Matador Records continues to serve the music world a wonderfully. Aside from releasing the finest new music made by such indie stalwarts as Belle & Sebastian, Pizzicato 5 and Yo La Tengo, the label has begun reissuing classic and often forgotten albums from some of the forerunners of modern music. The latest in this series is the Soft Boys’ Underwater Moonlight, a picture of post-punk perfection.
Originally released in 1980, Underwater Moonlight captured the energy and invention of the British New Wave scene. Led by singer/guitarist Robyn Hitchcock, the Soft Boys played in the sprit of punk with an intelligence and playfulness that escaped the more “serious” acts of the day. With golden harmonies and a sly silliness, the band embraced the jangle of the 60s with the fervor of the recent punk movement.
The album opens with “I Wanna Destroy You,” a rock anthem made up of both venom and sarcasm. Like fellow New Waver Elvis Costello, Hitchcock takes aim at a consumer society as he wishes “a pox upon the media and everything you read/ they tell you your opinions and they’re very good indeed.” Though more political than the other tracks on Underwater Moonlight, “I Wanna Destroy You” completes the punk rock trifecta of “I Wanna” songs along with the Stooges’ “I Wanna be Your Dog” and the Ramones’ “I Wanna be Your Boyfriend.”
Central to the Soft Boys’ sound is Robyn Hitchcock’s distinctive voices. It could be described as a cross between Mick Jagger’s English swagger and Lou Reed’s dry delivery, but with a charm and bite all his own. Hitchcock’s voice is a perfect complement to the full-on pop sounds of the musicians. “Kingdom of Love” operates on a simple 4/4 beat while swooning vocals and a slinky six-string filling in the gaps. The songs are light and simply arranged but move with a grace and ability possessed by few pop smiths.
“I Got the Hots” finds the band trying on the spy-lounge mantle as Hitchcock slithers around with suggestive not-so-sweet nothings. This track alone could give Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker enough inspiration to last him an entire album full of lust. But to the Soft Boys, it is all for fun.
The proper album ends with “Underwater Moonlight,” which marries the mysticism of the Waterboys and the art-rock thump of Bauhaus. It is the tale of an elderly married couple’s escape from the suffocation of dry land to find purity and new life under the sea. It is an odd song but one that works, as the Soft Boys make the weird eerily beautiful. The song also predates R.E.M.’s similar “Nightswimming” by a full 10 years.
Along with the strength of the original Underwater Moonlight album, the reissue is bolstered by 26 album outtakes and unreleased tracks. Songs such as “He’s A Reptile” prove that the Soft Boys can sing about nearly anything and make it a pure pop sing-a-long. A tip of the hat to Syd Barrett’s “Octopus,” the song shows an appreciation for the psychedelic sounds of the `60s. It also proves that Robyn Hitchcock can write a better song about lizards than Jim Morrison did.
Good rock-n-roll never dies, but it often gets buried underneath mainstream hooplah until it resurfaces for new generations to appreciate. Such is the case with the Soft Boys; while Underwater Moonlight may not be an absolute epiphany, the fact that such a superior album has escaped your ears this long will keep you searching for more buried treasures. Rediscover the Soft Boys for the first time and learn from some of the masters of the lost art of pop music. A-
