The Man Downstairs: Demos & Rarities | ||||
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Compilation album of outtakesby | ||||
Released | August 7, 2020 | |||
Recorded | 2013 | |||
Genre | Alternative rock | |||
Label | Tiny Ghost Records | |||
Robyn Hitchcock chronology | ||||
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The Man Downstairs: Demos & Rarities is an album of outtakes by alternative rock singer and guitarist Robyn Hitchcock. It was released August 7, 2020 by Tiny Ghost Records, a label run by Hitchcock and his partner Emma Swift. It consists of material largely recorded in 2013, in Cardiff, Wales, as demos for Hitchcock's 2014 album The Man Upstairs . Following what Hitchcock called the "Judy Collins 1965-era" concept for The Man Upstairs, consisting of half covers and half originals, The Man Downstairs included previously unreleased versions of Nick Drake's "River Man" and Pink Floyd's "Arnold Layne" as well as a number of Hitchcock's own songs. [1] [2]
No. | Title | Composer | Length |
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1. | "All Love and No Peace" | Robyn Hitchcock | 2:52 |
2. | "River Man" | Nick Drake | 4:27 |
3. | "Arnold Layne" | Syd Barrett | 3:17 |
4. | "Cavendish Square" | Robyn Hitchcock | 2:52 |
5. | "The Threat of Freedom" | Robyn Hitchcock | 3:14 |
6. | "The Tower Song" | Townes Van Zandt | 4:40 |
7. | "I Pray When I'm Drunk" | Robyn Hitchcock | 2:14 |
8. | "On Seeing Your Photograph" | Robyn Hitchcock | 4:58 |
9. | "Born in Time" | Bob Dylan | 3:39 |
10. | "Recalling the Truth" | Robyn Hitchcock | 5:00 |
The Soft Boys were an English rock band led by Robyn Hitchcock primarily during the 1970s, whose initially old-fashioned music style of psychedelic/folk-rock became part of the neo-psychedelia scene with the release of Underwater Moonlight.
Ummagumma is the fourth album by English rock band Pink Floyd. It is a double album and was released on 7 November 1969 by Harvest Records. The first disc consists of live recordings from concerts at Mothers Club in Birmingham and the College of Commerce in Manchester that contained part of their normal set list of the time, while the second contains solo compositions by each member of the band recorded at EMI Studios. The artwork was designed by regular Pink Floyd collaborators Hipgnosis and features a number of pictures of the band combined to give a Droste effect. It was the last album cover to feature the band.
Relics is a 1971 compilation album by English progressive rock band Pink Floyd. The album was released in the UK on 14 May 1971 and in the United States on the following day. Initially released by Starline, the compilation was reissued by Music for Pleasure in the United Kingdom, while Harvest and Capitol distributed the album in the United States. A remastered CD was released in 1996 with a different album cover, picturing a three-dimensional model based on the sketch drawn by drummer Nick Mason for the album's initial release.
Joe Boyd is an American record producer and writer. He formerly owned Hannibal Records. Boyd has worked on recordings of Pink Floyd, Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson, Nick Drake, The Incredible String Band, R.E.M., Vashti Bunyan, John and Beverley Martyn, Maria Muldaur, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Billy Bragg, James Booker, 10,000 Maniacs, and Muzsikás. He was also one of the founders of the highly influential nightclub venue UFO.
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Robyn Rowan Hitchcock is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano, and bass guitar. After leading the Soft Boys in the late 1970s and releasing the influential Underwater Moonlight, Hitchcock launched a prolific solo career. His musical and lyrical styles have been influenced by Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Syd Barrett, Captain Beefheart, Martin Carthy, Lou Reed, Roger McGuinn and Bryan Ferry.
"Us and Them" is a song by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, from their 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon. The music was written by Richard Wright with lyrics by Roger Waters. It is sung by David Gilmour, with harmonies by Wright. The song is 7 minutes and 49 seconds, the longest on the album.
"Arnold Layne" is a song by English rock band Pink Floyd. Released on 10 March 1967, it was the band's first single release. It was written by Syd Barrett.
Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett was an English singer, guitarist and songwriter who co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd in 1965. Barrett was the band's frontman and primary songwriter, known for his whimsical style of psychedelia, English-accented singing, and stream-of-consciousness writing style. As a guitarist, he was influential for his free-form playing and for employing effects such as dissonance, distortion, echo and feedback.
"River Man" is the second listed song from Nick Drake's 1969 album Five Leaves Left. According to Drake's manager, Joe Boyd, Drake thought of the song as the centrepiece of the album. In 2004 the song was remastered and released as a 7" vinyl and as enhanced CD single including a video to the song by Tim Pope.
"Embryo" is a song by Pink Floyd. It was regularly performed live in 1970–71, but never released on any regular Pink Floyd studio album.
Adrian Philip Scarborough is an English actor.
"Vegetable Man" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd, written by the frontman, Syd Barrett, and recorded in 1967. It was considered for a release as a single or for inclusion on their second album, A Saucerful of Secrets, but went unreleased. Bootlegged for decades, the song did not have an official release until 2016, when it was included on the box set The Early Years 1965–1972.
A Star for Bram is an album released by Robyn Hitchcock in 2000, comprising outtakes from his then recent Jewels for Sophia. It was issued on Hitchcock's own Editions PAF! label. The cover art matches its partner album, but is printed in different colours.
This Is the BBC is an album by Robyn Hitchcock, released on the Hux Records label in April 2006.
Luca Chino Ferrari is an Italian music writer and lyricist.
I Wanna Go Backwards is a Robyn Hitchcock box set released in 2007 on Yep Roc Records. The set contains reissues of three of Hitchcock's albums, each with bonus tracks, and also a two-disc rarities set, While Thatcher Mauled Britain. The set consists of five CDs, and was also released as a limited edition of eight vinyl LPs.
The Man Upstairs is the twentieth studio album by Robyn Hitchcock. It was released on August 26, 2014 on the Yep Roc Records label. The album comprises ten acoustic songs, all produced by Joe Boyd, noted for his work with various folk acts in the 1970s.
"Born in Time" is a rock song written by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, who first released the track on September 10, 1990, on his twenty-seventh studio album Under the Red Sky. It is a reworking of a song originally recorded at the previous year's Oh Mercy sessions. The British recording artist Eric Clapton covered the song for his 1998 studio effort Pilgrim and released his take on the tune as a single. The song has been praised by critics for its catchy melody and romantic, dreamlike lyrics.