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Avg: 4.0 (26 ratings)
- Date Released: October 1, 1985
- Genre: Rock/Pop
- Style: Rock, Pop
- Label: Yep Roc Records / Redeye
This hard-driving live set stands head and shoulders with Hitchcock's best studio albums.
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We Say...
Most live albums are glorified souvenirs, but this 1985 set from London’s Marquee stands head and shoulders with Hitchcock’s best albums. Backed by the Egyptians — here a three-piece including former Soft Boys Morris Windsor and Andy Metcalfe along with keyboardist Roger Jackson — Hitchcock ranges freely through his back catalogue, attacking the songs with uncharacteristic vigor. With the possible exception of 2007’s Olé Tarantula, Hen! is the closest thing to a straightforward rock album Hitchcock has ever made, but it’s less a matter of dumbing the songs down than revving them up. “Brenda’s Iron Sledge” takes off at breakneck pace, and Jackson’s buzzing riff adds a hint of apocalyptic menace to the Soft Boys’ “Only the Stones Remain.”
In addition to the otherwise-unreleased “Listening to the Higsons,” a tribute to an obscure Norwich band that gives the album its title, Hen! rescues two songs (“America” and “The Cars She Used to Drive”) from the aborted Groovy Decay/Decoy, while serving as a dandy primer on Hitchcock’s early work. The band’s take on such bona-fide classics as “Egyptian Cream” and “My Wife and My Dead Wife” may not outdo the studio versions, but they’re fascinating and worthy alternates, like dispatches from a parallel universe where Hitchcock is a rock star instead of a cult eccentric. -
They Say...
Recorded at the Marquee in London shortly after the release of Fegmania!, the live Gotta Let This Hen Out! is a tense and exciting record, finding the raw energy that usually goes untapped in Robyn Hitchcock's music. Although the album makes the Egyptians sound more like a rock & roll band than they actually were -- they never played with such reckless abandon before or since -- the driving performances don't wreck the melodic and lyrical eccentricities of the songs; instead, the increased vigor gives the music a searing power, obliterating the notion that Hitchcock's songs are delicate and precious. The set list also accentuates Hitchcock's strengths, relying on his most accessible and melodic material, whether it's newer Egyptians material like "Egyptian Cream," "Sometimes I Wish I Was a Pretty Girl," and "Acid Bird," or earlier Soft Boys tracks like "Kingdom of Love," "Only the Stones Remain," "The Face of Death," and "Leppo and the Jooves." [In 2008 Yep Roc released a new version of Gotta Let This Hen Out! that included the original album re-mastered, bonus cuts and expanded packaging.]
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| 01. |  |
Sometimes I Wish I Was A Pretty Girl |
2:09 |
|
| 02. | |
Kingdom Of Love |
4:12 |
|
| 03. | |
Acid Bird |
4:47 |
|
| 04. | |
The Cars She Used To Drive |
2:54 |
|
| 05. | |
My Wife And My Dead Wife |
4:01 |
|
| 06. | |
Brendaâs Iron Sledge |
3:07 |
|
| 07. | |
The Fly |
3:42 |
|
| 08. | |
Only The Stones Remain |
2:39 |
|
| 09. | |
Egyptian Cream |
3:32 |
|
| 10. | |
Leppo And The Jooves |
4:55 |
|
| 11. | |
America |
4:18 |
|
| 12. | |
Heaven |
3:54 |
|
| 13. | |
Listening To The Higsons |
3:08 |
|
| 14. | |
The Face Of Death |
3:27 |
|
| 15. | |
If You Were A Priest |
2:37 |
|
| 16. | |
Iâm Only You |
3:56 |
|
| 17. | |
Unsettled |
6:26 |
|
| 18. | |
Freeze |
3:50 |
|
| 19. | |
Egyptian Cream #2 |
4:26 |
|
19 Total Tracks, 72:00 Total Length
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Credits
- Robyn Hitchcock - Bass // Robyn Hitchcock - Guitar // Robyn Hitchcock - Vocals // Robyn Hitchcock - Main Performer // Robyn Hitchcock - Paintings // Ken Perry - Remastering // Pat Collier - Engineer // Pat Collier - Mixing // Bill Inglot - Remastering // Andy Metcalfe - Bass // Andy Metcalfe - Drums // Andy Metcalfe - Vocals (Background) // Andy Metcalfe - Mixing // Morris Windsor - Guitar // Morris Windsor - Drums // Roger Jackson - Keyboards // Roger Jackson - Engineer // Roger Jackson - Mixing // Jim Neill - Reissue Producer // Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians - Performer
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