The Soft Boys - Only the Stones Remain - Non-Album Tracks (1980)

Robyn Hitchcock has made a lot of great albums over the years, but I believe his 1980 album with the Soft Boys "Underwater Moonlight" is his very best. So it shouldn't come as a big surprise that an album of stray tracks from that same year is excellent too. In fact, I would argue that this album of stray tracks from 1980 is better than any other Soft Boys album but "Underwater Moonlight."

I've already posted albums of Soft Boys stray tracks from 1977 and 1978. I didn't post one from 1979 because the band released two albums that year, so they apparently didn't have a lot of songs left over. (I put two 1979 songs on the 1978 collection.) However, in 1980, the band had a creative explosion. A deluxe version of "Underwater Moonlight" has been released with a second disc of bonus tracks. Actually, there were a bunch of them I didn't like that much and didn't deem worthy of inclusion, such as "Bloat," "Wang Dang Pig," "Cherries," "Amputated," and more. But that's okay, because there were many others that were excellent.

In addition, there were other worthy outtakes. For instance, the song "He's a Reptile" was originally included as a bonus track to the 1979 Soft Boys album "Invisible Hits," but it was actually from early "Underwater Moonlight" sessions, so more recent releases have seen it moved from a bonus track on one album to the other. I also included all the studio songs on the 1981 album "Two Albums for the Price of One." I'll deal with the live songs from that album later. Those studio songs have also been included as bonus tracks on many versions of "Underwater Moonlight."

All in all, there's 46 minutes of really good music on this album. If you're at all a fan of the Soft Boys and/or Robyn Hitchcock, you need to listen to this.

Additionally, there were two songs that I considered borderline for inclusion: "Like a Real Smoothie" and a cover of the Roxy Music song "Over You." I think they're okay, but not up to the high standards of the other songs here, so I wouldn't want them on my version of the album. But other people might feel differently so I've added them as bonus tracks.

01 Only the Stones Remain (Soft Boys)
02 The Bells of Rhymney (Soft Boys)
03 There's Nobody like You (Soft Boys)
04 Innocent Boy (Soft Boys)
05 He's a Reptile (Soft Boys)
06 Vegetable Man (Soft Boys)
07 Strange (Soft Boys)
08 Song No. 4 (Soft Boys)
09 Dreams (Soft Boys)
10 Black Snake Diamond Rock (Soft Boys)
11 Alien (Soft Boys)
12 Goodbye Maurice or Steve [The 'D' Song] (Soft Boys)
13 Leave Me Alone (Soft Boys)

Like a Real Smoothie (Soft Boys)
Over You (Soft Boys)

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I named this album "Only the Stones Remain" because it's one of my favorite Soft Boys songs. When I thought about what the cover art should look like, I imagined a desolate field with large stones in it... and a giant crab rampaging through it! Logically, the crab doesn't fit, but I figured I should follow my creative muse, as Robyn Hitchcock always does. Besides, crabs and other crustaceans are a common theme in his work. So I found a photo of some stones and Photoshopped in a crab.