Robyn Hitchcock - Black Snake Diamond Role - Acoustic Versions (1981)

I just posted an album of Robyn Hitchcock's stray tracks from 1981. I mentioned in that post that I have (at least) 45 Hitchcock albums I've made. That's a heck of a lot of albums, considering that he hasn't even come close to releasing that many official albums.

So, how did I come up with that much material? The albums I've made generally fall into three categories. First are the albums of stray studio tracks, like the "Zinc Pear" album I just posted. As I said, I generally have one of those as a companion for each of his official studio albums. The second type are acoustic versions of songs he's released on official albums. And the third type are albums made up entirely of acoustic cover versions he's done, usually in concert.

As you can guess from the album title here, this is the second type of album. Sometimes, one can find acoustic demos of Hitchcock songs on bonus tracks or rarities collections. I've used those whenever I could. More often, I've found that he's played songs in solo acoustic style in concert, since he probably plays more solo acoustic concerts than band concerts over his entire career. I think it's interesting, and makes a good listen, to hear his songs done acoustically. It's rare if I can find all the songs on any given album done in an acoustic version (especially since there are usually a couple of songs on each of his albums that he's never played in concert, period). However, I can almost always find most of them. Then I can flesh the acoustic album a little bit by finding acoustic versions of stray tracks done from around the same time.

That's exactly what I've done here. I managed to find seven out of the 10 songs from "Black Snake Diamond Role" done acoustically. Most of them are concert recordings with the applause removed. I often had to use versions from many years later, due to the fact that the oldest acoustic concert recordings I know of (from bootlegs) date to 1985, four years after the album was released. I figure the date of when the song was performed is less important than the sound quality. I'm pretty happy with how the songs sound, even though most of the recordings aren't from soundboards, and there's some audience noise here and there.

I added in two songs at the end that are acoustic versions of 1981 stray tracks (basically, the songs I just posted on the "Zinc Pear" album).

The resulting album is short, only 33 minutes long, since he has only rarely played any of his 1981 songs in the many years since then. But I still think it makes for a good listen, and allows one to appreciate "Black Snake Diamond Role" in a new way.

01 The Man Who Invented Himself (Robyn Hitchcock)
02 Brenda's Iron Sledge (Robyn Hitchcock)
03 The Lizard (Robyn Hitchcock)
04 Acid Bird (Robyn Hitchcock)
05 I Watch the Cars (Robyn Hitchcock)
06 City of Shame (Robyn Hitchcock)
07 Love (Robyn Hitchcock)
08 A Skull, a Suitcase and a Long Red Bottle of Wine (Robyn Hitchcock)
09 Give Me a Spanner, Ralph (Robyn Hitchcock)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15271826/RobynH_1981_BlackSnakDiamondAcousticVersions_atse.zip.html

I made the cover art, using some black and white promotional art related to the album as a basis.