Eye

Principally recorded at Hyde Street Studios, San Francisco, California in 1988 and 1989. Originally released on Twin/Tone (89175). Recording information: Hyde Street Studios, San Francisco, CA (1988-1989). Photographer: Cynthia L. Hunt. EYE is a solo album that Robyn Hitchcock recorded and released during the years he and his band The Egyptians had a string of albums for A&M Records. It harks back to his early solo efforts, such as I OFTEN DREAM OF TRAINS, and is imbued with a personal sense of place and history. The songs range from pastoral reveries to novelty-mystical hybrids. The simple instrumentation (primarily acoustic guitar and piano, overdubbed in varying combinations and quantities) is nearly orchestral in its thoughtful arrangements. A palpable loneliness runs through Hitchcock's themes of remembering, forgetting, imagining, wanting, losing, and dreaming. This album serves to further delineate the artist's skills as a guitarist. The range between his complex Soft Boys electric dueting with Kimbery Rew, to these flat- and finger-picked acoustic guitar workouts is quite impressive indeed. One listen to the instrumental "Chinese Water Python" will swiftly turn the head of anyone who's only heard Hitchcock plugged in.

• Format: CD
• Released: 11/13/2007