Considering that the albums collected on I
Wanna Go Backwards
have been reissued two or three times already, with extra material added each
time, it might seem hard to justify this new box set. But English
folk-psychedelic songwriter Robyn Hitchcock has carefully combed through his
archives, adding 20 previously unreleased songs and culling a few weaker ones
to produce the most definitive editions yet of his three 1980s-era solo albums Black
Snake Diamond Role, I Often Dream Of Trains, and Eye, as well as a two-disc set of rarities, While
Thatcher Mauled Britain, and a digital-only release of the black-sheep 1982 album Groovy
Decay.
(His '80s albums with backing band The Egyptians will be collected on another
box set next year.) The new material here makes the appeal for Hitchcock
completists obvious, but Backwards is also a good starting point for neophytes.
Collectively, Trains, Eye, and Black Snake cover the breadth of Hitchcock's cracked genius,
encompassing much of the best of his sardonic humor, surrealistic imagery,
intricate guitar-work, and lyrical obsessions with sex, psychology, death, and
shellfish.