Album review: Robyn Hitchcock

Facts about this album:

Robyn Hitchcock usually designs his own album covers, but his wife designed the sleeve for ‘Goodnight Oslo’ based on an old Norwegian postcard.

Robyn Hitchcock has been recording for almost three decades, his first album having been released in 1981.

Robyn Hitchcock first came to fame in ’70s band The Soft Boys

Album review:

On his 16th album, the cult singer-songwriter hasn’t surprised anyone – not that his loyal fans will care about that. With the help of old REM pal Peter Buck and his band The Venus 3, Hitchcock has filled his record full of ’60s influences – on the murky ‘Balloon Man’ he’s his hero Syd Barrett, while ‘Saturday Groovers’ is the sort of tune Brian Wilson would give his right arm for nowadays. It’s unlikely to gain any new converts to the cause, but you get the impression Hitchcock stopped caring about that sort of thing long ago. Alan Woodhouse

7 out of 10