Robyn Hitchcock "Robyn Sings" 2000

Its full title should be Robyn Sings Dylan, since this collection features the British singer-songwriter exclusively covering Bob Dylan, going so far as to perform the electric half of Dylan’s 1966 Royal Albert Hall concert for its 30th anniversary nearly as it appeared on bootleg for decades before receiving its own official release. The recording quality for that show is rough, allegedly taken from an audience DAT of the concert. While Hitchcock and band can’t approximate Dylan and the Band’s original firepower, he does an admirable job mining the quirks and emotional gravity behind Dylan’s most surrealistic period — the one that clearly influenced Hitchcock’s entire songwriting approach. (Hitchcock opens the album with an acoustic “Visions of Johanna,” telling his audience it’s his favorite song.) Among the other better-recorded moments, “4th Time Around” tongue-ties Hitchcock with a few flubbed lines. “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” emulates a Daniel Lanois production. The addition of “Tangled Up In Blue” and latter-day Dylan classics such as “Not Dark Yet” and “Dignity” fill out this fitting tribute. - iTunes
Robyn Hitchcock has covered a multitude of artists throughout his career, wowing concert audiences with his ability to spontaneously recall obscure songs and a penchant for making such numbers seem like his own. While his voice and songcraft have usually led to quick comparisons with Syd Barrett and the Beatles, his surreal lyrics and acoustic bent are both the exclusive offspring of Bob Dylan's mid-'60s work. Robyn Sings is a two-disc tribute to this influence, albeit with much more melody aboard than one would normally associate with Dylan's material. As mentioned, the first disc is the keeper of the two and includes live versions of some of Dylan's most well-known acoustic songs, recorded on tour at various American locales in 1999 and 2000. Without sounding sacrilegious, Hitchcock's voice is more pleasing than Dylan's and his acoustic guitar playing is also better, making his versions, much like the Byrds' and Jimi Hendrix's before him, arguably superior to the Dylan takes. Hitchcock calls "Visions of Johanna" his favorite song, and it's easy to imagine this cut, or "Desolation Row," seamlessly nestled on one of his own albums. "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" can also be seen as a definitive cover, successfully mixing the moods of Hitchcock's own "Wide Open Star" and "Chinese Bones." Hitchcock already released a similar album entitled Royal Queen Albert & Beautiful Homer that captured a 30th anniversary tribute to Dylan's famous Royal Albert Hall concert, and the second disc of Robyn Sings simply reprises that release. This disc isn't as essential, as it contains a DAT-sourced audience recording of Hitchcock and his band recreating the concert in competent but unnecessary fashion. The sound quality aside, that event was truly too unique to be repeated and isn't as conducive to replication as the material from the fist disc. Hitchcock has released more than a half dozen "specialty" releases since he became a solo troubadour of sorts, after he and the Egyptians parted ways in 1994. Some may view this onslaught of rarities, alternate mixes, demos, live recordings, and cover albums as a sign of a dwindling muse, but on the contrary, it actually shows Hitchcock's talent to be just too abundant and varied to be contained on mere studio efforts. - Review by Brian Downing
trax:
01 Visions Of Johanna 02 Tangled Up In Blue 03 Not Dark Yet 04 4Th Time Around 05 Desolation Row 06 It's All Over Now, Baby Blue 07 Dignity 08 Visions Of Johanna 09 Tell Me Mama 10 I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met) 11 Baby, Let Me Follow You Down 12 Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues 13 Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat 14 One Too Many Mornings 15 Ballad Of A Thin Man 16 Like A Rolling Stone 17 Gates of Eden (Bonus from "Nobody sings Dylan like Dylan" Vol. 2 Live)