Press 1 for Famine, 2 for Pestilence, 3 for Condoleezza, and 4 for Death. Please note that Pestilence closes at 6:00.

Spooked is the Robyn Hitchcock album I’ve been waiting for ever since I started listening to him about 5 years ago. I love the Soft Boys stuff and I love Gotta Let This Hen Out but the other albums I have heard have always left me feeling, uh, unsatisfied. (Note: There's still quite a bit of his back catalog that I haven't heard yet.) There are some things that I love on Eye, Respect, Luxor, etc. but none of those albums have been things I could just put on and listen from start to finish. I still like them, but as far as albums go they aren’t my favorites. The songs I liked were captivating enough to keep me waiting for that decisive Robyn album though.

It’s been no secret through these reviews that I love albums more than singles. (The fact that I started off the Van Lear Rose review with the sentence, “I’m an album guy” should have set that in stone right away.) I enjoy a good single, but an album is something to love. It’s something to be absorbed by while it’s on. It’s something to think about even after you’ve stopped playing it and filed it away on the shelf (in alphabetical order by the artist’s last name or the band name and in the set of each artists their albums must be in chronological order by release date– did I just reveal too much?) There’s something about the completeness of a good album that I love. Anyway, back to the task at hand. Spooked is the first Robyn Hitchcock album that does all those good album things for me.

I am absolutely in love with the lead track, "Television". There’s never been a finer song written about a man’s love-hate relationship with his TV. [Feel free to send me a comprehensive list of your favorite “man’s relationship with TV” songs.] I don’t think it is meant to be funny, but even if it was I am more comfortable with my interpretation and to me the song is damn near heartbreaking. Television, say you love me / Television, say you care / Loneliness is my profession / Show me those who are not there

A lot has been said about the contributions of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings to Spooked and certainly they are very much responsible for the sound of the album. I read that the three of them got together in the studio and played a lot of Dylan covers before ever working on the songs that make up Spooked. That’s one way to get started and I guess that’s how "Tryin’ to Get to Heaven Before They Close the Door" made the cut. Whatever the three of them did worked because this is a very fine album that really put the things I like about Robyn in a perfect 12 song setting.

One final note: I went to see Robyn Hitchcock with Scott and Mike not too long after getting this album. It was the first time I had seen him live and it was absolutely perfect timing. Robyn is a great entertainer and he did a great mix of songs. I was easy to see why Scott and Mike like him as much as they do. He really comes across great on stage. I am looking forward to getting another opportunity to see him again.