Sometimes when reviews come in, it’s a Video, rather than a CD that demands attention, which in some ways makes the task more interesting. You never know what to expect, and I was quite bowled over by the Video to ‘Ordinary Millionaire’ by Robyn Hitchcock, which should really win awards for originality.
For those, like me, who haven’t heard of Robyn Hitchcock before, he is something of a cult legend for all those who were teenagers in the early 70’s. Founder member of unusual Punk act the Lost Boys, he has been a soloist since the 1980’s, and will shortly be releasing his latest album, ‘Propellor Time’. ‘Ordinary Millionaire’ is one of the tracks of the album, and the Video is currently attracting attention on Youtube. The song itself is an alternative, guitar driven track, that hints at New Wave and Folk influences. The vocal is smooth, and the lyrical content interesting, though I’m not quite sure how the slightly surreal video content fits in.

This video features Robyn on guitar singing, sitting next to a table on which the main video action takes place. As he plays, various characters and objects are animated and move around in front of a cityscape background. Sometimes various techniques are used to make Robyn’s movements jerky, at other times the camera zooms in on the table, buses, wine bottles, a mouse, and a colander playing the part of a space ship, which rises up into space at the end. A vastly entertaining piece of film, and although I wasn’t quite sure of the context of it, and the significance of the Crab, I would recommend it. As a first introduction to this artist, it was a pretty interesting one, and with an album release just weeks away, there may well be some more treats to come in the future.
‘Propellor Time’, the new album from Robyn Hitchcock is available from March 22nd. For more information visit www.myspace.com/robynhitchcock.