Robyn Hitchcock Announces New Album '1967: Vacations In The Past'
Monday, 08 July 2024
Written by Jon Stickler
Photo: Emma Swift
Robyn Hitchcock has announced a new album.
'1967: Vacations In The Past' will arrive through Tiny Ghost Records on September 13, and comprises 12 hit songs of that year, re-recorded acoustically by the cult artist.
Recorded with friends in late 2023 at the surrealist rock'n'roller's studio near Cambridge, with sessions also taking place in Cardiff, Wales and Sydney, Australia, it'll serve as a companion album to his new memoir, 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left, on sale now from Akashic Books.
The book looks at how the music of Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and others transformed the direction of Hitchcock's life during that pivotal year in his youth.
The record, meanwhile, is previewed with a stripped-back cover of Itchycoo Park by British rock band Small Faces, below. He said:
"Finally, after 45 years of playing together, my old pal Kimberley Rew and I strum two acoustic guitars on this version of Itchycoo Park. Given how deafening the pair of us were in the Soft Boys this is quaint and merciful.
I love playing these 1967 vintage compositions. As great songs do, they bottle fragments of time like fireflies in a jar. The original recordings were heavily produced, but my versions on this album are based on one or two acoustic guitars with a few effects thrown in to spice the sound and nod to the times.
Itchycoo Park was written by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane of the Small Faces. Like many songs from this era, it appears to celebrate being on the right side of your drugs: seldom a long phase, alas."
With a career now spanning six decades, the 71-year-old will embark on a UK tour in September, following an appearance at Beautiful Days in Devon, as well as shows in West Malvern and Hebden Bridge in August. Tickets are on sale now.
'1967: Vacations In the Past' tracklist:
1. A Whiter Shade Of Pale
2. Itchycoo Park
3. Burning Of The Midnight Lamp
4. I Can Hear The Grass Grow
5. San Francisco (Flowers In Your Hair)
6. Waterloo Sunset
7. See Emily Play
8. My White Bicycle
9. No Face, No Name, No Number
10. Way Back In The 1960s
11. Vacations In The Past
12. A Day In The Life
Robyn Hitchcock Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows
Fri August 30 2024 - WORCESTER West Malvern Social Club
Sat August 31 2024 - HEBDEN BRIDGE Trades Club
Sun September 01 2024 - YORK Crescent
Tue September 03 2024 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE Common Room Of Great North
Thu September 05 2024 - BATH Komedia
Fri September 06 2024 - CAMBRIDGE Portland Arms
Sat September 07 2024 - CAMBRIDGE Portland Arms
Sun September 08 2024 - OXTED United Reformed Church
Tue September 10 2024 - OXFORD Jericho Tavern
Wed September 11 2024 - BRIGHTON Komedia
Thu September 12 2024 - RAMSGATE Music Hall
Fri September 13 2024 - TWYFORD St Mary's Church
Sat September 14 2024 - LONDON EartH
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