Robyn Hitchcock is without a doubt a genuine rock and roll character and I say this in the nicest possible way. From his days fronting the Soft Boys and the Egyptians he has always managed to embrace rock and roll’s history in a truly reverential yet slightly eccentric fashion, much to his credit I might add.

Olé! Tarantula sees Hitchcock return with yet another band, the Venus 3 which is essentially the Minus 5 minus two members but the results are again some incredibly finely crafted pop songcraft with lyrics that will have you scratching your head consistently throughout. There is no denying that sometimes he can be a bit…..obtuse in his approach to rock and roll but that only makes the end result so satisfying. Whether the soaring jangly Byrds-like pop of "Adventure Rocket Ship" or "Underground Sun" are more to your liking or you tend to side with the lilting country-tinged songs like the title track or "(A Man’s Gotta No His Limitations) Briggs" this album has enough variety to keep any aficionado of true pop songwriting coupled with meticulous production happy. For some reason I have always considered Robyn Hitchcock to be the rightful heir to Syd Barret and that is truly a supreme compliment in my book. A really enjoyable listen for me. It’s nice to see that Robyn is still mixing it up in the new millennium.

Later.

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Robyn Hitchcock is without a doubt a genuine rock and roll character and I say this in the nicest possible way. From his days fronting the Soft Boys and the Egyptians he has always managed to embrace rock and roll’s history in a truly reverential yet slightly eccentric fashion, much to his credit I might add.

Olé! Tarantula sees Hitchcock return with yet another band, the Venus 3 which is essentially the Minus 5 minus two members but the results are again some incredibly finely crafted pop songcraft with lyrics that will have you scratching your head consistently throughout. There is no denying that sometimes he can be a bit…..obtuse in his approach to rock and roll but that only makes the end result so satisfying. Whether the soaring jangly Byrds-like pop of “Adventure Rocket Ship” or “Underground Sun” are more to your liking or you tend to side with the lilting country-tinged songs like the title track or “(A Man’s Gotta No His Limitations) Briggs” this album has enough variety to keep any aficionado of true pop songwriting coupled with meticulous production happy. For some reason I have always considered Robyn Hitchcock to be the rightful heir to Syd Barret and that is truly a supreme compliment in my book. A really enjoyable listen for me. It’s nice to see that Robyn is still mixing it up in the new millennium.

Later.

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