Doom & Gloom From the Tomb

Soft Boys, Vegetable Men

Robyn Hitchcock once said of his former band the Soft Boys: “We could … sound like the Byrds or the Beatles, or whoever it was we wanted to sound like at the time … We sort of became a very high-grade covers band, combined with this sort of psychedelic coven.” Robyn was being slightly disparaging, I think, but the Soft Boys were indeed a very great covers band. Case in point, this compilation of live recordings and rehearsals I’ve thrown together, featuring the band tearing through a wide range of tunes by the Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd and Roxy Music, among others. The whole thing kicks off with two manic renditions of Sun Records-associated songs that sound about a galaxy and a half removed from Memphis, and concludes an hour later with an (inter)stellar jam on “Astronomy Domine.” Climb aboard the Mystery Train!

1. Mystery Train
2. Heartbreak Hotel
3. Caroline Says
4. We Like Bananas
5. Cold Turkey
6. Poor Will & The Jolly Hangman
7. My Evaline 
8. That’s When Your Heartaches Begin
9. The Book of Love
10. In The Mood
11. All Shook Up
12. Leave Me Alone
13. Over You
14. Vegetable Man
15. Run Run Run
16. Gigolo Aunt
17. Train Round The Bend
18. Bells of Rhymney
19. Outlaw Blues
20. Astronomy Domine  

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Special thanks go out to the Man With The Lightbulb Head for supplying a lot of the material for this comp!