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Black Snake Diamond Role

Robyn Hitchcock - Black Snake Diamond Role Audio CD

A fair review of the Robyn Hitchcock "Black Snake Diamond Role" 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: Black Snake Diamond Role
Rating:

Release Date: 2007-11-13
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Cynthia Mask 2: Certainly Clickot 3: Queen Elvis 4: Flesh Cartoons 5: Chinese Water Python 6: Executioner 7: Linctus House 8: Sweet Ghost of Light 9: Transparent Lover 10: Beautiful Girl 11: Clean Steve 12: Raining Twilight Coast 13: Agony Of Pleasure 14: Glass Hotel 15: Satellite 16: Aquarium 17: Queen Elvis II 18: Century 19: Shimmering Distant Love 20: Lovers Turn To Skulls 21: The Beauty Of Earl's Court

Robyn, Robyn....were you ashamed of that song?

Why only 4 stars? Well, a funny thing happened, somewhere along the way. This is a very fine Robyn Hitchcock album (and if you look at amazon's page with the version available for MP3 download, you'll see a correct track listing, even). . .

You know how you become accustomed to hearing an LP as a complete set of tracks in a certain order, and anything different is simply NOT right? (Even if most of the music is the same, and quite good. )

I've owned three different CDs of Black Snake Diamond Role. The first was a European import, one which duplicated precisely the running order of my original LP. Yes, vinyl. . . am I dating myself? Terrible sound quality on that LP: but at the time I bought it, the UK pressing was very difficult to obtain, and I settled for a grey-market version (from Italy I think).

That first CD--also a European import--sounded only a bit better. On the plus side, it added the non-LP track "Dancing on God's Thumb", a charming snippet of Robyn in misanthropic mode (not that this is so unusual for him, but it's hardly his only "mode", of which he has rather more than your average artist. . . let's call him "versatile"; it sounds better). One could write a dissertation on the man's obsession with death, based on song titles alone: "My Wife and My Dead Wife", "When I Was Dead", etc.

Incidentally why do the many live recordings never include his extemporaneous between-song stories? Anyone who's seen him live: you KNOW what I mean. It's a stunning ability (and even if in fact he has, say, only a finite set of them--all memorized--I remain impressed). The only preserved examples I'm aware of are the prelude to the live version of "Heaven" (among the extra tracks of Fegmania!), and several scenes in the film Storefront Hitchcock.

Odd that I should happen--at this particular moment--to be swerving off this "review" to ponder Robyn's gift for digressive discursive monologues. Not to compare my own disjointed musings with those from the man himself, you understand. I'd meant, only in terms of difficulty staying on topic. . . certainly not similarity of entertainment value, or anything of that sort.

Many many years later, Rhino reissued Black Snake (or should I call it BSDR? sounds disconcerting akin to a marginal subculture with interests I'd prefer not to describe in detail. . . ), this one with even more bonus tracks. And now, Robyn's own Yep Roc label has reissued the CD yet again, this time with noticeably improved sound quality (where the other versions had been only incrementally improved, near as I could tell)--and most of the same bonus tracks--and then some more!

"MOST of the same" being the key phrase.

What happened to "Dancing on God's Thumb"??

I am now kicking myself! For having sold my copy of the Rhino CD ("won't need THIS anymore!") before having converted its tracks for playback on my MP3 player. Not that it wasn't worthy of the attention, but I've spent over a year ripping a large collection to MP3 and have yet to finish. I'd already been wrestling with the outtakes collection You and Oblivion: which now includes figuring out which of its tracks don't appear on While Thatcher Mauled Britain, taking into account that I want to retain versions which differ (even if it's only little Maisie--barely audible--singing at the end of the track).

What now? The only on-line source I've found for purchasing a digital file of "Dancing on God's Thumb" (i. e. that track alone. . . as opposed to downloading the entire CD of the Rhino version) is. . . iTunes. Which provides MP3s instead of AACs, well. . . in theory. (Why would Apple make it more difficult to purchase files in a format other than AAC--that being a format used almost exclusively on iPods--one which few other MP3 players can even recognize? I wonder. ) Also, if you want to browse the iTunes store--beyond a casual glance--you are required to install the iTunes software.

No, I'm not going over to the Dark Side, whatever its temptations.

(Need I mention my player is not an iPod?)

I may have to repurchase an older CD of Black Snake Diamond Role just to get (again) that single solitary song. Much ado over nothing? That'd be a tough case for me to argue. . . I mean, look at the length of THIS thing!

But I truly would miss "Dancing on God's Thumb". Never hearing it again. . . ? I don't like to think about it.

Once you become accustomed to hearing those familiar tracks in a certain order, nothing else will ever sound as right.

Why, Robyn? Why omit this song from the Yep Roc CD? An embarrassing reminder of an era you'd prefer to forget? (But if so, then why was Black Snake one of only three original recordings chosen for the box set?)

Maybe certain lines from that song (the ones I'm about to quote) had been causing some distress. I'm assuming the Brits have their own equivalent of a Department of Homeland Security: complete with official title sounding vaguely fascist and/or Orwellian, take your pick. . .

We've got a bunch of crippled loonies in power
Who want to treat us to a nuclear shower
I'd give my life for just a gun and an hour
You know I'd murder them out in the street

(Those are Robyn's words, not mine. And he was only joking, folks! Really! Or at least, it's only 'cause he was in a bad mood when he wrote it. )
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Attention Shoppers
As both a fan of Robyn, and a buyer/seller on this glorious site, I should like to point out that while this is among my favorites of his. . the song listing currently associated with this recent YepRoc release is actually the proper song list for another recent Robyn re-release. . . "Eye". No doubt the song listing currently on view for the "Eye" disc is the proper listing for this disc.
Got that?
Anyway, buy them both and sort out the discrepancies on your own. . . you won't regret it.
KimBob/Amazonplaza
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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.