Underwater moonlight

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Underwater moonlight
Studio album by The Soft Boys

Publication
(s)

June 28, 1980

admission

June 1979
January 1980 to June 1980

Label (s) Armageddon Records

Format (s)

LP , CD

Genre (s)

Neo-psychedelia , post-punk , power pop

Title (number)

10

running time

35:36

occupation
  • Matthew Seligman - bass

production

Pat Collier, Mike Kemp

Studio (s)

chronology
A Can of Bees
(1979) 		Underwater moonlight Invisible Hits
(1983)
Single release
4th September 1980 I want to destroy you

Underwater Moonlight is the second studio album by the British rock band The Soft Boys and was released in June 1980 on the indie label Armageddon Records. Although the album was a commercial failure, it now enjoys cult status and influenced subsequent bands such as The Replacements , REM and The Flaming Lips .

background

The successor to the 1979 debut album A Can of Bees was recorded in Cambridge in June 1979 and in London from January to June 1980 . Andy Metcalfe was replaced on bass by Matthew Seligman. Some earlier recordings of the Soft Boys from October 1978 to June 1979 were only released as Invisible Hits in 1983 , by which time the band had already split up.

Musically, the album combines psychedelic rock and guitar pop with post-punk and surrealist song lyrics. Some of the most important inspirations for songwriter Robyn Hitchcock are rock music of the 1960s, The Beatles , Captain Beefheart and his great role model Syd Barrett .

Shortly before the album was released, Seligman and drummer Morris Windsor played two concerts in London with Alex Chilton in May 1980.

In 1990, Glass Fish Records, Robyn Hitchcock's label of his solo albums at the time , released Underwater Moonlight for the first time on CD including bonus tracks . On March 13, 2001, Matador Records released a new edition called Underwater Moonlight… And How It Got There, including an album, bonus tracks, demo takes and previously unreleased archive material on three LPs including a 7 ″ single and a double CD.

Track list

With the exception of the marked exceptions, all songs are written by Robyn Hitchcock .

page A
1. I Wanna Destroy You - 2:52
2. Kingdom of Love - 4:11
3. Positive vibration - 3:11
4. I Got the Hots - 4:42
5. Insanely Jealous - 4:15
Side B
6. Tonight - 3:44
7. You'll Have To Go Sideways (Kimberley Rew, Hitchcock) - 2:58
8. Old Pervert (Rew, Matthew Seligman, Morris Windsor, Hitchcock) - 3:52
9. The Queen of Eyes - 2:01 am
10. Underwater Moonlight - 4:18
CD bonus tracks (album outtakes)
11. He's a Reptile - 4:27 Note.
12. Vegetable Man ( Syd Barrett ) - 2:59
13. Strange - 2:59
14. Only the Stones Remain - 2:50
15. Where are the prawns? - 6:06
16. Dreams - 4:27
17. Black Snake Diamond Rock - 4:24
18. There's Nobody Like You - 3:11
19. Song No. 4 - 4:36
Note Only on publications from 2001
... And How It Got There (2001)
1. Old Pervert - Section 1 (Rew, Seligman, Windsor, Hitchcock) - 1:37
2. Like a Real Smoothie - 3:41
3. Alien - 3:11
4. Bloat (Extract) (Rew, Seligman, Windsor, Hitchcock) - 0:59
5. Underwater Moonlight - 6:22
6. She Wears My Hair - 5:21
7. Wang Dang Pig - 3:54
8. Old Pervert - Section 2 (Rew, Seligman, Windsor, Hitchcock) - 1:29
9. Insanely Jealous - 5:01 am
10. Leave Me Alone ( Lou Reed ) - 6:43
11. Goodbye Maurice or Steve - 3:12
12. Old Pervert - Section 3 (Rew, Seligman, Windsor, Hitchcock) - 0:35
13. Cherries (Rew, Seligman, Windsor, Hitchcock) - 2:53
14. Amputated - 4:19
15. Over You ( Bryan Ferry , Phil Manzanera ) - 3:58
16. I Wanna, Er ... (Extract) (Rew, Seligman, Windsor, Hitchcock) - 0:41
17. Old Pervert - Section 4 (Rew, Seligman, Windsor, Hitchcock) - 1:25

reception

source rating
Allmusic
Spin
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media (2010)
New Musical Express
Music Express

Pitchfork Media voted Underwater Moonlight at # 65 of the 100 Best Albums of the 1980s in 2002. The German music magazine Musikexpress included the album in the list of the 25 best forgotten rock albums.

"The quintessence of the soft boys, including their best track" Kingdom of Love "and of course the great psychedelic title track."

- Iain Smith

Underwater Moonlight kicks off with "I Wanna Destroy You", an angry hymn with swirling guitars and bright vocal harmonies. "Kingdom of Love" shows Hitchcock's surreal humor when he thinks of insect eggs breaking under his skin when he is in love. [...] Shredding guitars and pounding drums attack on “Positive Vibrations”, but it is the use of the sitar right in the middle that creates the special attraction. And “Queen of Eyes” is incredibly precise and catchy guitar pop.

- Rob Morton

Underwater Moonlight is one of the 1001 albums You Must Hear Before You Die .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pat Gilbert (Ed.): The Mojo Collection - The Ultimate Music Companion . 4th edition. Canongate Books, Edinburgh 2007, p. 450
  2. ↑ a b Matt LeMay: Review on Pitchfork Media (accessed December 3, 2018)
  3. ↑ The Soft Boys - Invisible Hits on Discogs
  4. ↑ Robyn Hitchcock : 5 Albums That Changed My Life on Tidal (accessed December 3, 2018)
  5. ↑ Martin Büsser : The Soft Boys - Underwater Moonlight on Intro
  6. ↑ Alex Chilton: 1975–1981 on PasteMagazine; accessed on December 3, 2018
  7. ↑ Stephen Thomas Erlewine: Review on Allmusic ; accessed on December 3, 2018
  8. ↑ Andrew Hultkrans: Review. In: Spin 10/2010, p. 92.
  9. ↑ Sam Eccleston: Review on Pitchfork Media ; accessed on December 3, 2018
  10. ↑ Victoria Segal: Review on New Musical Express (accessed December 3, 2018)
  11. ^ Frank Sawatzki: Review. In: Musikexpress , 04/2001, issue 543
  12. ↑ The Top 100 Albums of the 1980s on Pitchfork Media (accessed December 3, 2018)
  13. ↑ The 25 Best Forgotten Rock Albums on Musikexpress ; accessed on December 3, 2018
  14. ↑ Peter Buckley (Ed.): Rock Rough Guide . 2nd Edition. Verlag JB Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2004, p. 745.
  15. ↑ Robert Dimery (Ed.): 1001 albums - music you should hear before life is over . 8th edition. Edition Olms, Zurich 2015, p. 455.