Robyn Hitchcock: Jewels for Sophia

Robyn Hitchcock: Storefront Hitchcock / Jewels for Sophia 

Oh, yeah! I have a crash on this record since i listened to it. I only knew one song: Sally was a legend and when I got the record, I just found that there were many more jewels in it! Great Robyn Hitchcock! Great album!

The following year, 1999, Robyn released Jewels for Sophia, his studio LP follow-up to Moss Elixir. Aided here and there by R.E.M.‘s Peter Buck and former Soft Boys guitarist Kimberley Rew, the record is Robyn’s most raw and rockin’ since the great Egyptians album of ‘86, Element of Light. Tim Keegan joined in once more, and Jon Brion produced the disc. This all-star cast of Robyn’s regular pals kept the sessions loose, resulting in a terrific set of tunes from start to finish.

Upbeat pop numbers like “The Cheese Alarm” and “Viva! Sea-Tac” will leap into your brain and never leave. (It’s been eight years now, and I still can’t look at a picture of the Seattle skyline without happily singing “The Space Needle points toward the sky / And the Space Needle’s such a nice guy”.) Jewels for Sophia sports some of Robyn’s loveliest ballads, too: “I Feel Beautiful”, “You’ve Got a Sweet Mouth on You, Baby”, and the bittersweet “No, I Don’t Remember Guildford” (which debuted live on Storefront Hitchcock). These reflective moments are balanced by rockers like “Elizabeth Jade” and “NASA Clapping”.

For fans of 1980s Robyn Hitchcock, Jewels for Sophia often recalls the Soft Boys and early Egyptians; it is part of a sonic lineage that extends from Underwater Moonlight through to 2006’s Olé! Tarantula. If, however, you prefer your Hitchcock with a softer edge, then Storefront makes for an excellent complement to 1984’s I Often Dream of Trains, 1990’s Eye, and 2004’s mighty fine collaboration with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Spooked. Either way, you can’t lose. Get both discs, and you’ll lose even less!

By Michael Keefe