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Avg: 4.0 (95 ratings)
- Date Released: October 3, 2006
- Genre: Rock/Pop
- Style: Singer-Songwriter, Rock
- Label: Yep Roc Records / Redeye
A surrealist darling gets surprisingly direct, but still parties like it's 1986.
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We Say...
Three songs into Olé! Tarantula, a typically Hitchcockian melange of astronaut rides, egg-squirting arachnids, slithery sea life and hyper-sexualized trolley buses, a lyric shows up that is so baldly literal, it could have accidentally wandered in from a Celine Dion song. "Music is the antidote to the world of pain and sorrow," Hitchock sings, as electric guitars chime and saxophones chug a "Bang a Gong" beat. On his self-described "twenty-somethingth" album, Hitchcock displays a new affinity for directness; maybe, at 53, he's finally ready to jettison labels like "wacky" and "eccentric" and just be understood. "Underground Sun" dresses a eulogy to a friend in Beach Boys harmonies: "You lie so long there, listening to the silence of the graves," he despairs, before blurting out, "I miss you." And "N.Y. Doll," a fictionalized trip into the mind of departed punk bassist Arthur Kane, springboards into a condemnation of music business cruelty: "There's always someone young and fresh/Or cold and rotten." Indie-rock elder statesmen/Minus 5ers Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey and Bill Rieflin provide confident expertise without sacrificing inspiration. This gang sounds wiser, but not older — they may not be college radio darlings anymore, but they still know how to party like it's 1986.
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They Say...
In 2004, Robyn Hitchcock's loose and folky Spooked saw the insect- and crustacean-loving eccentric enlisting the unlikely help of NPR darlings David Rawlings and Gillian Welch. This time around he's backed by "3/4s of the Minus 5 and half of R.E.M." (Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, and Bill Rieflin) as well as ex-Soft Boys Kimberley Rew and Morris Windsor, Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan, Harvey Danger's Sean Nelson, and ex-President of the United States of America Chris Ballew. A small army indeed, but a tasteful one. Olé! Tarantula sounds like a trip back to the iconic singer/songwriter's early A&M days. Long, Byrds-inspired harmonies, jangly electric guitars, and random bursts of piano, harmonica, and saxophone pepper the collection in fits, seasoning Hitchcock's already delicious wordplay with exactly the right amount of spice. Opener "Adventure Rocket Ship" sounds like a lost track from Underwater Moonlight, the kind of confident psychedelic rocker that used to spill from the anti-bard's leafy pen like battery acid in the early to mid-'80s. That confidence coupled with the tight, road-ready band vibe permeates Tarantula's swollen belly, allowing only one or two forays into the esoteric balladry that has become the norm for the artist's post-Egyptians catalog. With the jaunty "'Cause It's Love (Saint Parallelogram)," co-written by XTC's Andy Partridge, the creepy and dissonant "Red Locust Frenzy," and the impossibly ridiculous title cut, the former "Man with the Light Bulb Head" has distilled the best of each of his eras into one big shambling creature. Lyrically, he's still obsessed with crabs, eggs, tomatoes, and things that are fleshy, furry, and spindly, but his greatest strength has always been his ability to toss a clear nugget of profundity into his most surrealist rants. In the warm, weird, and nostalgic "Belltown Ramble," he manages to rope an Uzbek warlord, email and R.E.M. into a motor-mouthed stroll through town and time that's bolstered by the wisdom that "It's an independent life/And you want to see your eyes/Reflected in the world" and the notion that "The burning train is back in your hometown." It's that perfect balance of sadness, vitriol, and absurdity that makes Hitchcock (when he's on) such a legendary social commentator. He's the jester, the king, the convict, and the executioner all wrapped up into one.
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| 01. |  |
Adventure Rocket Ship |
2:50 |
|
| 02. | |
Underground Sun |
3:57 |
|
| 03. | |
Museum Of Sex |
4:00 |
|
| 04. | |
Belltown Ramble |
6:15 |
|
| 05. | |
Ole! Tarantula |
3:51 |
|
| 06. | |
(A Man's Gotta Know His Limitations) Briggs |
5:34 |
|
| 07. | |
Red Locust Frenzy |
3:00 |
|
| 08. | |
'Cause It's Love (Saint Parallelogram) |
3:23 |
|
| 09. | |
The Authority Box |
4:13 |
|
| 10. | |
N.Y. Doll |
3:45 |
|
10 Total Tracks, 40:48 Total Length
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Credits
- Robyn Hitchcock - Guitar // Robyn Hitchcock - Harmonica // Robyn Hitchcock - Vocals // Robyn Hitchcock - Design // Robyn Hitchcock - Photography // Robyn Hitchcock - Coloring // Robyn Hitchcock - Drawing // Robyn Hitchcock - Group Member // Scott McCaughey - Bass // Scott McCaughey - Piano // Scott McCaughey - Vocals // Scott McCaughey - Group Member // Ian McLagan - Keyboards // Kurt Bloch - Choir, Chorus // Kurt Bloch - Engineer // Peter Buck - Bass // Peter Buck - Guitar // Peter Buck - Group Member // Kimberley Rew - Guitar // Bill Rieflin - Percussion // Bill Rieflin - Drums // Bill Rieflin - Choir, Chorus // Bill Rieflin - Group Member // Morris Windsor - Percussion // Morris Windsor - Harmony // Chris Ballew - Synthesizer // Chris Ballew - Keyboards // Chris Ballew - Slide Guitar // Chris Ballew - Harmony // Ian Johnson - Design // Ian Johnson - Coloring // Jessica Corcoran - Overdubs // Richard Bishop - Consultant // Sean Nelson - Choir, Chorus // Sean Nelson - Harmony // Charlie Francis - Overdubs // Charlie Francis - Mixing // Michele Noach - Choir, Chorus // Michele Noach - Photography // Gail Perry - Consultant // Floyd Rietsma - Assistant Engineer // Colin Izod - Saxophone // Julian - Photography
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