Sometime after the release of 2003's sparse and slightly chilly Luxor,
Robyn Hitchcock attended his first Gillian Welch show. Impressed by the
duo's rootsy adherence to the organic two guitars, two voices
he approached the longtime fans Hitchcock unknowingly signed David
Rawlings' guitar at a Boston in-store in 1989 and exchanged digits.
The unlikely partnership came to fruition at Nashville's Woodland Studios
a few months later, and in just six days the lovely, intimate, and typically
eccentric Spooked was born. Produced by Rawlings and culled from hours
of off-the-cuff originals, Dylan songs, and general weirdness, Spooked
harks back to his mercurial I Often Dream of Trains period. References
to fungus and food abound, but wrapped in the wooly blankets of Rawlings'
signature picking and Welch's winsome harmonies, they take on a fireplace
warmth that renders them amiably nostalgic rather than blatantly surreal.
On the dew-soaked opener, "Television," Rawlings lays down a
beautiful descending lead that wouldn't have sounded out of place on the
duo's debut, and its juxtaposition with Hitchcock's "bing a bon a
bing bong" vocal entrance is jarring, but when the three of them
come together mid-song to harmonize, the results are quietly majestic.
Much of the record revisits musically at least Hitchcock's
colorful past. "Everybody Needs Love," with its breathy urgency
and electric sitar, sounds like something off of Element of Light, and
the lurching "Creeped Out" featuring Welch on drums
could have been the B-side to 1985's "Brenda's Iron Sledge."
This is Hitchcock's most rewarding and creative endeavor since 1993's
Egyptian-led Respect, and the fact that Rawlings and Welch are there as
eager tools to flesh out his English netherworld makes the fellowship
feel even more collaborative. It's a testament to both camps' willingness
to try anything hearing Welch and Rawlings repeating "crackle,
crackle, pop" beneath Hitchcock's spoken word sales pitch to extraterrestrials
looking to vacation on Earth is a pretty good example that ultimately
succeeds in making Spooked the left-field gem that it is.
(by James Christopher Monger, All
Music Guide)
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