I Often Dream Of Trains (CD)

Robyn Hitchcock started out as the leader of late-1970s UK psychedelic revivalists the Soft Boys. After that band's disintegration at the turn of the decade, he became a solo artist, whose Bob Dylan-meets-Syd Barrett absurdist wordplay meshed perfectly with his post-Beatles pop melodicism. Sometimes on his own and sometimes with stalwart backup band the Egyptians, Hitchcock became a cult hero to the alternative/college-rock crowd in the '80s. Though some of his recordings were virtual one-man acoustic affairs and some featured full-blown pop production, Hitchcock never flagged in his devotion to his quirky muse, releasing great albums throughout the decades.

• Category:  Music  »  Rock & Pop  »  Alternative
• Format: CD   Learn more about the CD format using Tower WIKI.
• Release Date: October 16, 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Yep Roc Records
• UPC: 634457261228
• WAPI (Tower ID): 111436439
• Average Customer Review: There are no customer reviews yet. Be the first to write a review!
• Tower.com Sales Rank: #38703 in Music (See Top 100 Music Bestsellers)
• #12854 in Rock & Pop (See Top 100 Rock & Pop Bestsellers)
• #1233 in Alternative (See Top 100 Alternative Bestsellers)

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This reissue of I OFTEN DREAM OF TRAINS includes five songs that weren't on the original album but were added as bonus tracks to the first CD release in 1986, as well as five previously-unreleased demos.

Personnel: Robyn Hitchcock (vocals, various instruments); James Fletcher (saxophone); Chris Cox (bass, background vocals); James A. Smith (background vocals).

Producer: Robyn Hitchcock.

Reissue producer: Jim Neill.

Engineers include: Pat Collier, Iain O'Higgins, Pascal Gabriel.

Recorded at Alaska Studios and Smithsound, London, England; Simon Kunath's Barn, Sussex, England between 1981 and 1984. Originally released in the U.K. on Midnight Music (00.05). Includes liner notes by Grant Alden.

Robyn Hitchcock retreated from the music world for a couple years after recording GROOVY DECAY (later issued in altered form as GROOVY DECOY, and finally as GRAVY DECO, which culled together all of the tracks). When he reemerged in 1984 it was clear that he had found a personal voice he'd only hinted at previously. Throughout the record, the spotlight shines brightly on Hitchcock's unique songwriting and performance style.

There is a gorgeous immediacy to the entire work. From the opening piano instrumental, "Nocturne," Hitchcock is gently and gracefully orchestrating the mood of the proceedings. The album closes with a reprise of the same piece, bookending the record, like secret doors into a world suffused with both romanticism and weariness. I OFTEN DREAM OF TRAINS was Hitchcock's first monumental peak and is an essential title in his large catalog of fine works.

Album Review

Robyn Hitchcock's 1984 album I Often Dream of Trains expands upon the introspective leanings of 1981's Black Snake Diamond Role while further developing his signature lyrical imagery and spare, ominous melodies on this mostly acoustic album. Here Robyn's sharp humor ("Uncorrected Personality Traits") sits comfortably alongside some of his most intimate ballads ("Trams of Old London," "Cathedral"). On Trains the spare arrangements crack the Hitchcockian world wide open allowing for a never-before-glimpsed portrait of the artist in his most artistically exposed incarnation to date.

"For 1983 I wanted to see what happened if I stopped playing gigs, making records, or having any attempt at a career whatsoever. Whatever music I made was purely for myself, without trying to speak the language of the day. The result was I Often Dream of Trains."

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