Main menu
Fretplay home Submit tabs

Robyn Hitchcock
Robyn Hitchcock tabs Robyn Hitchcock discography

Channels
Guitar channel Bass channel Guitar videos Reviews

Message Forum
Guitar forum Bass forum Bands and artists Promote your band Recent discussions All categories

Fretplay.com

Robyn Hitchcock guitar tabs

CD reviews

I Often Dream of Trains

Robyn Hitchcock - I Often Dream of Trains Audio CD

A fair review of the Robyn Hitchcock "I Often Dream of Trains" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Robyn Hitchcock reviews here, or go back to the Robyn Hitchcock tabs.

Band: Robyn Hitchcock
Title: I Often Dream of Trains
Rating:

Release Date: 1995-01-24
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Nocturne (Prelude) 2: Sometimes I Wish I Was a Pretty Girl 3: Cathedral 4: Uncorrected Personality Traits 5: Sounds Great When You're Dead 6: Flavour of Night 7: Ye Sleeping Knights of Jesus 8: Mellow Together 9: Winter Love 10: Bones in the Ground 11: My Favourite Buildings 12: I Used to Say I Love You 13: This Could Be the Day 14: Trams of Old London 15: Furry Green Atom Bowl 16: Heart Full of Leaves 17: Autumn Is Your Last Chance 18: I Often Dream of Trains 19: Nocturne (Demise) 20: Ye Sleeping Knights of Jesus [#][*][Demo Version] 21: Sometimes I Wish I Was a Pretty Girl [#][*][Demo Version] 22: Cathedral [#][*][Demo Version] 23: Mellow Together [#][*][Demo Version] 24: Bones in the Ground [#][*][Demo Version]

It sounds great ... when you're dead
I was already fully dedicated to finding anything he had released and anything he would ever release in the future. I remember the first time I heard this album. By 1988, which is approximately when I picked up this on cassette, music was pretty over-produced and obnoxious sounding. It also was in the death throws of too many decades of taking itself seriously. Robyn Hitchcock, for me, was the perfect antidote to that entire era. Without him, life would have been very annoying.

So, it was with some shock to realize almost halfway through "I Often Dream of Trains" (having never read a word about it before) that it was entirely acoustic. Robyn was, as it later turned out, returning from a self-imposed retirement stage and had a bucketful of songs.

With the addition of the middle section of songs on the CD releases (all of which are instant classics themselves) "Trains" is an even fuller, richer experience. Alternating between his three favorite styles (dark laconic, psychotic, and hilarious), "Trains" is an achievement because it best represents the extremes of all of these strains. "Sometimes I wish I was a Pretty Girl" is just a one line joke, but it sounds like the ravings of a killer. "Flavour of Night" is easily one of the most beautiful songs ever written. And, the much beloved "Uncorrected Personality Traits" is a defining moment in music (you will either love it or hate it, but you will always remember that you heard it. )

In short, this is a classic. It may not always be the first album of his I reach for, as it is a demanding thing to listen to, but it is easily in the top 5 records he's ever made.

I was actually shocked to read Hitchcock fan's reviews on here that didn't like "Trains. " I don't judge you, but I do wonder what it is that you like about the music. This is classic stuff.
.

Stunning!!!
There are several silly tracks which is to be expected with Robin but then there are the ballads. I own several Hitchcock albums and of the one's that I have heard none come close to this one. "I used to say I love you" is an example of many haunting ballads that grace this album. "Sometimes I wish I was a pretty girl" and "Ye Sleeping Knights of Jesus" are more light hearted fare but still decent songs but the ballads are where the real magic lies. Syd Barret influences abound on this one as usual.

.

A Huge Disappointment
I think songs like "Globe of Frogs", "Meat", "The Devil's Coachman", "Beautiful Queen", and "Cynthia Mask" are absolutely wonderful. I have been a Robyn Hitchcock fan since the mid '80s. At his best, Robyn Hitchcock mixes together emotional sensitivity, a clever use of language, and a playful spirit to create some of the most endearing alternative rock music that you'll ever hear.

To be honest, I think Robyn records every single song he writes (rather than writing them, living with them a while, and then recording the ones that hold up over time). Most of his LPs include a few absolute gems, a few pretty decent songs, and a bit of pointless filler. As a result, I often find myself making mix CDs that include the best moments from all the Robyn Hitchcock CDs that I own. I suspect that a lot of his fans do this.

One day I was reading reviews on Amazon. com and I saw that people described "I Often Dream of Trains" as the most "personal" and "intimate" LP Robyn ever recorded. At the time, everyone who reviewed it gave it five stars. The little description explained that this LP was a mostly acoustic effort that Robyn recorded in a friend's barn after a bit of a personality crisis. That description interested me because I think many of the weaker Robyn Hitchcock songs either get tangled in silly wordplay without ever making an emotional connection or (less often) get recorded with a more commercial pop sound that seems less genuine to my ears. This "personal" and "intimate" acoustic LP sounded like just the thing I was looking for.

"I Often Dream of Trains" was a HUGE disappointment to me. It includes THREE totally stupid novelty songs ("Uncorrected Personality Traits, "Ye Sleeping Knights of Jesus", and "Mellow Together"). In two of these songs Robyn even sings in dopey accents (a southern accent in "Sleeping Knights" and a sleepy, drugged out voice in "Mellow Together"). What is so "personal" and "intimate" about wacky novelty songs?!!! Did anyone ever describe Weird Al Yankovic's songs as "personal" and "intimate"? Even worse, the CD version of this release includes additional versions of the horrible novelty tracks as a "special bonus"!

Maybe Robyn should have recorded a children's album and unloaded all of his sillier tracks there instead of stinking up his regular LPs with that kind of junk. Don't get me wrong: I love a bit of silliness in my music from time to time. Still, some of this stuff comes off more like a Raffi album than like something that an adult would want to hear. It is childishness pushed to the point where it is just embarrassing.

This silliness continues into several of the other songs too. "Furry Green Atom Bowl" and "The Bones in the Ground", for example, are prime offenders. You can just hear Robyn thinking, "Okay, what is a completely silly and meaningless line that I can write that rhymes with the one I just wrote?" He just doesn't seem to be trying to write anything meaningful or interesting here. Robyn comes off as very insincere with these songs, as if he just can't seem to stop making goofy jokes, even when a serious topic comes up.

There are maybe two good songs on this LP. "My Favorite Buildings" and "I Often Dream of Trains" have that playful, touching element that made me a Robyn Hitchcock fan in the first place. Neither of them, however, are as good as the highlights from his other LPs. They just stand out because they aren't as pointless as the rest of the songs here.

So, I would only recommend "I Often Dream of Trains" if you have a 3-year-old child who you want to turn on to alternative rock. If you are at least old enough to drive a car and you want to hear music that is "personal" and "intimate" you would probably be better off buying "Storefront Hitchcock", a live LP that includes stripped-down versions of many Robyn Hitchcock classics played mostly on acoustic guitar and joined occasionally by violin or a second guitar.

Sorry for the long review. I just had to vent my frustration. I am a longtime Robyn Hitchcock fan and I felt burned by this CD.
.

Not as satisfying
He is in great voice, and the acoustic setting gives a haunting, ethereal quality to the work, especially on "Cathedral. Of the Hitchcock fans here, I find myself in the minority; I really feel this is one of his weaker offerings. " So what's my problem?
It's tough to put my finger on it. . . I find a few too many throwaways: "Uncorrected Personality Traits" with its barbershop reading of psychoanalysis, "Ye Sleeping Knights of Jesus," that smacks of The Stones "Girl with Faraway Eyes," (musically, not lyrically)and the Gumby (Monty Python version)"Mellow Together,"
and some weirdness that lacks Hitchcock's usual sense of whimsy. ("Furry Green Atom Bowl," "Sometimes I Wish I was a Girl")
There are moments of wonder here like the aforementioned "Cathedral," the haunting instrumentals and the title track that still gives me chills, but I don't feel the balance here that I have found on many of his other cd's. .

identity crisis?
Who is this cheap ten cent knock off? and who on earth gave this moron a record deal. Wow, i liked this stuff the first time i heard it, when it was Syd Barrett's. This guy has no real motivation to be writing this stuff. . . he is merely taking Barrett's words AND VOICE, changing them slightly and putting his name on it. Its musical plagerism and you guys praise him like hes innovative! Hes a cheap knock off of Barrett and he knows it himself, he even claimed to be the second coming of Syd Barrett. Hey Robyn i love Syd Barrett too, but i respect him enough not to be a carbon copy of him. Instead try to take his example and make your OWN unique sound. I highly discourage the purchase of this man's music, because it is hardly his own.

You can see a complete list of all Robyn Hitchcock discography, or go back to the Robyn Hitchcock tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.