Soft Boys Live AlbUm
There are indications that plans were afoot to record and release a live Soft Boys album, probably in 1979. The gig in question is the Lady Mitchell Hall performance, recorded on 27 November 1978. (Lady Mitchell Hall is a university building on Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge.)
Plans to release it in the day are speculation on our part - but exhibit A is this flyer for the gig...
Plans to release it in the day are speculation on our part - but exhibit A is this flyer for the gig...
Note how it is billed not just as a regular live date, but as an "Official Live Recording".
A full set list has been published online, as follows:
- I Want To Be An Anglepoise Lamp
- Do The Chisel
- Wey Wey Hep Uh Hole
- Human Music
- Give It To The Soft Boys
- Hear My Brane
- Look Into Your Mirror
- Heartbreak Hotel
- A Most Peculiar Voice
- Caroline Says
- Muriel's Hoof / Rout of the Clones
- Return Of The Sacred Crab
- Blues In The Dark
- The Bells Of Rhymney
- Sandra's Having Her Brain Out
- The Pigworker
- Skool Dinner Blues
- Cold Turkey
- Leppo And The Jooves
- Have A Heart, Betty (I'm Not Fireproof)
Encore:
- I Like Bananas (because they have no bones)
- Wading Through A Ventilator
Lineup: Robyn Hitchcock (vocals, guitar); Kimberley Rew (guitar, vocals); Andy Metcalfe (bass, vocals); Morris Windsor (drums, vocals); Jim Melton (harmonica, percussion, vocals).
RELEASES
Tracks from this concert have dribbled out here and there, although it still hasn't been issued on its own terms. In fact the first three tracks to emerge were issued anonymously, and it's only by comparison to subsequent bootlegs that we are able to idenfity them as from this performance. They were issed in 1979 on A Can Of Bees, without explanation:
Nothing further saw light of day until 1987, when a US-only bootleg EP included,
Further selected tracks have since been released officially :
On Invisible Hits (CD edition, 1990):
On 1976-81 (released 1993):
In addition to these titles, a more extensive bootleg has been released containing ten tracks from the gig, only five of which are listed above as previously released. Rout of the Clones contains the following:
- Cold Turkey
- Skool Dinner Blues
- Wading Through a Ventilator
Nothing further saw light of day until 1987, when a US-only bootleg EP included,
- Give It To The Soft Boys
- Heartbreak Hotel
Further selected tracks have since been released officially :
On Invisible Hits (CD edition, 1990):
- Wey Wey Hep Uh Hole
On 1976-81 (released 1993):
- Heartbreak Hotel
- Caroline Says
- I Like Bananas
- The Pigworker
- Do The Chisel
- Return Of The Sacred Crab
In addition to these titles, a more extensive bootleg has been released containing ten tracks from the gig, only five of which are listed above as previously released. Rout of the Clones contains the following:
Thus, 16 songs from the 22 performed may be heard, if they were tracked down. (Had the 1979 live album come to fruition, it's doubtful all 22 would have been included.) |