Yep Roc begins Robyn Hitchcock reissue series
August 8, 2007, 12:00 am

A box set of three classics along with never-before-released B-sides will be released November 13, 2007

Yep Roc Records is proud to announce the release of Robyn Hitchcock's I Wanna Go Backwards box set on November 13, 2007. I Wanna Go Backwards encompasses expanded editions of three of Hitchcock's best-loved 80s albums, Black Snake Diamond Role, I Often Dream of Trains and Eye, along with While Thatcher Mauled Britain Part 1 & 2, a newly compiled two-disc collection of b-sides, outtakes and home demo recordings, many of them previously unreleased. All of the individual albums feature bonus tracks and enhanced liner notes, including Hitchcock's personal reminiscences on Black Snake and While Thatcher, an extract from a novel in progress on Trains and several pieces of original poetry on Eye, along with previously unpublished photos and Hitchcock cartoons.

In addition to the exclusive CD box set packaging, Yep Roc will also release all three records individually in their expanded, enhanced new editions. I Wanna Go Backwards will also be released as an eight-record vinyl box set version complete with original LP artwork. Additionally, Yep Roc is making another long-out-of-print early Hitchcock album, 1982's Groovy Decay available exclusively as a digital download.

About working on the reissue series, Hitchcock states: "Your younger self is always faster and less subtle. I would sing some of the songs differently now, but on the whole they sound fine. As I've said before, age 50 isn't better or worse than age 30 for an artist: you're just leaning in from a different angle."

Over the past three decades, Hitchcock has built a large and distinctive body of work that's established him as one of rock's most respected and beloved iconoclasts. The prolific English singer/songwriter/guitarist's vivid surrealist songcraft has won him an uncommonly devoted international fan base, and created an ongoing demand for rare and unreleased Hitchcock material. Meanwhile, many of the artist's most popular and influential albums have fallen out of print and become difficult for fans to obtain, changing hands for hefty sums on the collectors' market.

The release of I Wanna Go Backwards coincides with a recent career resurgence during which Hitchcock has released the acclaimed albums Spooked and Ole! Tarantula, and become the subject of the recent Sundance Channel documentary Sex, Food, Death…& Insects.

The release of I Wanna Go Backwards offers the definitive retrospective of Robyn Hitchcock's '80s solo output, documenting a crucial period of this one-of-a-kind creative force. The second box, tentatively titled "Bad Case of History," is due early 2008. It will feature all Robyn Hitchcock and The Egyptians records: "Fegmania," "Gotta Let This Hen Out," "Element of Light" and an alternate/outtake collection called "Dynasty."