The ghosts of cracked '60s British visionaries Syd Barrett, Vivian Stanshall, and Kevin Ayers float above this pleasurable 1984 release, arguably Robyn Hitchock's definitive solo statement. I Often Dream of Trains is a sparse, surreal work that alternates moments of sublime, acoustic beauty with bouts of puerile, schoolboy humor. The usual Hitchcockian obsessions are here: death (the rousing and gloomy "Sounds Great When You're Dead" and the haunting, majestic "Bones in the Ground"), nostalgia for the lost and obscure (the cocktail lounge lament "My Favourite Buildings" and the priceless, lush "Trams of Old London"), decay (the lovely, haunting instrumental track "Heart Full of Leaves" and the savory "Autumn Is Your Last Chance"), and unmitigated pot-head nonsense (the desultory "Furry Green Atom Bowl"). Forced novelty numbers such as "Uncorrected Personality Traits" and "Sometimes I Wish I Was a Pretty Girl" grate after repeated listenings, making a strong case for the judicious employment of the CD player's program function. --Mike McGonigal
Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Hitchcock was so shaken by the entire Groovy Decay disaster that he retired from recording for two years. When he returned in 1984 with I Often Dream of Trains, it was clear that the time off had affected his music. A collection of spare, acoustic-based pop-folk songs, I Often Dream of Trains is one of Hitchcock's most introspective and charming records. Instead of creating an impenetrably personal album, the stripped-down instrumentation actually opens up the songwriter's world, allowing the ballads ("Trams of Old London," "Cathedral," "Flavour of Night") to sit comfortably next to the jokes ("Uncorrected Personality Traits"). Alternating between acoustic guitars and solo piano, the music is never fragile, adding a strong support to Hitchcock's eccentric lyrics.
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