''Moss Elixir'' is an album by
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 th ...
, released in 1996. It contains twelve original compositions, predominantly acoustic.
''Moss Elixir'' came packaged in green and gold, continuing the theme of his earlier solo acoustic albums, ''I Often Dream of Trains'' and ''Eye''. The CD insert includes a short story: a vaguely autobiographical, surrealist account of Hitchcock in the afterlife, which weaves several images and titles from the album's contents into its storyline, including the elixir of the album's title.
"De Chirico Street" alludes to
metaphysical
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of consci ...
painter
Giorgio de Chirico
Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( , ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was an Italian
artist and writer born in Greece. In the years before World War I, he founded the '' scuola metafisica'' art movement, which profoundly influ ...
. The album's first single was "Alright, Yeah".
Production
Following the loss of his father, Hitchcock had recorded little in the preceding five years. When he re-emerged, he had dispensed with old group the Egyptians and begun working with new musicians, including Deni Bonet, a violinist with whom Hitchcock would collaborate several times in the years following.
"Man with a Woman's Shadow" was coproduced by
Calvin Johnson
Calvin Johnson Jr., (born September 29, 1985) is an American former football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons with the Detroit Lions. He played college football at Georgia Tech, where he twice ...
.
Critical reception
The ''
Chicago Reader
The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by ...
'' wrote that Hitchcock's "ringing guitar and gently Lennon-influenced singing are right up front, and other instruments appear only when the songs really ask for them ... Hitchcock hasn't sounded so engaged since 1990's ''Eye''."
Track listing
All tracks composed by Robyn Hitchcock
#"Sinister but She Was Happy"
#"The Devil's Radio"
#"Heliotrope"
#"Alright, Yeah"
#"Filthy Bird"
#"The Speed of Things"
#"Beautiful Queen"
#"Man with a Woman's Shadow"
#"I Am Not Me"
#"De Chirico Street"
#"You and Oblivion"
#"This Is How It Feels"
References
{{Authority control
1996 albums
Robyn Hitchcock albums
Warner Records albums