both from his terrific 1984 solo album I Often Dream of Trains. Robyn said that “Autumn is Your Last Chance” was his first attempt at a song that was going for an effect similar to Bryan Ferry’s songs. I wrote in the chat that I like to imagine Bryan Ferry watching “Sweet Home Quarantine” every week, while wearing a tuxedo. Emma responded in the chat that she liked imagining that too.
Emma joined Robyn for a lovely version of “Light Blue Afternoon,” from 2011’s Tromso, Kaptein album. Robyn mentioned that it was written after he watched Magnum Force, one of the “Dirty Harry” movies, starring Clint Eastwood. This tidbit connects the song to 2006’s “(A Man’s Gotta Know His Limitations) Briggs,” which was also inspired by Magnum Force. In 2014, I put forth the theory that Robyn’s song “San Francisco Patrol” might also be inspired by Dirty Harry. So now we may have a trilogy of Dirty Harry songs!
Emma got a solo turn when she sang Bob Dylan’s “The Man in Me,” from her upcoming album Blonde on the Tracks. It was a great version of a fine Dylan song, and I’m really looking forward to getting my copy of the CD. There was some entertaining banter between Emma and Robyn at the beginning of the song. Robyn was playing the guitar intro, and Emma told him to go a bit faster. Then she said, “That’s just louder, not faster.”
Robyn sang “We’re Gonna Live in the Trees” solo, a funny song from 2004’s Spooked. It was fun to hear, it’s certainly a song I haven’t thought of in a long time. Robyn then sang one of my very favorite songs of his, “Underground Sun,” with lovely harmonies from Emma. For me, this song was the highlight of the show. Robyn and Emma followed it with a beautiful version of “Winchester,” previously heard a few weeks ago when Robyn sang Element of Light. Robyn and Emma then dusted off the Soft Boys’ tune “Queen of Eyes.” Because Robyn sang both "Winchester" and "Cathedral" during this show, I think he ought to do a cover of The New Vaudeville Band's "Winchester Cathedral."
A new song made its debut on the show, “Upgrade Me” was a key lyric in the chorus. (Although there was some discussion in the chat as to whether Robyn was in fact singing “Upbraid Me.”) It was an interesting tune. Robyn and Emma sang the great “Saturday Groovers,” from 2009’s excellent Goodnight Oslo. Only Robyn Hitchcock could write a song with the lyrics “Emphysema, heart disease and gout” and still make it catchy. The last song was the oddity “Trilobite,” from the outtakes collection Mossy Liquor. Yup, it’s all about the ancient arthropod.
This was an incredibly fun installment of “Sweet Home Quarantine,” and it was clear that Robyn and Emma were having a great time.