''Element of Light'' is the fifth studio album by singer-songwriter

Robyn Hitchcock Robyn Rowan Hitchcock (born 3 March 1953) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano, and bass guitar. After leading the Soft Boys in the late 1970s and releasing the ...

and his second with his backing band, the Egyptians. It was released in 1986. Most of the album was recorded at Alaska Studios and Berry Street, but two tracks, "The President" and "Lady Waters & The Hooded One", were live recordings made for the BBC, with overdubs recorded on BBC Mobile and at Alaska. The album title derives from the song "Airscape", which has been cited several times by Hitchcock as a favourite among his own compositions, and a live rendition was tagged on to later CD editions. "Airscape" concerns his "favourite beach", Compton Beach on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

, which also provided a backdrop for the cover shots. He was inspired by learning about the erosion of the cliffs, and imagining the ghosts of people who had walked the cliffs centuries ago now suspended over the water. The song "The President" makes reference to

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

's visit to

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, where members of the

Waffen-SS The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscr ...

were buried. In 2020 he re-recorded the song with altered lyrics referring to then-U.S. President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

. The song "Raymond Chandler Evening" is an homage to the world-weary novels of mystery writer

Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive durin ...

. The title was later used as the name for a sidequest in ''

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'' also homaging the author. Originally running to ten songs, the first CD edition included extra bonus tracks, all taken from singles, while later pressings have added a further six, including the comedic spoken number "The Can Opener". The album was produced by Robyn and Andy Metcalfe, with input from long-time colleague Pat Collier.

Track listing

All songs written by

Side one

#"If You Were a Priest" #"Winchester" #"Somewhere Apart" #"Ted, Woody and Junior" #"The President"

Side two

#"Raymond Chandler Evening" #"Bass" #"Airscape" #"Never Stop Bleeding" #"Lady Waters & the Hooded One"

Midnight CD bonus tracks

#"The Black Crow Knows" #"The Crawling" #"The Leopard" #"Tell Me About Your Drugs"

Rhino CD reissue bonus tracks

#"The Black Crow Knows" #"The Crawling" #"The Leopard" #"Tell Me About Your Drugs" #"The Can Opener" #"Raymond Chandler Evening" (Demo) #"The President" (Demo) #"If You Were a Priest" (Demo) #"Airscape" (Live) #"The Leopard" (Demo)

YepRoc CD reissue bonus tracks

#"The Black Crow Knows" #"The Crawling" #"The Leopard" #"Tell Me About Your Drugs" #"Sprinkling Dots" #"Upside Down Church Blues" #"Into It" #"Neck" #"Bass" (Demo) #"Lady Waters Mix 1" ("Lady Waters & The Hooded One" demo)"

Personnel

– guitar, vocals,

upright piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an action mechanism where hammers strike strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a chromatic scale in equal temper ...

on "Somewhere Apart", bass on "Tell Me About Your Drugs" *

Andy Metcalfe Andy Metcalfe (born 3 March 1956, Bristol, England) is an English bassist, keyboardist, and producer, who played mainly with The Soft Boys (with Robyn Hitchcock, 1976–1979), Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians (1984–1994), and with Squeeze ...

– bass, vocals on "If You Were A Priest", "Winchester", "Ted, Woody and Junior", "Bass", "Airscape", "Lady Waters & the Hooded One", "The Black Crow Knows", "Tell Me About Your Drugs", piano on "Winchester", "Ted, Woody and Junior", bass keyboard on "Raymond Chandler Evening", keyboards on "Never Stop Bleeding" and "The Leopard", drums on "Tell Me About Your Drugs" *Morris Windsor – drums, vocals on "Ted, Woody and Junior", "Bass", "Airscape" and "Lady Waters & the Hooded One", electric guitar on "Tell Me About Your Drugs" *Roger Jackson – keyboards,

glass harmonica The glass harmonica, also known as the glass armonica, glass harmonium, bowl organ, hydrocrystalophone, or simply the armonica or harmonica (derived from , ''harmonia'', the Greek language, Greek word for harmony), is a type of musical instr ...

on "Airscape", vocals on "Lady Waters & the Hooded One"

References

{{Authority control Robyn Hitchcock albums 1986 albums Albums produced by Robyn Hitchcock