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Average: 4.5 (35 ratings)
- Date Released: October 5, 2004
- Genre: Rock/Pop
- Style: Singer-Songwriter, Alternative
- Label: Yep Roc Records / Redeye
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We Say...
Something sounds different right from the start on the latest release from renowned oddball popster Robyn Hitchcock. The gently exquisite and entrancing acoustic guitar intro on the first track may sound eerily familiar to Americana fans; indeed, the pickers are none other than Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. But Hitchcock quickly steers the proceedings into his own inevitably quirky territory by chiming in with a charmingly Robyn-esque opening statement: "Binga-bonga-bing, bong, bing, bong." He proceeds to declare his romantic love for a television set, and we're off.
Welch and Rawlings, quite fortuitously, contribute more than just an initial cameo. They're Hitchcock's collaborators throughout Spooked, which may be the most universally listenable album he's ever made. The muted but mellifluous quality of their musicianship serves as a surprisingly fertile foil for Hitchcock's trademark offbeat wanderings, which touch on such topics as demons and fiends, ocelots and meerkats and living in trees (though he also plays it remarkably straight on the lost-love ballad "English Girl"). A ringer near the end is a cover of Bob Dylan's "Tryin' to Get to Heaven Before They Close the Door." -
They Say...
Sometime after the release of 2003's sparse and slightly chilly Luxor, Robyn Hitchcock attended his first Gillian Welch show. Impressed by the duo's rootsy adherence to the organic -- two guitars, two voices -- he approached the longtime fans -- Hitchcock unknowingly signed David Rawlings' guitar at a Boston in-store in 1989 -- and exchanged digits. The unlikely partnership came to fruition at Nashville's Woodland Studios a few months later, and in just six days the lovely, intimate, and typically eccentric Spooked was born. Produced by Rawlings and culled from hours of off-the-cuff originals, Dylan songs, and general weirdness, Spooked harks back to his mercurial I Often Dream of Trains period. References to fungus and food abound, but wrapped in the wooly blankets of Rawlings' signature picking and Welch's winsome harmonies, they take on a fireplace warmth that renders them amiably nostalgic rather than blatantly surreal. On the dew-soaked opener, "Television," Rawlings lays down a beautiful descending lead that wouldn't have sounded out of place on the duo's debut, and its juxtaposition with Hitchcock's "bing a bon a bing bong" vocal entrance is jarring, but when the three of them come together mid-song to harmonize, the results are quietly majestic. Much of the record revisits -- musically at least -- Hitchcock's colorful past. "Everybody Needs Love," with its breathy urgency and electric sitar, sounds like something off of Element of Light, and the lurching "Creeped Out" -- featuring Welch on drums -- could have been the B-side to 1985's "Brenda's Iron Sledge." This is Hitchcock's most rewarding and creative endeavor since 1993's Egyptian-led Respect, and the fact that Rawlings and Welch are there as eager tools to flesh out his English netherworld makes the fellowship feel even more collaborative. It's a testament to both camps' willingness to try anything -- hearing Welch and Rawlings repeating "crackle, crackle, pop" beneath Hitchcock's spoken word sales pitch to extraterrestrials looking to vacation on Earth is a pretty good example -- that ultimately succeeds in making Spooked the left-field gem that it is.
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You Say...
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| 01. |  |
Television |
6:22 |  |
| 02. | |
If You Know Time |
3:32 | |
| 03. | |
Everybody Needs Love |
3:17 | |
| 04. | |
English Girl |
3:21 | |
| 05. | |
Demons & Fiends |
2:14 | |
| 06. | |
Creeped Out |
3:15 | |
| 07. | |
Sometimes A Blonde |
4:53 | |
| 08. | |
We're Gonna Live In The Trees |
3:24 | |
| 09. | |
Tryin' To Get To Heaven Before They Close The Door |
6:00 | |
| 10. | |
Full Moon In My Soul |
3:02 | |
| 11. | |
Welcome To Earth |
0:49 | |
| 12. | |
Flanagan's Song |
4:39 | |
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Credits
- Robyn Hitchcock - Guitar // Robyn Hitchcock - Harmonica // Robyn Hitchcock - Vocals // Robyn Hitchcock - Sitar (Electric) // Robyn Hitchcock - Photography // Robyn Hitchcock - Layout Design // Robyn Hitchcock - Wurlitzer // Robyn Hitchcock - Cover Design // Robyn Hitchcock - Cover Painting // George Wright - Photography // Pat Collier - Engineer // Joey Spampinato - Bass // Gillian Welch - Bass // Gillian Welch - Guitar // Gillian Welch - Percussion // Gillian Welch - Drums // Gillian Welch - Harmony Vocals // Ian Johnson - Layout Design // Ian Johnson - Cover Design // David Rawlings - Dobro // David Rawlings - Guitar // David Rawlings - Tambourine // David Rawlings - Producer // David Rawlings - Harmony Vocals // David Rawlings - Wurlitzer // Jillian Edelstein - Photography // Richard Bishop - Consultant // Matt Andrews - Engineer // Michele Noach - Photography // Michele Noach - Layout Design // Michele Noach - Cover Design // Michele Boach - Photography // Michele Boach - Layout Design // Michele Boach - Cover Design // Gail Perry - Consultant
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