Goodnight Oslo

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ALBUM INFORMATION

Total Tracks: 10   Total Length: 39:11

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Karen Schoemer

eMusic Contributor

Karen Schoemer hosts "The Schoemer Show" on WGXC 90.7 fm Hudson/Catskill and www.wgxc.org. She is the author of Great Pretenders: My Strange Love Affair with '5...more »

02.17.09
Disenchanted and enchanting, pitch-black and sparkling — in other words, vintage Hitchcock
2009 | Label: Yep Roc Records / Redeye

Robyn Hitchcock has written love songs and drug songs, creepy songs and disenchanted songs, but "TLC" is his first creepy, druggy, disenchanted love song. Composed for an unfinished biopic about Beatles manager Brian Epstein, "TLC" explores the unfortunate similarities between romance and pharmacological imbalance. "I feel on top of the world/And you're my opposite girl," Hitchcock drawls against a woozy, '50s slow-dance melody that lurches like a drunk on a precarious reel toward the floor. By the time he reaches the chorus, he's lost track of the source of his euphoria: "Tryptisol, librium, carbitol," he recounts, naming antidepressants that were implicated in the deaths of Epstein and Nick Drake.

"TLC" is just one of the many semi-disturbing moments on Goodnight Oslo, a sequel of sorts to Hitchcock's 2006 career rejuvenator, Ole Tarantula. Recorded with the same psychedelic-folk all-stars — Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Scott McCaughey (Young Fresh Fellows, Minus 5) and Bill Rieflin (Ministry, R.E.M.) — Goodnight Oslo nevertheless works a very different tone; where Tarantula seemed an ecstatic affirmation of life and the natural world, Oslo wallows in ambiguity, telling unsettling stories about mistaken paths and the uncontrollable recesses of the psyche. "What You Is" absolves sinners of… read more »

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A great trend continues

ccomerfo

I’ve really enjoyed Robyn Hitchcock’s recent albums as he gets somewhat quieter, but no less weirder. Goodnight Oslo continues in his ventures with Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey to great effect.

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Goodnight indeed...

donato

Robyn Hitchcock is one of those people I have always had an interest in ever since I heard Gotta Let This Hen Out! That is to this date my favorite album by him. Goodnight Oslo is another good album by Robyn Hitchcock. It's simple, has good lyrics and has the quirky and odd songs you have grown to love by him. Some of the greats off of this album are What You Is, I'm Falling, Intricate Thing. His band The Venus 3 does a great job with the music but I will have to admit that I am still partial to The Egyptians.

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Boring

MonsterDad

I love Robyn. I was looking forward to this record. But I've noticed that this guy is so productive, that sometimes he misses the mark and the result meanders and sputters. This one doesn't get there.

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Intricate thing

timabouttown

It's a lovely thing to watch somebody in the game for 30 years still trying so hard to get it right. And indeed he does. This record feels zeroed in, with nothing extra getting in the way of the target. Not that it's stripped down -- there are horns on a couple of tracks! A real pleasure start to finish.

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A Great Robyn Record

ToasKokopelli

Perhaps his best record of psychedelic pop since "Fegmania". I find Robyn hit and miss, but sometimes he hits the nail right on the head. Some of his best lyrics of his career backed by a wonderful band that layer a near perfect companion sound. Certain to please long time Robyn Hitchock fans.

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Yep Roc, based in North Carolina, is a record label for music lovers. Rather than focus on one genre or niche of music, Yep Roc strives to put out records that feature some of the best, most soulful music of any kind. Whether it be the songwriting of John Doe, the energetic indie pop of Fountains of Wayne, Jukebox the Ghost and The Apples in stereo, the creative and catchy melodies of Liam Finn, the… more »

They Say All Media Guide

After making records for three decades, Robyn Hitchcock has largely lost the ability to surprise listeners, which isn’t in itself a bad thing — the consistent strength of his work had led the average fan to expect a handful of good to great songs and lively, compelling performances whenever Hitchcock releases a new album, and with very rare exceptions he hasn’t let fans down yet, even if he doesn’t deliver an Underwater Moonlight or I Often Dream of Trains or Element of Light each time he heads into the studio. Released in 2009, Goodnight Oslo isn’t going to force listeners to reassess their opinions about Robyn Hitchcock at this stage of the game, but it’s also an album that shows the man is still in firm command of his abilities, and in many respects it’s as consistently pleasurable as anything Hitchcock has released since the mid-’90s. Like 2006′s Olé! Tarantula, a large share of the credit for Goodnight Oslo’s effectiveness is the contribution of Hitchcock’s backing band, the Venus 3 — Peter Buck on guitar, Scott McCaughey on bass, and Bill Rieflin on drums. While this is only the second studio album the three have made with Hitchcock, they’ve worked with one another long enough to have the feel and unspoken communication of a real band rather than a handful of sidemen, and along with being excellent musicians, they bring out the best in Hitchcock, filling out his melodies with taste and enthusiastic energy while helping him bring some different flavors to these sessions, like the Memphis-style R&B undertow of “What You Is,” the acoustic country shuffle of “Hurry for the Sky,” and the slinky, off-kilter romance of “TLC,” along with Hitchcock’s traditional angular guitar-centered pop. On Goodnight Oslo, Hitchcock has eased back a bit on the lysergic surrealism that was long his trademark, instead aiming for an air of sensuous menace that suits this music very well indeed, though “Intricate Thing” and “Saturday Groovers” show his eye for the offbeat is as sharp as ever. Goodnight Oslo is good enough and engaged enough that you can hardly believe Robyn Hitchcock has been making records like this since 1979 — and who knows, maybe he can keep making albums this entertaining for another two or three decades. – Mark Deming

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Activity

  • 02.06.12 Robyn in Arctic Circle podcast, as aired on @ResonanceFM. Download here: http://t.co/ZITC1PvM (via SpyH)
  • 01.23.12 The Floating Palace kicks off in Glasgow 5 Feb! John Paul Jones will be standing in for Martin Carthy at the Warwick date on 12 Feb....
  • 01.04.12 Just uploaded another video of Robyn & Friends playing the Beatles...this time it's Yellow Submarine (HNY from RH via SpyHx)
  • 12.25.11 You're snowing inside, Dr Spengler...
  • 12.25.11 'You cannot petition the Lord with prayer!'
  • 12.25.11 Why not make yourself at home in the future?
  • 12.24.11 God is a fat word, Dr Spengler - unzip it and many meanings crawl out
  • 12.13.11 More Beatles in the pub... this time it's a John Lennon composition - I'm Only Sleeping: http://t.co/LCBUM5GY (via Spy Hitchcock)
  • 12.08.11 Like it or not, John Lennon represented humanity. So much more than one person died with him.
  • 12.08.11 'John was an artist: why would you kill an artist?' Yoko Ono.
  • 12.08.11 Robyn would like to announce that he's playing @EOTR End of the Road festival. Tix available here: http://t.co/F9UFxM0r Love, Spy Hitchcock
  • 12.07.11 Robyn plays the Beatles' in a London pub. What would you have Robyn play in your local? http://t.co/9N65vABA (via Spy Hitchcock)
  • 12.06.11 Spy Hitchcock reports: Robyn will play @robinince 's "Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People" shows @bloomstheatre on December 22/3.
  • 12.05.11 Robyn plays Red Locust Frenzy for @GreenManFest sessions in this advent calendar, courtesy of @the405 http://t.co/4YIUpl6R (From SpyH...
  • 12.04.11 Robyn plays Red Locust Frenzy for @GreenManFest sessions in this advent calendar, courtesy of @the405 http://t.co/4YIUpl6R (From SpyH...
  • 12.02.11 The loss of the Enchanted One is the last kiss of autumn
  • 12.02.11 Time is flowing through your veins, Herr Doctor: tell me, do you feel lucky?
  • 12.01.11 The V3 reappears in Mexico, in January. Visible to the naked eye 2 hours after dusk, Jan - 11 - 14.
  • 11.30.11 Your gun's out of its holster, Briggs
  • 11.30.11 Ra-Ra-Rasputin, lover of the Russian Queen!