perspex island

Robyn Hitchcock had his greatest commercial success with this jangley plexiglass pop gem. After releasing his solo acoustic 'Eye' on the independent label Rough Trade, he brought the Egyptians back into a Los Angeles studio for their third album for major label A&M, this time with a new producer, Paul Fox, who had helmed XTC's 'Oranges and Lemons'. Fox's slick production compliments the more straightforward songs he brought to the table, inspired by his relationship with Cynthia Hunt. Robyn says, "these songs are much more vulnerable. If one of these songs cracks it would stay broken." Andy Metcalfe and Morris Windsor are tight as ever and their harmonies are lush, bringing the soaring psychedelic sound to a more approachable pop, which undoubtedly was exactly what A&M wanted. Hitchcock calls it "a dreamy sort of heaven. A little transparent island that's potentially floating around." The band had opened for R.E.M. on their 'Green' tour, expanding their fanbase and leading to Michael Stipe and Peter Buck making guest appearances on the sessions. The album cover is a painting by Hitchcock of the mythological figure Thoth, who has served as the unofficial mascot for the Egyptians since their first album together, 'Fegmania!'. With its Beatle-esque Byrdsian pop appeal, 'Perspex Island' reached number one on the US college album chart and led to appearances on many major television outlets.







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'Oceanside' starts the album off strongly with sinewy bass lines and thundering drums. You can almost feel the wind in your hair.

"Did you ever see into the future?

See the big red sun that won't go down?

And the giant moths upon the cliffside

In the deep red scar that was our town?

Maybe I will find today

Maybe I will lose tomorrow

Gonna rock on to the oceanside"

'So You Think You're In Love' was an old song he had performed with the Soft Boys more than a decade before. It went to number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Track chart.

"Can you imagine what the people say? Can you?

But the silent majority is the crime of the century

You know it"

'Birds In Perspex' gives the album its title. Robyn says, "Perspex is like plexiglass in this country. 'Birds in Perspex' is like a paperweight-those paperweights they sell at seasides with crabs and shells in them. In my case there are birds, a frozen moment waiting to happen. You know they're probably dead, but they are suspended and there is a possibility that they could start to live. It's a song about releasing the tension. And 'Perspex Island' is a sort of portable Avalon."

"Perspex Island, she's my girl

Away above the chimney tops

And when the sun goes down on her

So beautiful, my heart just stops"

The mystical 'Vegetation and Dimes' is a trippy embrace of death.

"Let's pretend it's fine, honey

Let's pretend you're mine, honey

In this city of lies

Real life is a crime"

Hitchcock explains, "Lysander was a Greek general. But I was really thinking about the Lysander, a little aeroplane in World War II that used to drop French resistance workers in the middle of the night in occupied Europe-a reconnaissance plane. It's a hovering song. It's about somebody not quite committing themselves to a relationship. It's an early autumn song. You know those decals for model aircraft? When you put them in water, it takes a while before they float away from the paper. I imagined you have a parasol with birds and serpents on it. At some point they actually float off the parasol and start spinning around in the air by themselves-a bit like the birds coming alive in 'Birds in Perspex' - all these two-dimensional beings being freed from what holds them."

"I circle your heart

Like I circle the world

But I never touch down

In case I grew and grew and couldn't

Leave there"

'She Doesn't Exist' features Peter Buck on guitar and Michael Stipe on background vocals. Robyn says, "It changes persons. He starts off saying he couldn't care less, but he obviously does-just shows what you get for dwelling in the past. The idea is that there is a presence in your life-but you never see them. Michael Jackson may not exist, you never actually see him, or Winston Churchill. Madonna, God, any of them-people that are of some importance but are not physically there. They may never have existed. Sherlock Holmes didn't exist but he does now. He is now post-dated into his era. It's that gap. There is no physical proof of someone's existence, yet there is a mental residue. If you have a leg amputated, you carry on feeling it. It's like old girlfriends. The impression they've left on you is much more important than where they are now, or how they actually feel. Or whether they are even alive."

"I tell myself it would be different now

I wouldn't treat her that way

I wouldn't be me if she wasn't her

And it's far too late anyway"

'Ride' is about as romantic as Robyn gets.

"Love me love me love me love me love me

That's what everybody says (everybody but me)

Hold me hold me hold me hold me hold me

Please don't let me get away

But if you don't love yourself

What's the use of someone else

Loving you?"

'Perspex Island'  full album:




All tracks composed by Robyn Hitchcock

"Oceanside" — 3:48
"So You Think You're in Love" — 2:34
"Birds in Perspex" — 3:54
"Ultra Unbelievable Love" — 3:49
"Vegetation and Dimes" — 4:58
"Lysander" — 4:36
"Child of the Universe" — 4:21
"She Doesn't Exist" — 4:25
"Ride" — 5:04
"If You Go Away" — 4:55
"Earthly Paradise" — 6:34