I know this was advertised as a "Robyn Hitchcock-Gillian Welch-David Rawlings" collaboration of some sort, but trust me on this, it's a Robyn Hitchcock record, albeit a very good one. Sure Gillian and David are part of it, but, as the credits on the cardboard cd case indicate, "All songs were written by Robyn Hitchcock except 9 by Bob Dylan (Tryin' to Get to Heaven Before They Close the Door)".

That being said, David and Gillian are given plenty of credit for harmony vocals, guitar, dobro, and a few other instruments, and their contributions are pretty evident on many of the tunes, although much of the time it's very subtle. Heck, most of the album is subtle, although he throws in some of his usual oddities, most notably on the first track, "Television" (Binga, bonga, bing, bong.... bing, bong), as well as his backwards guitar on [I]Full Moon in My Soul[/I, one of my favorites on the record, and electric sitar on Everybody Needs Love. The Dylan cover is pretty sweet too. If you haven't heard much of Davis Rawlings, I will tell you that he's one of the finest acoustic guitarists that I've ever heard (saw him live twice as well), at least in the flat-picking style.

I really like this record, although I doubt it will make it on my top 10 list for 2005. Well, I'm listening to it right now and it's sounding better after each play, so maybe it will make the list eventually.

Regards,
Swish